Shampoo Bar Testing - Eep

Thanks to the new job, I’ve started to expand my bath and body care horizons.

I started to use a face mask with powdered goat’s milk in it, have tried a glittery coffee scrub in the shower, experimented with making mystical creature inspired whipped soap, and have fallen in love with bubble bars/cakes.

Suffice to say, I kind of love that I have more excuses to take bubble baths and have so many new face masks to experiment with. I haven’t been steered wrong yet with trying new things to add to my routine so when I started to see shampoo bars start to get more and more popular, I was intrigued.

My hair and I have had a weird relationship. I never really learned how to manage it until my junior year of college and even then, I still hadn’t really found a routine that really worked for both me and my hair.

It wasn’t actually until about a year ago that I felt like I had really settled into something that worked for me.

I decided to switch out my fancier salon shampoo and conditioner for the basic Herbal Essence Rose shampoo and conditioner set, started washing my hair once a week with Neutrogena clarifying shampoo and some kind of super conditioning hair mask, and also cut down on washing my hair from every day to every other day.

The washing my hair less thing was enough of a hurdle for me so, as I started to mull over the idea of trying a shampoo bar, all I could think about was the potentially awkward oily hair transition that would inevitably ensure when I switched from “normal” shampoo to a bar shampoo.

Two weeks ago, I finally took the plunge. I popped into Lush before my weekly Trader Joe’s grocery shopping and picked up the Jason and the Argan Oil shampoo bar and The Plumps soild conditioner bar. (Side note: mother of God, Lush…$18 for a conditioning bar….that’s insane even for you….*eye roll*)

Any who…

I was so excited to wash my hair with both of these new and exciting things that I ended up washing my hair in the sink the first night I used them because our power was out and I assumed our hot water heater was down for the count (it wasn’t, but that’s another story).

I rubbed the shampoo bar on my head (I used five swipes) and it got all bubbly and sudsy and smelled delicious (Note: if you don’t like the Rose Jam scent, don’t get the Jason and the Argan Oil bar. Your hair will smell like Rose Jam for at least 24 hours). The shampoo from the bar washed out with little to no residue and I got that squeaky-clean feeling that I love from my clarifying shampoo.

The conditioner bar was a little bit different. The employee at Lush who rang up my order told me to lather the bar in my hands and then use it on my hair. While the conditioner doesn’t lather like the shampoo bar (and shouldn’t to be fair), it does give you a nice creamy pseudo-lather that feels great in your hair.

After I washed everything out, my hair felt light, refreshed, and smelled great.

Now, I had been having some trouble with shampoo and conditioner residue in my hair lately and I was having to blow dry my hair after I washed it to make sure that I didn’t get any of that weirdness going on. Even though I was kind of petrified of this happening again (especially with the new bars), I let my hair air dry to make sure that I really got a feel for how the bars made my hair feel and look.

In a word: Amazing

I noticed a difference in my hair after that first wash.

It was shiner, healthier looking, and had less split ends. I felt light and bouncy and my natural texture came through in a way that made me happy instead of crazy.

Bottom line: after that first wash, I became a believer in shampoo and conditioner bars.

I wanted to wait until I had been using the bars for a little longer than one wash to make sure that the happy hair day wasn’t a fluke before I typed out my praises to Lush. Needless to say, my hair is still happy and looks better than ever.

Definitely make sure that you fully dry them out after washes though. I have a little tin for the shampoo bar and a plastic jar for the conditioner bar. I stand the shampoo bar up on it’s end to dry and always make sure that both bars are fully dry before closing up the tin and jar and sticking them in the drawer. They aren’t like soap, so don’t just leave them in the shower. Then you’ll wind up with a sad and mushy shampoo bar and slimy conditioner bar and no one wants that.

While it is possible that my experience could be chalked up to beginner’s luck, I think that it is safe to say that shampoo bars a worth a shot for everyone.