Review Shampoo Bars - a personal journey!

Sxot said:
Just in case you might actually be interested;
I've been washing my hair in Washpool farms soap of various descriptions (I bought a cheap, job lot/seconds bag) since Feb 16. No vinegar rinse. Only washing a couple of times a week. It's been great. No dandruff, very little itchiness, hair is nice, in fact the Mrs commented last night that my hair smelt nice. She has never done that before! For the record I have shoulder length, curly hair. The dandruff shampoo I used to use was good but if I got busy and forgot I would get a massive outbreak and it would be snowing for days.

So in the next week or two I will be moving onto making some body soaps. A "shampoo bar" might be one of those but honestly, the body bars I have been using I just use in my hair too. Simple, convenient, cheap. Loving it!
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I am

It is interesting

I'm had the same experience with the shampoo I was using too prior to the bars and I DID have a period of transition but then things settled. When under particular pressure I noticed some but not the with charcoal bar. Will see how that goes and then experiment
 
I might have missed the reason on skimming the thread yesterday, and don't want to go through 7 pages again. But when I got my shampoo bar I also got a conditioner bar. What is the reason for the apple cider vinegar rinse? As opposed to a conditioner?
 
Adam said:
I might have missed the reason on skimming the thread yesterday, and don't want to go through 7 pages again. But when I got my shampoo bar I also got a conditioner bar. What is the reason for the apple cider vinegar rinse? As opposed to a conditioner?
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Instead of really - to rinse out residual soap.
This is the most commonly recommended approach around the place.
 
Mark1966 said:
Instead of really - to rinse out residual soap.
This is the most commonly recommended approach around the place.
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Spot on @Mark1966 - I use the vinegar rinse once a fortnight for this purpose.

@Adam - I occasionally use the conditioning bar, but not every shampoo. The use of these three products has given me the best hair health I have experienced to date.
 
@Mark1966 and @Adam - I've just seen that BATB has introduced an alternative product to their vinegar rinse (for the same purpose).
I guess to address the fact that many folks are not that keen on the vinegar smell and/or skin reaction. I'm fine with the vinegar and still use it routinely, but this new product looks interesting.
Below is a link to the new product, which is called Apple Silk Clarifying Rinse. With either product, the stated aim is "to remove the silicone plasticisers in commercial conditioners and the last residues of shampoo soap."
Works for me.

https://www.beebeauty.com.au/products/apple-silk-clarifying-rinse/
 
Damn this forum, I'd never heard of Shampoo bars before but I've just ordered the Shampoo bar sample pack from BATB to give it a try.
 
Glad you brought this thread back up @Jase

A follow up of my experience:
I've been washing my hair with Washpools and then in the last couple of weeks my own soap. I use the same bar for body and hair. The dandruff did kick up for a bit but I think once I sorted out the frequency of washing it has settled and all is normal again. I go for every three to four days. I have started using a spray bottle with 75% ACV for the rinse. The first time I left it in but I could smell it for days. No one else could, but I could. Now I rinse it out. My hair is noticeably more shiny, silky and soft with the rinse. I would say it's very much akin to conditioner.

In my formulating the body bars I have found I don't like higher concentrations of superfat in the soap. It makes my skin sticky - which is due to the (good) oils left from the soap - until I am properly dry. I have been thinking though, a shampoo bar with a high level of super fat is worth a try. I have some castile (pure olive oil) curing at the moment but it won't be ready for many months yet. I get good results and super convenience with the dual purpose bars I am using now though. The other thing I want to try is upping the glycerine and see how that feels both on the body and in the hair.
 
More and more, I'm finding that any good bar soap works great as a shampoo bar.

Recently, I paused my dindi shampoo soap and used the dindi bar soap and it worked very nicely also.

I will try my speick bar soap next to see how it goes. I will also try MWF bar soap.
 
Thought I'd give a little update...so, I have found tallow bath soaps don't make the best shampoo bars but pretty much any good quality veggie bath soap works great!

I've now used all 3 scent variants of dindi bath soap and they work wonderfully, as does an almond/rose local artisan soap.

I'm very happy with how these bars leave my hair clean and smooth plus the extra volume is appreciated.
 
nav1 said:
Thought I'd give a little update...so, I have found tallow bath soaps don't make the best shampoo bars but pretty much any good quality veggie bath soap works great!

I've now used all 3 scent variants of dindi bath soap and they work wonderfully, as does an almond/rose local artisan soap.

I'm very happy with how these bars leave my hair clean and smooth plus the extra volume is appreciated.
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I dunno about that. I have four tallow body soap formulations now in my journey down the soap rabbit hole as @bald_as puts it. I have used all of them successfully as shampoo. Maybe it's a hair type thing? PM me you address and I'll send you some of mine to try if you are willing to give some feedback (privately or publicly, doesn't matter).
 
@Sxot
That's quite interesting. Perhaps the soaps I tried were not suitable as a shampoo bar.
 
@Mark1966 did you end up sticking with the shampoo bars or did you go back?

@Sxot did you keep making your own shampoo/soap or did that fall by the wayside when you started making the Abi & Grace shaving soaps?
 
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Hi found the rhassoul clay bar 3 in 1 from washpool farm great but has a lot of coconut oil in it took a few days for my hair to settle after wash
 
I have been using the beer shampoo bar and I am quite happy with it. I'll try different one from them as it will be finished soon, and they have a physical store just a stone-throw from my office.
 
I have been using the BATB shampoo bars continuously for almost three years now.
They simply work better for me than any previous shampoo/conditioner combination I have used in the past.
The two bars I use are Moroccan Clay and Tasmanian Beer. I also do a dilute cider vinegar rinse once a fortnight.
 
I feel this is a rabbit hole that I didn’t see coming! :X3:
 
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