Am I imagining it or are shampoo bars much harsher than liquid?

[Matchingcollarandcuffs]

I am really trying to reduce our plastic consumption but seeing as my hair's natural tendency is birds nest at the best of times it is not easy.

I have to use detergent based ones as our water is so hard, and I find they leave me with a v itchy scalp and dry and dull hair. I have tried:

Lush
Garnier
Faith in Nature
Gruum
Honey Bee Beautiful

Anyone else? Or am I just like the Princess and the Pea?

We are in a hard water area and I found Ethique to be the shampoo conditioner brand we can use best. The coconut or mint ones are good for dry hair. Might be worth a shot. Beyond hair, I use Friendly soap for everything else, it's brilliant and very reasonably priced. Honestly, I don't work for them - the brand is really good and they are honest about their own shampoo bars being less effective on hard water areas.

The only one ive found good is the ultimate blends one, but it wears down so quick.

Chemically yes they are

aah yes forgot to say they're the reason I know that soap bars don't work, I used their hair bar on holiday with soft water and it was lovely, back home with hard water by hair turned to greasy straw.

I use the Nuxe Reve de Miel bar shampoo in a hard water area on my flyaway hair. It's good, but it doesn't last as long as a bottle.

We also live in a very hard water area. I'm currently using Gruum but the difference in my hair between washing it here and washing it when I'm visiting my home town with its lovely soft water is amazing. I've tried various others too and don't think anything really works well when the water is this hard.

I haven’t found a bar I can get on with either so I’m using Fiils. Metal bottles and recyclable refills. We have hard water and I’m getting on fine with it. Kiehls also do refills I believe, but they have always been out of stock when I’ve looked.

I've only really used the Gruum shampoo bar (underwhelming, shrivelled bar is still
in its tin months later unused) and the sea and Angel bars from Lush, which are both fine on my scalp. So, not sure really.

Have you tried using a vinegar rinse? I recently bought a friendly soap shampoo bar and my hair doesn't like it at all but a vinegar rinse seems to help a lot.

The Ethique one is ok, and I'm in a hard water area.

I’m in a soft water area and sadly I find shampoo bars very harsh on my hair. It feels as though it’s been stripped after I use all those I’ve tried. Shame because I like the lower eco footprint.

I'm spoilt by soft water and Gruum anti dandruff is my favourite.

Whenever we go away to somewhere with hard water I'm shocked by the difference in how my hair looks and feels. Hard water is a grease fest. I don't know the answer.

I’ve tried a few with our very hard water and eco living is amazing. Actually lathers really well and doesn’t leave any gunky feeling. Also tried ethique, lush and lamazuna in the past.

We have really hard water, and Grumm works really well on my difficult hair!