what's the difference between shampoo bars and regular bars?

[MzMolly65]

Title says it all .. anyone know the difference besides ingredients?

How do they act differently and why?

 

[seven]

shampoo bar is basically a cp/hp soap. unless it's a syndet. that's my basic understanding.

 

[Susie]

OK, I am not an expert, so when some of the experts speak up, listen to them, not to me. However, it being a holiday here, it may be a bit, so I will try to help.

Shampoo bars need to do 3 jobs. They need to clean the scalp and hair, rinse cleanly out, and they need to help to condition the hair.

Soap with a normal superfat of 5-10% will do all of the above, but probably won't leave any decent amount of conditioning in there. People everywhere use soap(often syndet) to wash their hair.

Shampoo bars, OTOH, will usually be more conditioning, with a higher superfat and more attention being paid to the types of oils used for certain properties. I use at least 20% castor oil, and about 5% jojoba in mine for example. Though you may very well use 5% jojoba in your bar soaps, I do not. I also never use over 5% castor in any of my bar soaps. I also use less coconut oil to decrease the cleansing because I have very dry hair.

 

[hmlove1218]

Shampoo bars are formulated to be less cleansing and more conditioning. For example, in my regular soaps, I use 20% coconut oil, but when I was formulating my shampoo bar, I was advised to keep the coconut oil at 5% or lower so as not to strip my hair. HTH

Yep, Susie said it better lol.

 

[seven]

^^^
true, i also lower my coconut to 10% max. i also lower my SF to 2-3%. don't like excess oils on my scalp, at all

 

[MzMolly65]

So then should a regular castile work?

I've been trying my various regular soaps and my hair feels awful; greasy and dirty. Today I'm going back to shampoo in a bottle until I can figure this out but I didn't want to make a special shampoo bar if my regular soaps should be working.

 

[hmlove1218]

You might be suffering from funky hair syndrome lol. How long have you been using your soaps? It can take a few weeks to get all the silicone buildup out of your hair.

 

[Ellacho]

You might want to add coconut oil and lower the SF in your shampoo bar recipe to reduce the greasiness. I am not sure if you have oily hair or not, do you? If so, then, the castile soap might not work for you since it has no cleansing value.

 

[Obsidian]

In theory, castile should work but it always left my hair feeling gunky. You can try it for a couple weeks and see how it does but you will have funky hair syndrome regardless. You can reduce FHS by switching to silicone and sulfate free shampoo for awhile before switching to a bar. Always use a vinegar rinse while adjusting to a bar, it really helps.

 

[Susie]

Whenever my hair gets washed with the commercial stuff, I just get over the tub and wash my hair 4-5 times with the shampoo bar, or until it no longer feels like FHS. Might work for you. You may, as was said above, need to do some ACV rinses.

 

[FifthCap]

I'm scared to try shampoo bars with my hair.
It's about 2' long and it has to be conditioned if it's going to be brushed.

Do "shampoo" bars help the detangle process?

 

[MzMolly65]

You might want to add coconut oil and lower the SF in your shampoo bar recipe to reduce the greasiness. I am not sure if you have oily hair or not, do you? If so, then, the castile soap might not work for you since it has no cleansing value.

No, I usually have dry hair with a lot of static. Since moving to the Pacific NW where the humidity is much higher I have normal hair but normally use a polish or leave in conditioner to keep my hair from being frizzy with the humidity.

With using just my bars of soap, funky is one word you could call it. I tried one wash with a carrot/buttermilk bar that was 45% OO, 15% CO, 20% RBO and 20% SB with 5% SF .. so it might be the SB or the buttermilk causing the greasy dirty feeling.

I also tried a 6 month old 100% OO castile but it was 7% SF and maybe that's the problem.

Other than that, it could be just funky hair syndrome (whatever that is). I'll keep trying if this is a normal part of the process.

 

[Seawolfe]

I'm scared to try shampoo bars with my hair.
It's about 2' long and it has to be conditioned if it's going to be brushed.
Do "shampoo" bars help the detangle process?

