Salt bar as a shampoo bar? Pros and Cons

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holga_me

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I wonder if anyone ever had experience of shampooing their hair with a salt bar? Any good results? On one side long cured salt bar is so moisturizing and all the minerals in the salt should be good for hair, but if you think of a day spent at the beach - my hair usually need conditioning treatment after that. By the way, I have a long fine oily hair, and so far I tried a hot processed shampoo bar and a bar with high castor percentage which felt very sticky ( didnt like it either)
 
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I tried each for about two weeks. I didnt think it was a funky hair stage aka transition period, I`ve done BS/ACV method (no poo) before for a long time and the stickiness from a a shampoo bars was different. Hair feels like straw and color become very dull. BS/ACV just felt greasy for a while.
 
The salt in a salt bar will cause mechanical damage to your hair, so I wouldn't really recommend that until you've tried other bars. Personally, I went through at least a dozen different bars trying to find one that worked, so it's not surprising that you haven't found the one that works for you after only two bars. If you want to read about a lot of people with long hair that have tried to make shampoo bars work (with mixed success), I recommend joining the Long Hair Community and checking out their massive shampoo bar thread.

Also, Florida has pretty hard water in general, so soap bars may not work for your hair, even with a rinse.
 
I'm the weirdo on the board who likes to shampoo with salt bars once in awhile, with a diluted ACV rinse that has a few drops of EO's in it. I have very fine straight hair, and I get dirty a lot, and this leaves my hair clean and glossy. I dont use CP soap shampoos all the time because my hair loooooves syndet and conditioner, but once every three or 4 shampoos I do.
 
Shampoo is designed for hair not bar soap! Once in awhile I do use a salt bar but try to keep it mostly on my scalp after I have shampooed my hair with regular shampoo or a syndet bar. I do this because salt helps heal my eczema and at times it hits my scalp, but I do not recommend it any more than I recommend using bar soap on hair. It amazes me why people are so afraid of surfactants. Their is such a selection range and it is truly the only way you are going to produce a lower ph sampoo bar (syndet)
 
Shampoo is designed for hair not bar soap! It amazes me why people are so afraid of surfactants.

The problem with a regular shampoos is that it strips your hair of your natural oils which is essential for healthy hair. I notice as soon as I switched back to a shampoo (even though I use "organic" shampoo if you can call it that) - I have to wash hair every day, with no poo method or shampoo bars I can do it every other or every 2 days, thats what Im trying to achieve as I believe that stripping hair of oils everyday is not the best thing to do. My daughter is 4 year ols and someties I dont even need to use anything on her hair besides plain rinse with water and it cleanses her hair (unless there is a food in it :lol::lol::lol:)

But I dont want to use no poo method as it takes too long in the shower and is just pain. Maybe I just need to come up with a better recipe for a shampoo bar. I just read the thread about not using coconut oil in a shampoo bar - maybe that is the problem.
 
The problem with a regular shampoos is that it strips your hair of your natural oils which is essential for healthy hair. I notice as soon as I switched back to a shampoo (even though I use "organic" shampoo if you can call it that) - I have to wash hair every day, with no poo method or shampoo bars I can do it every other or every 2 days, thats what Im trying to achieve as I believe that stripping hair of oils everyday is not the best thing to do. My daughter is 4 year ols and someties I dont even need to use anything on her hair besides plain rinse with water and it cleanses her hair (unless there is a food in it :lol::lol::lol:)

But I dont want to use no poo method as it takes too long in the shower and is just pain. Maybe I just need to come up with a better recipe for a shampoo bar. I just read the thread about not using coconut oil in a shampoo bar - maybe that is the problem.
Actually that is incorrect that shampoo strips all the oil from hair. Bar soap will strip the natural oils not a well made mild shampoo. Hair was my job for 30+ yrs and my moms for 50+ years. Almost all shampoos are pretty mild today including Suave and other grocery store brands. It is the clarifying shampoos that will strip more. Buy a shampoo for colored hair they will be some of the mildest. Plain water does not clean the scalp well and the scalp needs to be clean and be able to breathe
 
Actually that is incorrect that shampoo strips all the oil from hair. Bar soap will strip the natural oils not a well made mild shampoo. Hair was my job for 30+ yrs and my moms for 50+ years. Almost all shampoos are pretty mild today including Suave and other grocery store brands. It is the clarifying shampoos that will strip more. Buy a shampoo for colored hair they will be some of the mildest. Plain water does not clean the scalp well and the scalp needs to be clean and be able to breathe

I`m trying to find alternatives to a commercial shampoo, not buy a different one. Every hairstylist tells you to go buy more stuff of the store shelf, for some reason it rearly works wonders. I`m using a shampoo because I have oily hair, if I had a normal hair I`d try to lean from it. My daughter has a beautiful healthy shiny hair, and I only use a shampoo on her once in a week or two, the rest of a time stimulate a blood circulation and distributing oils on the length of a hair by brushing it and rinsing with water works great.

