"Why would you bother?" Son#1 asked when I informed him there was a solid bar of shampoo in the bathroom if he wanted to use it.
I could have given him plenty of reasons … less wastage, less nasty chemicals, pH balanced, they last longer than a normal bottle of shampoo, no plastic containers to be gotten rid of, they work with hard water (unlike soap-based shampoo bars), no squirting cold shampoo onto your scalp first thing in the morning (am I the only person who has an aversion to this), etcetera, etcetera. But the real reason I love the shampoo bars from Ethique is that my hair has never consistently felt this soft. Even DH has commented on it - without prompting on my part.
In the past, having engaged in a looooooooooong period of trial and error with soap-based shampoo bars (which never worked with our hard water) there was no adjustment required in learning how to use the shampoo bars: wet the hair, lather up the bar in the hands or rub gently over the scalp a few times, massage the shampoo foam into the hair and scalp, and rinse. An acidic rinse is entirely optional. And that's it. The instructions say to repeat, but I've never felt the need, even when I oil my hair a few hours before I wash. I've also found that any one of the shampoo bars will cleanse my hair and remove oil even though I have always considered my hair to be on the oily side and adding oil is only going to make it, well, oilier.
Learning to use the conditioner bars was a different story however. They feel different to normal conditioner. Less gloopy (which means no spilling half of the conditioner I've squeezed into my hand onto the shower floor). Less able to be squished in to the hair. Even less conditioning (although, as I've found, this is definitely not true).
The instructions say to swipe the conditioner bar over your hair a few times. Maybe that works if you have a crew cut (but then, why would you need conditioner) but it does not work for long hair. I have found that the best way to use it is to divide my hair in half, and then divide each half into 3 or 4 sections and swipe the conditioner down each section until it feels coated. I do this for each section, and then massage it in, wait a few minutes, and then rinse. If I'm wanting a leave-in, I quickly swipe the bar over the ends and don't rinse. (Try not to have a fit if you decide to do this: no, you have not just slathered soap onto the most fragile areas of hair and left it there even if it appears that way.)
The difference the bar makes is more noticeable once the hair dries. My hair dries wavier and feels softer than I've ever been able to consistently produce with any other method. And it is always tangle free.
There are a few things the bars can't do. They can't swipe away my silvers or make me look young again, or repair damage (although they can help prevent it and can certainly control frizz), and I've not noticed any change in growth rate or thickness. But they have made washing my hair no longer the dreaded task it once was.
I'll take it.
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