I'm the same, I can't deal without conditioner when I use regular shampoo. With bar soaps I definitely need to use a vinegar rinse (1 part ACV and 3 parts water), but then I don't need conditioner. Though I'm the crazy lady who likes my salt bar as a shampoo for my baby fine long hair, so experiment.

 

[FlybyStardancer]

I'm scared to try shampoo bars with my hair.
It's about 2' long and it has to be conditioned if it's going to be brushed.

Do "shampoo" bars help the detangle process?

My hair is long too, and has always been super-tangly. I've found it's a little bit better after getting through a particularly bad case of FHS, but not incredibly so. I might try upping the acidity of my citric acid rinse, though. I've found that the more acidic and cold the rinse is, the less tangly my hair is. I can't use fridge-cold rinse, though, because then it's too big a difference in temp and that causes my face to flush (even though I had ZERO tangles the time I did that).

 

[Susie]

I still use a commercial conditioner or leave in conditioner. I would never get a brush or a comb through my hair without something regardless of shampoo. Just find something without silicones(dimethicone, or any other ingredient that ends in the "cone").

My hair is down to my rear, and naturally curly.

 

[Candybee]

I have been using the shampoo bar recipe from this forum. I love that is has avocado and grapeseed oils in it along with shea, olive, and castor. Its low in cleansing and high in conditioning. It cleans my hair squeaky clean but I still need a conditioner as I have fine, thin, aging hair. I have tried my other soaps and they leave my hair gunky. But the shampoo recipe works perfect. I am currently tweaking it for myself by adding some coconut oil. I want shiny silky hair and I find the recipe lacking in that respect. I just make a batch yesterday with the added coconut oil so I will have to wait to see how I like it.

 

[Dahila]

I posted about the shampoo bar in other thread. I use the one from this forum and my hair stopped to fall out. Candybee please post how it works with a bit of CO.

 

[CanaDawn]

citric acid doesn't work as well for me as vinegar, and unpasturised apple cider vinegar works better than other vinegars for me. Washing with only soap makes for massive "grip" which leads to tangles, and a heavy, greasy feel to my hair. After washing (applying soap directly to very wet hair and working up a lather on my scalp and any hair I want to actively wash), I always rinse with water and then with diluted ACV. My hair is mid-back, fine and straight. It's all a bit trial and error, just like with commercial products.

I also found that using soap instead of shampoo nearly completely stopped my frightening level of shedding within a single wash.

 

[LunaSkye]

I found that the first soap I made was beautiful as a shampoo bar. I used a 25% butter combo that I believed to help detangle my hair. I have to make it again at some point... with some alterations (replacing grapeseed with something else).

If anyone is going to make a shampoo bar, definitely use less CO than for your regular bars. I used a soap with 20% CO and found it to be too drying. It might work for others, but less is best if your hair needs the conditioning.

 

[AnnaO]

I'm scared to try shampoo bars with my hair.
It's about 2' long and it has to be conditioned if it's going to be brushed.

Do "shampoo" bars help the detangle process?

I was scared too, as my hair length is down past my hips, the strands are baby fine, but there is tons of it, so it looks thick. It's slightly wavy.
I was bothered that the individual hairs would dry out and snap off or something.... :Kitten Love:
But they haven't :smile:

My main reason for wanting shampoo bars to work for me is that I am sensitive to something or other in commercial shampoos and conditioners and develop scalp dermatitis when I use them.

I've used the "Genny" recipe shampoo bars for a couple of months now. I wash every 6 days days or so, that's all my scalp seems to need. I didn't require any conditioning at first, but after starting to experience some tangling on washing, the last couple of washes after rinsing out the shampoo bar I have dunked my hair and scalp in the bathroom sink filled with warm water and a little vinegar (-bog standard white vinegar, all we have in our cupboards at the minute..) and then hopped back under the shower to rinse it out.

Afterwards I comb my hair out carefully from the ends up to the roots while my hair is still damp using a wide tooth comb, and leave it to dry naturally.

I've definitely seen less hair left in my comb, and in the plughole, since I started with the shampoo bars. And to have an itch-free, non-flaking, non-cracking, non-bleeding scalp is absolute bliss.