By the way, please, read this article. Don`t know if this is a truth of a first instance (you can probably dig up something like this on any company), but wouldn`t risk Suave on my head.
Unilever is on the wrong end of a class action lawsuit over a now-discontinued Suave Keratin product that the plaintiffs allege caused hair breakage, hair loss and other kinds of hair damage.
The big problem, according to the plaintiffs lawyer, is that the Suave Professionals Keratin Infusion 30-Day Smoothing Kit marketed itself as “formaldehyde free” when it actually contained another chemical that they say “is mainly synthesized from formaldehyde.” Unilever tried to have the lawsuit tossed, but a judge rejected that motion and now they’re going to trial. Eeek.
But as I said, the chemical contents are just one of the problems Unilever and Suave face in this case. The others are a weak recall and a social media program that continued long after the product did. Double eeek.

The plaintiffs lawyer alleges that though the Suave Keratin product was recalled in May 2012, between a quarter and a half of the clients she’s representing bought the product after the recall was announced. And, the lawsuit says, there was never any mention of the “scalp burns” and other ill effects that customers were reporting.
Moreover, Jezebel found the product on Walmart.com (with the words “To Be Deleted”) and how-to videos on the Suave Beauty YouTube channel. You would think that if you’re recalling and discontinuing a product, you would make sure all of the channels on which that product is marketed would be shut down no?
On top of everything else, there’s a Facebook page, Suave Keratin Infusion Kit Destroyed My Hair, that Courthouse News says has been set up by hundreds of women to showcase the ruin the product caused. It’s been a year-plus since it was updated, but it’s there and it’s ugly. One of the lead plaintiffs, Josephine Wells, says that she experienced hair breakage and loss that resulted in her having to cut 10 inches from her hair. And she says “has spent thousands of dollars on weaves, hair extensions, and other treatments to attempt to restore the damage to her hair. The straightening effects and damage to Wells’ hair continues to this day – nearly two years after she used the product.” The plaintiffs say Unilever tried to get them to sign releases in exchange for $50 haircuts.
However this case turns out, it’s a poorly-handled recall and an instance of bad marketing. The fact that Unilever and Suave continued to make a product available even after there was cause for concern also gives off the impression that the brand doesn’t care about its customers. Not a good look for a company that’s supposed to be about beauty and hair wellness.

Hope I didn`t sound too rude, because we, foreign folks, misunderstood sometimes as it harder for a non-native speakers to choose right words and sentences sometimes...
 
Have you tried co washing? Thats where you use a oil free, silicone free conditioner to clean the hair. It can work really well for some people.

If you are interested in trying a different brand of shampoo, loreal sulfate free is extremely gentle, lathers great and leaves hair super soft.
 
There are also law suits against Wen (Dean Chaz hair products). You really do not know the whole fact of the suit and it could have been a bad batch, it happens unfortunately, or a group of people were highly allergic to an ingredient. Also Suave has never been one of the milder shampoos. Beauty supply houses carry quite nice shampoos. Read labels to know what you are buying. Maybe we cosmologist know a little about hair... Washing hair once a week, which by the way, is the average for a person that has to go to a beauty shop to get their hair done. This does not necessarily mean it is clean, hair collects dirt quite quickly, from our hands, the air, just everyday cooking and living. Sure brushing long hair from the scalp out is good for hair and good for scalp stimulation, it does not clean nor does just rinsing with water.
I really hate all the scare mongers out on the internet and that is what they are

I did not mention that manufacturers are now making higher oil conditioners, shampoos, and dual conditioner/shampoo. Wonder why they are doing that, maybe because they are trying to jump on the bandwagon of more natural and the use of wonder oils. But the bottom line is they have to go for surfactants that do not scream surfactant/detergent. Yep it is there and has to be or eventually you have a gooey mess. So don't fall into the big box advertising hole. Also keep in mind some ingredients do not get, legally, listed under the Trade Secret clause. What you see is not always what you get. I happen to love Dove high therapy shampoo from Costco. It does not dry my silver wire hair and does not yellow it. Believe me I do not see anything that would contribute to high therapy in the ingredient list but it is nice and I do not use conditioners on my hair.
 
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I second obsidian' suggestion. If your hair is too dry with shampoo, try using just conditioner every other wash. I have found that if I generously apply the silicone free conditioner to dry hair, before getting my hair wet, it removes oily build up pretty well without "stripping". I just slather it on. Work it in, hop in the shower and rinse it out. Sometimes I repeat in the shower. You can get V05 conditioner at the dollar store so using it generously isn't really expensive.

I think that shampoo bars can be harsh in a different way than sulfate shampoo. I only use shampoo bars every once in a while when I want to deep clean my hair.
 
