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Finally our shampoo bars have been perfected to be the best plastic free, natural alternative to liquid shampoo as possible! For almost a year now we've been asked time and time again for a shampoo bar and after many trials (and some very bad hair days) we have perfected it.
But firstly I want to explain what our challenge really involved and that involves understanding the different types of shampoo bars that are currently on the market.
1. Firstly we have Sulphate base bars, which contain ingredients known as surfactants. Some common ones are sodium lauryl sulphate and sodium lauryl sulfoacetate. These are chemical foaming agents, derived from petroleum or palm oil, that can cause skin irritation in some people. These bars can be easier for your hair to adjust to as they contain many of the same ingredients as standard liquid shampoo.
As The Kentish Soap Company doesn't use any palm oil and only produces natural products, this kind of shampoo bar was never a possibility for us to make.
2. And then there is the Soap based bars. which are basically just bars of soap that have been formulated specifically for your hair. When we make our soaps we decide which 'base oils' to use depending on what we want the soap to be like. In this case we have formulated our soap bar recipe to include coconut oil (to make the soap lather up nicely) and Olive &
Castor oil (to make the soap conditioning for your hair).
For the last year we have been working on perfecting our shampoo bars. We have had our ups and downs (and I mean real hair disasters!) but we think we have finally cracked it and have found the perfect solution to the plastic shampoo bottle crisis. We have picked up some VERY useful tips and tricks along the way which I am going to share with you now.
When searching for shampoo bars on the internet you may come across people talking about the 'Detox' period and if your anything like me, you became very confused and a bit intimidated by it, but don't worry, I'm here to walk you through it! Basically, the detox period is the period of adjustment that your hair goes through when you switch from chemical shampoo to natural shampoo bars. Your hair may become waxy and heavy for the first few weeks of using the shampoo bar, but don't panic. This is caused by the build up of substances that were left on your hair from your previous shampoos. This should only last a few weeks and can differ from person to person depending on your hair type, previous shampoo and the hardness of water in your area.
To make it a little easier on you, here is a step by step guide on how to use The Kentish Soap Co's Shampoo Bar to make your hair the best it can be:
Step 1: The easiest bit; wet your hair thoroughly.
Step 2: Wet your shampoo bar and rub it over your hair from root to tip (don't rub it back and forth as is might cause your hair to tangle).
Step 3: Massage your scalp with your fingers, causing the shampoo in your hair to lather and gently work this through your hair.
Step 4: Rinse thoroughly. It is very important to make sure your hair is properly clean before moving on to the next step. Rinse, rinse and rinse again! (You might find your hair feels 'squeaky' on your first few uses.)
Step 5: Repeat! That's right, do it all over again! We want that hair super clean and healthy!
Step 6: Our number 1 tip for you if you want shiny, silky hair! Use an acidic rinse. Many places that we have found advise using apple cider vinegar for this but we're not to keen on the smell of that one, so we use lemon or lime juice instead (depending what we had). We mixed the lime/lemon juice with water (50/50) in a spray bottle. This allowed us to easily apply the mixture to our hair while in the shower. Make sure to leave it on your hair for 1-3 minutes before rinsing off. If you would rather use the apple cider vinegar please feel free to give it a try with the same 50/50 water mix.
Step 6: Dry your hair (or let it dry naturally) and your finished.
1 point to a clean head of locks : 0 points to plastic pollution!
Some of our customers have also asked for conditioning bars. When we started testing and trialling our shampoo bars (On our friends and family, NEVER animals! Unless you count humans?) we were going to work on a conditioning bar as well. However we have found with the acidic rinse, after the detox period, we don't seem to need one. Jayne (the creator of The Kentish Soap Co and inventor of our shampoo bar) has coloured hair so sometimes she gets dry ends. However she finds a very small amount (and we mean a really, really tiny amount) of coconut oil sorts that out straight away!
So there you have it! Our sustainable, plastic-free, eco-friendly, cruelty free, natural, amazing, marvellous, spectacular shampoo bar is now available for you to buy on our website at:
We hope this helps you on your environmentally friendly journey!