T.T.: Ditching the Bottles

A month or so ago, I finally decided to buy a shampoo bar to replace the bottles of shampoo that I've used for . . . well, my entire life.

A shampoo bar looks just like a bar of soap. I mean, shampoo IS a kind of soap, so it makes sense that it can easily be made in bar form.

I did this for a couple of reasons. One is that I hate plastic. I grudgingly acknowledge its ubiquity in modern life, but if I can avoid it, I will. 

Another is that I've come to really dislike anything scented. Fragrance-free shampoos tend to be really expensive.

I looked on Etsy first, because I always do that. Although there are some re-sellers on there, many of the soap-makers are quite obviously just people working out of their homes, and I will always try to choose an option that gets the most profit into the hands of the makers rather than a corporation.

Even on Etsy, there weren't a lot of fragrance-free options. I found this one, though, and while I was at it, I decided to try the conditioner bar too.

They came in little cardboard boxes that could be burned or recyled, although they were unfortunately wrapped in a bit of plastic wrap. So not entirely waste-free, but pretty close.

They look really similar when they're unwrapped, so it helps to put them where you can tell what's what. (Obviously, I do not keep them on a rose-patterned napkin in the shower, but it made for a better photo than a background of my avocado-green plastic shower wall.)

I've been using them now for some weeks, and I can give them a pretty strong recommendation.

The shampoo bar is very easy to use. It lathers up just like a bar of regular soap and distributes quickly through hair. It makes for a very "squeaky" kind of clean. My hair is long and very curly, so I don't really need shampoo that strips cleanly*, but A. does and he particularly likes this.

I found the conditioner bar to be a little trickier to use. Of course, it doesn't lather, since it's essentially a combination of oils, but that does make it harder to distribute throughout the hair. At least, throughout long hair.

After some experimentation, I found the best method to be getting the bar wet and then rubbing it directly on the hair in different directions all over the head. I also twist my hair and pull it up so I can rub the bar all over the underside of my hair. 

This takes about a minute, which is of course not a long time, but definitely feels like a bit more of an effort than just squeezing conditioner out of a bottle and rubbing that in.

In any case, both of the bars work, and I think work pretty well. The bars are pretty small, but I haven't noticed the bars to have reduced in size very much, even in more than a month of use. I suspect the bars will last longer than a bottle.

Shampoo and conditioner bars have become mainstream enough that they can readily be found places like Amazon as well, but I didn't actually see any price difference between Amazon and Etsy. So I would recommend looking on Etsy if you want to try them. There are lots of different scented ones if that's what you prefer.

I'm not sure how many people are aware that these bars are an alternative to bottles of shampoo and conditioner, but now you know. Do with the knowledge what you will.

* In case anyone is thinking, "Why don't you just try the no-shampoo thing?" I have. I did not like it, and since I only wash my hair every few days or so, I figure it's fine.