Shampoo Bar 101 – No-Poo Hair Wash Bar for All Hair Types [Updated]

Bar shampoos are easy-to-taking in travels and environment friendly. The no-poo method makes solid shampoo bars popular. But liquid shampoos are still the mainstream in the market.

You can see all kinds of shampoos in the supermarket, such as normal hair shampoo, dry damaged shampoo, 2-in-1 shampoo, and more. Many shampoo ads announce that you can get smooth and healthy hair after using the hair shampoo. By the way, your hair will smell good after washing.

It seems that washing hair with liquid shampoo is the standard way. Is it true? What if you wash hair with bar soap instead of liquid shampoo? Will you get wonderful hair? Don’t worry about that. You can get a detailed review of shampoo and conditioner bars here.

• Part 1: Pros and Cons of Washing Hair with Shampoo Bar
• Part 2: Shampoo Bar VS Liquid Shampoo
• Part 3: Best Hair Shampoo Bars in 2021
• Part 4: How to Use a Shampoo Bar to Wash Hair
• Part 5: FAQs of Shampoo Bars

Part 1: Pros and Cons of Using Shampoo Bars

What is a shampoo bar soap? Well, it is a kind of solid shampoo in the form of a bar. You can use original bars or shampoo bars to wash your hair. Compared with common neutral soaps, shampoo bars contain hair ware ingredients and extra foaming agents. You can get soft and weightless hair by using bars of shampoo.

But shampoo bars are not always good. There are still some side effects of using hair shampoo bars. To start with, let’s see the advantages and disadvantages of using bar shampoo.

Be aware that it is not recommended to wash hair with laundry soap. Because the solid laundry bar soaps dry the hair and skin out.

Pros of Using Shampoo Bars

1. Solid shampoo bars are eco-friendly. The liquid shampoo is chemical-rich, which is contained in a plastic bottle. While bar shampoo is more chemical-free, which is wrapped with paper. It is a good way to cut down plastic use.
2. Shampoo bars are travel-friendly. Instead of a large bottle, you can bring your shampoo hair bar elsewhere easily. There is no need to worry whether the liquid shampoo will get your bag dirty or not.
3. Keep the natural moisture of your hair and scalp. Compared with chemical shampoos, there is not many icky addictive in a shampoo soap bar. You cannot find many commercial shampoo detergents in bar shampoos, such as sodium lauryl sulfate, ammonium lauryl sulfate, and more. low-lather and gentle shampoo bar bases can clean your hair without the dry feeling.
4. Shampoo bars last longer. Those concentrated shampoo ingredients are cost-effective. In common cases, a shampoo bar is equivalent to 3 bottles of liquid shampoo.

Cons of Using Shampoo Bars

1. Leave your hair slightly waxy. If you don’t wash all soap out of your hair, it will be really dry with tangles and frizz. You can use shampoo bars to get additional conditioner and detangler.
2. Hard water plus shampoo bar soap will result in insoluble gunk. You will wind up with soap scum on your hair. Thus, you may feel your hair is waxy or unclean after rinsing. You can remove wax buildup with an apple cider vinegar rinse.
3. If you rub a shampoo bar on your whole head of hair directly, you may suffer from tangles and knots. For people with long and curly hair, it is suggested to rub the shampoo bar soap on palms first. Later, you can shampoo hair with a mild lather by rubbing your hand through the hair.
4. The skin-friendly pH level is between 4.7 and 5.75. If the pH balance is off, your scalp will be too dry or oily. The pH level of most liquid shampoos is around 5.5 to 6.2 or so. While bar soap has a pH level of around 9 to 10. Actually, you can find that your hand and body will be too dry after washing with soap for a while.
5. The shampoo bar transition is not fast. It takes some time for your scalp to adapt to the gentle formula. Thus, washing hair with shampoo bars may lead to dry hair in the early period.
6. Shampoo hair bars require proper storage. If you leave the shampoo bar in a damp or wet place, it will be too soft to use.

Part 2: Shampoo Bar VS Liquid Shampoo

Which does a better job in hair washing? The shampoo bar soap or liquid shampoo bottle? In other words, is shampoo bar better than liquid shampoo? Which one is good for healthy hair? Here is the battle of bar shampoo vs liquid shampoo.

Obviously, a shampoo soap bar is travel-friendly, plastic-friendly, and space-friendly. Shampoo bar will never cause potential leaks, explosions, or spillage. It is also a money-saving choice. Though its expiration date is short, the shampoo bar lasts a longer time than liquid shampoo. What’s more, there is not much detergent based on ingredients in the shampoo bar. You can get an excellent moisturize and cleanse experience.

However, washing hair with shampoo soap bars is not always a good choice. Here’re some disadvantages of shampoo soaps. The pH level of liquid shampoo is more proper for your scalp. If you have curly hair, and you want to get smooth and shiny hair, washing hair with a shampoo bar soap is not a good idea. Compared with liquid shampoo bottles, shampoo bar soaps are easier to be waxier. Because there are more saponified oils in the shampoo bar that create a waxy consistency on your hair. Due to the wax layer, the hair strands will weigh down over time.

Part 3: Best Shampoo Bars in 2021 You Can Buy

A solid shampoo bar can last for about 80 washes. Assume you wash hair every other day, you can use wash hair with a solid shampoo bar for 5 months or so. Thus, shampoo bars are less expensive than most liquid shampoo counterparts. If you want to buy a shampoo bar, you can get some recommendations. Here’re the 2021 best shampoo bars that are worth buying.