Nobody wants to try shampoo bars unless they're free...

[Gaisy59]

Hey my hair is curly and colored and i can tell you i love my shampoo bars. I haven’t formulated a conditioner yet but i just noticed recently that if i don’t use conditioner I don’t have the frizzies and my scalp doesn’t itch anymore. It’s great!

As for hairdressers…i see TaniaJane here in Winnipeg who was specifically trained to cut curly hair by a master stylist in Vancouver so yes curly hair is a different animal and needs a trained stylist. I love my cut since i started seeing her.

 

[Arimara]

I don’t have super kinky Afro hair, but I have been told by more than one Black woman, “You have Black people hair!”

Needless to say, my hair is very dry, thick, curly, and frizzy. Having just spent the last ten days in a very humid area, it’s also HUGE.

Anyway, my handcrafted syndet shampoo bars and conditioner bars work great for my hair - it is noticeably softer and more manageable. I did specifically formulate for dry hair when I made them.

@kittyclark53 I have family members who love them, and they get my stuff for free or cost. But so far, I haven’t had any friends willing to try them, let alone pay the retail price for them. As others have noted, changing shampoos can be so scary for people. Hopefully when they see how good your hair looks, they will take a chance!

Afros come in all textures and you don't necessarily have to be black to have one, natural or not. My main concern is moisture rentention, aside from how well a shampoo cleans my hair. My hair needs the most but it likes to hate a lot of product too.

Show them these pics….she pays $150 for a haircut!!! (She’s nuts) She uses them when she has color as well.View attachment 67075She uses my shampoo bars regularly!!! Those are all natural curlsView attachment 67074

$150 sounds about right for that type of hair when outside NYC. It's actually worth it too if the the stylist cut curly types of hair right. I've seen some curly hair pics...

 

[Rsapienza]

$150 sounds about right for that type of hair when outside NYC. It's actually worth it too if the the stylist cut curly types of hair right. I've seen some curly hair pics...

That’s what she (my daughter) says. She says, “The struggle is real Mom. Be thankful you don’t know”. LOL

 

[daisychain]

9) How do you store the bar between washes?

I see this one a lot on forums, like it's some great mystery how you leave a soap-like bar to drain. I've seen people share the strangest suggestions for this. It makes me wonder... am I really that old? Is a soap dish now some antique device?

3) It will ruin my coloured hair

I know many people aren't really swayed by logic, especially when they have entrenched ideas, and kind of hate if you throw a whole lot of scientific references at them (which I don't understand ). So I don't know if you can really convince them with facts. But there's a lot of misunderstanding about what 'protects' hair colour. A lot of claims are just marketing and many 'colour protecting' shampoos really aren't anything special (I know consumers would hate to hear that though).

Colour protection is not even about pH or how gentle the surfactants are, as some DIY sources claim (the latter can matter a bit but not as much as believed). The number one thing that strips hair colour is... water! So it's hard to avoid losing the colour. A few ingredients protect the colour, like dimethicone and cationic polymers. There's also a study showing Coco Glucoside or Cocamdipropyl Betaine can reduce colour fade, especially the latter, and especially if combined with dimethicone or a cationic polymer. If you use any of those ingredients, you can tell people you have colour protectants in your bars.

1) My hair is long and thick ( and I guess there's an implication that it won't do the job?)

I have long, thick hair and was skeptical about using shampoo bars. I can't use, for example, thin shampoos that come in foaming bottles because they don't spread through my hair effectively. I thought the lather from a shampoo bar might be like that. But when I made my first shampoo bar, I was surprised how much I liked it. I don't use them for every wash but I do like them for a gentler wash between more clarifying washes.

One tip I'll offer is I've found adding a gum helps make the lather more viscous and easier to distribute through my thick hair. I especially like cationic guar for this, because you get both conditioning and lather thickening.

 

[Juggsy]

@KiwiMoose long time no see my fault.
are you interested in selling the foaming apple surfactant? I'll buy it from you!! I couldn't imagine post being outrageous between NZ + QLD as I send things to Hawke's Bay regularly.


also in reference to coloured shampoos. i formulate both blue and purple bars and my clients that use them love them.


But, I do think they are a hard sell but for different reasons. I find it hard to compete because there are so many.
and so so many bad ones.
I tried someone close to me's bar before I was formulating and it turned me off. big time.

Now, I know it was solely her bars.

but what I do is include an information sheet with common questions. basically similar style to what your post was.

"I have blonde hair and use..." and then the answer etc.

Plus, I have science to back me up. but, I sell more liquid shampoo then shampoo bars.

I find it good if you can get a mum hooked. I know that sounds bad. but, I always talk about my youngest and them going through a litre of shampoo and how when we switched the wastage stopped. But, I find mums are more willing to test on their children and husbands/wives then themselves. But when they do and they like the results they will try themselves.

