Shampoo bars

[BigStripeyBastard]

Evening all.
Has anyone successfully made the transition to solid shampoo bars? I'm a week in and my hair is akin to waxy, disgusting hay. I know it's supposed to take a while and I dont wash my hair more than 3 times a week but....... bleurrrgh.
Do I wash it more often? Less often? Try the diluted apple cider vinegar rinse?
I mean, I can tie my hair in a bun for work, it smells fine, I'm not, you know, Jennifer Aniston 😊 but it just feels so horrible.
Do I stick with it? Will it get better?
I'm basically trying to limit the number of plastic bottles I get through but at this point,I am just really hankering after my old, Tresemme- swishy hair instead of this waxy birds nest on my head......

Blleeaarrgh.

Same happened to me. It took approx 4-6 weeks until I looked ok again, sorry to say. But it’s fine now, saves lots of money and is a small help for the environment.
Are you using lush bars? I just ask as many people say they are full of crap. It’s (sort of) fun to try out some different ones from the internet once you’re used to it and I even bought a book in how to make my own but haven’t done so yet...

That makes it sound like I'm implying Jennifer Aniston has really smelly hair...... I'm not..... I was just meaning I don't need perfectly preened locks for my day to day life.
Sorry, Jen 😂

I've not had this issue with my lush bar. It takes 2 washes to make it squeaky clean though.

I use seanik from Lush and it makes my hair feel squeaky clean :) I think in the beginning it's hard to get the balance right in terms of how much to use, I actually rub the bar directly on my head! Good for you for trying though, hope you find your magic bar x

If it’s just about the plastic I’d use the lush bars. They are great. We live in a hard water area and lots of the non sls ones simply don’t work without soft water.

Hi, Ohyes....
No, not Lush.... it's called Friendly Soap. I tried a lush one but it also had SLS in it so was just like a normal, yet slightly drying shampoo.
Plus it was daft expensive.
4 to 6 weeks.... I can deal with that, as long as it WILL get less disgusting. I'm going to have a go with the apple cider rinse suggested on the website. See if that cuts through some of the ick.

Hi, all.
I did try one from Lush.... Jason and the Argan Oil??? It was nice enough but ridiculously pricey and it just broke up really quickly, even though I kept it dry and in a tin when not in use. Smelled divine though.....
Maybe this one isnt right for my hair.
I mean, its just soap, I can use it on my body if I dont use it ln my hair and try another. It won't go to waste.

Did you all use conditioner afterwards.... I still have 3 bottles of conditioner in my stash. I'm thinking it might be making the problem worse?

I have long thick hair so can't live without conditioner. I only wash my roots and slap loads of conditioner on my ends.

Another here who can use Seanik and no conditioner after. It leaves my hair clean and soft, with no residue.

I should also say I have seborrheic dermatitis in my scalp and this helps with that too.

Ok, Sugarbear.... I'm going to try your method next time. Minimal shampoo on roots, conditioner on lengths.
Thanks, all.

Mine I used to get spots around my hairline at the back of my neck but have not had one since the transition to the bar.

Bovril, I'm in a soft water area so it's no problem with regards to that.

Hard water area here abd I use lush shampoo and conditioner bars. I need to use he shampoo twice per wash. There is definitely a couple weeks of adjustment time! I have fine hair but a lot of it.

I've used other brands and prefer solid shampoo to liquid in general now. Definitely shop around for your hair type!

Thanks, francie. I will stick with my quest for a plastic free shampoo.

I have heard that the apple cider vinegar rinse is a good idea if the shampoo doesn't take to your hair initially. I'm hoping that as shampoo bars get more popular there will be more choice for different hair types as well as more conditioner options.

FWIW I use the Lush Honey bar which seems good so far but only used it twice.

@francienolan how do you get on with the Lush conditioner bar? Most of the reviews I read weren't great and even the sales assistant wasn't enthusiastic about it. Feels a bit silly trying to reduce my plastic by buying a shampoo bar but still using a big vat of tresemme conditioner

I didn't get on with it - I wish we could just refill bottles of shampoo, we could in the US

I haven't found a conditioner bar I get on with yet, so am buying conditioner in the biggest bottle possible to reduce the plastic waste (better than loads of small bottles). I also make sure it's a good quality one to thick and not watery so it lasts longer. I figure it's better than nothing until a better bar conditioner comes along!

We use Friendly soaps - I really like them but can't get on with the shampoo bar (mostly because I can't get through the transition period without cracking and going back to the bottle) but DH and DD, both with short hair, love the bar shampoo.

I like the brand - it seems very pared down in terms of ingredients and is well priced.

I like it but I only use a little bit of it. For reference I have been using solid shampoo for almost a year and had about 5 shampoo bars but only 2 and a bit conditioner bars used up. I have yet to try the shampoo conditioner in one bar from them. I do tend to need the conditioner to tame the static. When you use too much of it i think it feels too heavy.

I think I had a bit of conditioner to use up and got a bar when that was done. no point in wasting conditioner you have already bought!

I know, right? I've just finished a 900ml bottle of Tresemme. Seemed to last about 9 months. Ideally yes! I would love refill shops to be widely available. I'd be refilling everything.
I'm currently justifying using using an electric toothbrush as I theorise that just throwing the top bit away is better than chucking a whole toothbrush. I'm quite tempted by toothpaste 'bits' instead of toothpaste.... anyone tried them?

stuck yes, refills would be great! I was saying to DP, that supermarkets should just have big vending style machines where you can take your empty conditioner bottle back and refill it. Price by volume, with an additional surcharge if you need to buy a empty plastic bottle to fill.

I have below shoulder length hair and wash my hair daily; I only get through a bottle of shampoo (400 ml) about every 3 months. Are your really using enough that this is the thing you can do the most for your plastic consumption with? Places near me will do "faith" refills if that would be better? For me I think the biggest plastic consumption change I could make would be not buying drinks in plastic bottles (squash, fruit juice milk etc) and switching to the butcher for meat, where I could take my own container. The consumption for my hair (8 bottles a year, max, and could be fewer if I switched to the 900ml ones) is minimal compared to that. I've switched away from disposable bags etc for packed lunches which has already made a big dent.

Obviously ideally we'd all cut down to almost no plastic, but I think it is worth considering where your biggest gains can be made.

Sadly, visiting a refill shop would mean a round trip of about 40 miles by car.... not sure the saving to the environment would be worth the extra trip, to be honest.