I second obsidian' suggestion. If your hair is too dry with shampoo, try using just conditioner every other wash. I have found that if I generously apply the silicone free conditioner to dry hair, before getting my hair wet, it removes oily build up pretty well without "stripping". I just slather it on. Work it in, hop in the shower and rinse it out. Sometimes I repeat in the shower. You can get V05 conditioner at the dollar store so using it generously isn't really expensive.

I think that shampoo bars can be harsh in a different way than sulfate shampoo. I only use shampoo bars every once in a while when I want to deep clean my hair.
Conditioners still contain emulsifiers and surfactants
 
Thank you all for your replys, guys, i appreciate! I will give a try to some suggestions that I felt like might will work for me.:p

Obsidian, I tried CO washing, after 2-3 time in a row hair was not getting clean, like a build up from a conditioner, I might look into it some more and try to find one I like. BTW, you were right about superfat, I tried a salt bar just on my ends last night and they felt oily afterwards, while the rest of it was fine :rolleyes::rolleyes: i just had to test it to get it out of my curious mind.


What I like about shampoo bar that I can go washing my hair 2-3 times a week instead of every day, which is what happens everytime I switch back to a regular shampoo (I dont mind commercial shampoo, just dont like that fact of washing hair everyday - I think its too harsh, and shampoo is definitely the reason). I`m gonna make recipe without coconut oil in it like someone suggested in another thread about shampoo bars. Anyway, Im stuck on the idea making a shampoo bar. When so many people swears by it, I just refuse to believe that there is not one recipe that will work for me :D

Carolyn, can you advise on some particular shampoo for oily fine really long hair? I give it a try


P.S. Sometimes I even start to think its the Florida weather, I cant recall having to wash my hair that often when I lived in Colorado or NJ.
 
What I like about shampoo bar that I can go washing my hair 2-3 times a week instead of every day, which is what happens everytime I switch back to a regular shampoo (I dont mind commercial shampoo, just dont like that fact of washing hair everyday - I think its too harsh, and shampoo is definitely the reason).

There are so many different types of surfactants used in shampoos that it's not really fair to say that any detergent shampoo is too harsh on your hair. I had this same problem when I used sulfate-based shampoos, but when I switched to shampoos based on glucosides, I found that, after a short adjustment, I can easily go 2-3 days between washings. I have long, thick, oily hair, so if you're interested in chatting hair care, feel free to PM me, but I've done so much experimenting that I don't want to take up board space with it!

I no longer use shampoo bars because they don't clean my scalp effectively over a period of time. My hair is good for a week, maybe two, but then I get buildup, even with an acid rinse every time I wash. I use a glucoside-based detergent shampoo and a simple commercial conditioner, both of which are paraben-free to satisfy my hippy tendencies. I just never found a shampoo bar that cleaned my scalp effectively without leaving the length of my hair dried out.
 
My husband has very curly hair and he uses my salt bars for washing it. Mine are SF at 20%. I can't use them for my hair but he loves the extra oil left behind. I can't understand how, but his hair is soft and doesn't feel the slightest bit oily. My hair is fine and I have found that I need a lower SF to avoid the oily feeling.
 
There are so many different types of surfactants used in shampoos that it's not really fair to say that any detergent shampoo is too harsh on your hair. I had this same problem when I used sulfate-based shampoos, but when I switched to shampoos based on glucosides, I found that, after a short adjustment, I can easily go 2-3 days between washings. I have long, thick, oily hair, so if you're interested in chatting hair care, feel free to PM me, but I've done so much experimenting that I don't want to take up board space with it!

I no longer use shampoo bars because they don't clean my scalp effectively over a period of time. My hair is good for a week, maybe two, but then I get buildup, even with an acid rinse every time I wash. I use a glucoside-based detergent shampoo and a simple commercial conditioner, both of which are paraben-free to satisfy my hippy tendencies. I just never found a shampoo bar that cleaned my scalp effectively without leaving the length of my hair dried out.
Perfect!! you are correct. There was a time all they really had was SLA for shampoo manufacturing but that has changed tremendously over the last 25 or more yrs
 
I'm the weirdo on the board who likes to shampoo with salt bars once in awhile,

Also another fellow weirdo on the board...

I make a sea-salt shampoo bar - at hubbies request, because once in a while he likes to strip his hair. Usually once a week he uses it. Especially in the summer - he works hard, sweats...

I don't personally like it that often. Once in a while....that's all. I find it dries my hair tooooo much and just doesn't do what I wanted it to. For me. For him it's great.

I loved the "idea" I had for the salt bar; more than the actual bar I've produced.

Clarifying.... like a day at the beach! (My hair was horrendously greasy in Mexico so I washed my hair in the ocean - perfect waves & curls...)

Volume.... I had this sea salt shampoo (in a black jar) from the L store. LOVED IT. Seriously. LOVED IT. I had so much good volume - and I have A LOT of hair, long and thick, so I needed something - and this was it.

I have been trying to recreate this in a shampoo bar for some time...

I haven't been successful though. :(
 
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