What is a shampoo bar?
A shampoo bar is shampoo in solid form. So a piece of shampoo instead of a bottle of shampoo.
With a shampoo bar you save both plastic packaging and all the water that a liquid shampoo contains. And with the water comes a hell of a lot of preservatives, which are really hard on the skin. You can also avoid them with a shampoo bar. And you also avoid silicone substances, fillers and parabens.
And since there is no water in a shampoo bar, the shampoo is also far more concentrated than liquid shampoo.
The biggest advantage of using a shampoo bar is that you benefit from all the delicious and healthy oils that are in them. It is good and healthy for your skin and your scalp, which does not benefit from being cleaned too vigorously.
A shampoo bar works exactly as well as a liquid shampoo. There's just a slight difference in how you approach it – depending on what kind of shampoo bar it is. And you can learn much more about that right here.
There are two types of shampoo bars:
Sin shampoo bars or soapy shampoo bars.
What is a sinful shampoo bar?
A sinful shampoo bar is a PH balanced shampoo bar that is adapted to the slightly acidic environment of the scalp. It has a PH value of 5.5.
This means that the shampoo bar is extremely easy to use and can be used by everyone.
The sinful shampoo bar is based on a mild washing active substance which is based on coconut oil. The washing active substance is mixed with lots of caring and nutrient-rich oils and fats, which care for both your hair and your scalp and it provides the perfect combination of cleaning and care in the same shampoo bar.
We have several different sinful shampoo bars in the shop. All shampoo bars from Simpelt are sinful and so are all shampoo bars from Mellow Mind. So go for the two brands if you want a shampoo bar that is just right to go to.
What is a soapy shampoo bar?
A soapy shampoo bar has been used for centuries. It is made of two ingredients: Oil/fat and lye (sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide mixed with water). Lye is an alkaline liquid that is corrosive. But when lye and oils are mixed, a chemical process called saponification takes place.
Although lye is an ingredient in the soap and part of the saponification process, there is no residue of the lye when the saponification is complete.
The main ingredient in our soapy shampoo bars is, among other things, coconut oil, olive oil, shea butter and other good and healthy oils and fats. The contents of the individual shampoo bars are listed under the individual variants.
How do you use a soapy shampoo bar?
A soapy shampoo bar is used in principle just like a regular bar of soap for the hands. Spread the soap in your hands – and then in your hair. Alternatively, you can take the shampoo bar into your hair and distribute it along the lengths of your hair.
It is important that you lather up both the scalp and the lengths really well, otherwise it can feel greasy afterwards.
It is also important to rinse the shampoo thoroughly from the hair afterwards. Rinse more than you would with a conventional shampoo.
A shampoo bar will leave residues of the good oils in your hair. That's really the point of it all. You will be able to see that in your brush – and also could feel in your have, which generally becomes fuller and is as if surrounded by a layer of “oil” – without looking greasy in any way.
If you now find that your hair becomes difficult to detangle when you use shampoo bar, or perhaps greasy, then it may be that you either have not lathered your hair enough or have not rinsed your hair thoroughly enough. And in both cases, you can very advantageously mix a little apple cider vinegar with water (about half and half) and rinse your hair with it. The vinegar should preferably have time to work a little before you rinse it out again.
Vinegar cleans hair and scalp and leaves your hair soft and delicious. So try to do it once in a while. It works! Alternatively, you can also use Isangs Hair Tonic. Hair Tonic also contains apple cider vinegar – and has added fragrance and extra caring ingredients.
Have you tried a shampoo bar but can't seem to get it to work?
Some people simply cannot get the classic soapy shampoo bar to work. Especially if you have fine hair or hair that tends to get greasy, it can be a challenge.
If it suits you, you should definitely choose a sinful shampoo bar. It is easy to access for everyone. It requires no getting used to, but corresponds to a classic liquid shampoo.
What about bacteria in shampoo and soap bars?
Many may be concerned that shampoo bars and soap bars are pure bacteria bombs. They can actually be that too if you don't store them properly. Or rather: It's not actually the soap bar that's full of bacteria – it is the water it lies in and soaks around in, if the water cannot get away.
Soap bars and shampoo bars must dry up well between uses. And they can only do that if air gets to the bottom. So your soap dish must allow you to wipe up the soap from below – and for the water to run away. It can do that with a soap dish. Alternatively, a good old-fashioned soap magnet is also absolutely brilliant. It provides air around the entire soap so that it can dry up properly.
In the absence of better, you can actually also put your shampoo bar or your bar of soap on a good and perhaps a little hard frotté cloth, which you make sure to change occasionally.
If the soap bar is allowed to dry well, then bacteria will not be a problem when you use soap bars.
