Shampoo Bar Showdown

Hello hello! It has been a minute since I last sat down to write a blog post, but I am back in action. I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately with a busy work/life schedule and haven't found the motivation to get a post in the works. I have been house sitting a lot, trying not to overheat in my no ac apartment, and I have even gotten to go into the office a couple of times to meet my coworkers finally. Anyway, enough about me, let's talk about shampoo!

If you're new here and haven't read my previous posts, I have tried to make the switch from bottled soaps to bar soaps in as many places in my home as possible. In my Sudsy Swaps post I started to briefly chat about the different shampoo bars I have tried, but I feel like that deserves its own post. I have a LOT of opinions on all of the different shampoo bars I have tried and I am ready to share in what I am calling the Shampoo Bar Showdown, the fight for the ultimate shampoo bar. lol that was cheesy sorry.

Here's what I am thinking (I did no planning before opening my computer), I'll rank each shampoo bar in three categories and then base the final score on their average rankings. The three categories will be lather, scent (if scented), and how my hair feels afterwards.

Wait wait wait, I am adding a 4th category, packaging! The whole point of this blog is low waste, so how could I forget that?

Let's get into it!

First up we have the Spring & Vine Moisturizing Oatmeal shampoo bar. I want to start off by saying, this will likely be the lowest ranked one.

Lather - 2 - Did it even lather at all?

Scent - 2 - I mean.. what is oatmeal supposed to smell like anyway?

Hair feel - 2 - honestly that even seems generous, this shampoo dried my hair out like no other. I thought it was supposed to be moisturizing, but it did the complete opposite of that. I used it until it ran out, but man, I was not having fun. I would switch on and off with other shampoos just to give my hair and scalp a break. Maybe this will work for other folks, but it was not a hit for me.

Packaging - 7 - This one is packaged in a cardboard box, but the bar inside was wrapped in plastic.

Next up is the Habitat Botanicals Unscented shampoo bar. I got this one through a promotion that included the conditioner, body soap, and deodorant (was definitely allergic to the deodorant), and I almost loved this one.

Lather - 9 - Honestly, this one started out so strong with a great lather. For the first few weeks I was using this shampoo bar I absolutely loved it, but towards the end I was not a big fan.

Scent - NA -

Hair feel - 5 - Like I said, this one started out strong. The lather was such a selling point, but I didn't love how it made my hair feel after a while. Similar to Spring & Vine I felt like it was drying out my hair and I was overcompensating with conditioner. I would ultimately not buy this one again.

Packaging - 10 - All cardboard! The bar itself was wrapped in a piece of paper inside the box.

Moving on to the HiBar Fragrance-Free shampoo bar. This is a brand I had seen a ton of ads for, and this is the option lots of zero-waste shops carry so I thought it would be fun to test out. They get extra points for sending me a free conditioner bar, but I don't think it was enough to save them...

Lather - 3 - yeah.. not good..

Scent - NA - I promise there are some actual scented ones coming up

Hair feel - 2 - This is another of the options that started out strong on the hair feel front, but quickly spiraled out of control. This shampoo bar irritated my scalp so much, and not to gross anyone out, but I was experiencing a lot of dandruff that I don't usually experience. My scalp was so itchy and once I figured out that it was the shampoo bar I decided not to use it up all the way, and tossed it. I was sad to waste it, but not sad to have my scalp back to normal.

Packaging - 7 - The shampoo bar itself was wrapped in wax paper inside a cardboard box, however the package did ship with plastic filler as opposed to filling the box with a recyclable option.

Now we can get into the good ones. Starting with the Acure Coconut & Argan shampoo bar. I picked this up at the New Seasons down the road and I absolutely loved it. This will probably be one that I go back to in the future.

Lather - 10 - SO good. This shampoo lathered up like crazy, I probably could have made a shampoo mohawk with all the suds if I really wanted to.

Scent - 8 - I have never been a huge fan of coconut scented products, but I wasn't mad at it. It was pretty mild and just a nice scent in general.

Hair feel - 7 - In the moment I really loved how this made my hair feel, but I did feel like once it dried, my hair would get oily a lot faster than usual. I am not sure what to link that too, but I was definitely noticing it wasn't as comfortable to go my usual full two days without washing my hair.

Packaging - 10 - Free floating shampoo bar in a cardboard box.

Another fan (aka me) favorite is the Love Beauty and Planet Coconut Water 2in1 shampoo bar. To be honest, I did not think I would like a 2 in 1 shampoo bar. I thought the fact that is was partially conditioner would cause my hair to get oily quicker, but I am loving it so far. I have only been using it for about 2 weeks, but I have had no issues as of yet.

Lather - 10 - Easily a 10, this bar lathers up so well, big fan.

Scent - 8 - Again with the coconut scent, I have never loved it too much, but something about this one hits different.

Hair feel - 9 - Okay I know I have only been using this one for a few weeks so it is possible I won't love it after a while, but right now, this bar is making my hair feel so incredibly soft and I am here for it. I do think my hair has gotten oily a bit faster than normal, but I'm not even mad at this one.

Packaging - 10 - Another free floating shampoo bar in a cardboard box, no need for plastic wrappings.

This last one is a little tough to rank, a few years ago I got the Ethique Hair Sampler pack as my first attempt at using shampoo bars. I don't remember them all super clearly, so I don't think rankings will work, but I will do my best to describe my experience. There were three shampoo bars and two conditioners, but I will focus only on the shampoos.

The three shampoos were Frizz Wrangler, Heali Kiwi, and Saint Clements. I remember liking the Heali Kiwi the best, but it has chunks of oats in it and somehow those seemed hard to rinse out.

Okay honestly now that I started in on Ethique I regret it, I don't remember any of the others.. whoops. BUT I do think that if anyone is interested in testing out shampoo bars for the first time, going with a sampler pack is a good way to get started.

I think we all have a good idea of the winner here, but let's see the averages anyway!

Unscented :

HiBar - 4

Habitat Botanicals - 8 WINNER WINNER WINNER

Scented :

Spring & Vine - 3.25

Acure - 8.75

Love Beauty and Planet - 9.25 WINNER WINNER WINNER

Hopefully I did all of that math right so nobody can come at me..

I'll probably continue to try new shampoo bars as I discover new brands, but I hope this gives a few people some ideas of things they may want to try.

As always, thanks for reading and hopefully I will get back into a schedule with these posts. Any questions, topic requests, comments? Send them my way!

That is all I have for now! Have a good weekend everyone :)