And their hair is amazing. We recently were at hairdresser and she was surprised with how healthy Amélie's hair was because it's bleached to hell and back. She said we must use a good shampoo and conditioner. I took a sample the next day up to her. But A only uses shampoo and conditioner bars and does use a de-tangling/leave in conditioner a couple of times a week.

 

[KiwiMoose]

Hi @Juggsy ! I'm holding onto my foaming apple come hell or high water - I imported it from the USA and it cost a ton! LOL. I will eventually work my way through it.

I recently ordered some items from Aussie Soap supples and it still cost $65 (AU) for postage. I use Varisoft EQ65 in my shampoo bars also, and the sole supplier of that in NZ has stopped selling it, so i had to go further afield.

I like your idea of information leaflets - maybe I'll do that.

 

[Juggsy]

Hi @Juggsy ! I'm holding onto my foaming apple come hell or high water - I imported it from the USA and it cost a ton! LOL. I will eventually work my way through it.

I recently ordered some items from Aussie Soap supples and it still cost $65 (AU) for postage. I use Varisoft EQ65 in my shampoo bars also, and the sole supplier of that in NZ has stopped selling it, so i had to go further afield.

I like your idea of information leaflets - maybe I'll do that.

varisoft eq65 is a favourite. they've only stocked it for last couple of years. I first had to get from USA and it cost a fortune to send. I was happy when ASS started selling it.

haha re: not selling, I wouldn't either - makes lovely face wash though. I have been using it in a sensitive face wash. I do like the foaming proteins and amino acids. They are great for sensitive skin.

unfortunate that I have to buy foaming proteins from USA or Canada. it costs so much. I would love to get an Aussie collective going. some things we just can't get here and some things are things I feel I can't live without like Buah Merah oil.

 

[ScentimentallyYours]

@KiwiMoose, I *loved* your recommendation for using the large square ice cube trays to make shampoo bars. I had just put three of them into the donate-to-charity box, so I quickly ran downstairs after reading your post and fished them out. I plan to use them later this evening for Syndopour bars. Thank you!

 

[xuledywo]

I have put out an APB on my social media asking people why they don't seem to warm to shampoo bars. I have a bucket load of foaming apple here (all the way from the USA) that needs using up, but I don't want want to throw good money after bad making shampoo bars that are, quite frankly, very expensive to make. I have myself and my hubby and sister in law that use them regularly and that's it. And i only need to make circa 5-6 bars per year to service just us three.

Excuses people use not to try them are:
1) My hair is long and thick ( and I guess there's an implication that it won't do the job?)
2) They go gooey in the shower ( mine don't - but I remember the Lush ones used to when we bought those)
3) It will ruin my coloured hair
4) I have sensitivities
5) I have grey hair and need special shampoo ( is this a thing?)
6) I don't want to buy a (big) bar only to find out that I don't like it, so if I could get a little sample I might try it (my cost price is just over $3 for a 40g bar, so I don't fancy giving a truckload of those away!)
7) I'm fussy with shampoo and i like my salon-bought brand (even though it costs them nearly $40 per bottle)
8) I only spend $3 per bottle on shampoo so i don't want to spend $12 on a shampoo bar
9) How do you store the bar between washes hask shampoo lawsuit? ( genuine question, but one wonders what they are imagining...taking it out of the shower each time and putting it back in again next time you need it? I mean - where do you usually store your shampoo?)

Can anyone help me out here with responses to some of these questions? Thoughts? Ideas? Anything?

I've been more and more interested in sulfate free/ more natural shampoos and conditioners, as I keep hearing more and more bad things about the stuff that's in most brands.
What I was wondering is if anybody has any experiences with these kinds of shampoos? I've tried the sugar beet shampoo from Burt's Bees and it was alright but nothing fantastic.
I've heard great things about John Masters Organics and ABBA brand but wanted to know if anyone here has any feedback on sulfate free/more natural brands they've tried.

 

[AliOop]

My family loves these sulfate-free solid shampoo bars that I make, as well as these ones.

 

[not_ally]

I feel like my hair is less weighed down and frizzy using my bars than it does with my old liquid shampoo. It is nice to be able to add stuff that addresses your own specific concerns (eg, I use rice protein and rice starch to help with the frizzies.)

 

[KiwiMoose]

I feel like my hair is less weighed down and frizzy using my bars than it does with my old liquid shampoo. It is nice to be able to add stuff that addresses your own specific concerns (eg, I use rice protein and rice starch to help with the frizzies.)

Yes - a few weeks back, my dear hubby didn't think to tell me he had used the last of the shampoo bar. And given that our bathroom is upstairs, and my storeroom is down, and I was already half wet, I just grabbed a wee bottle of manuka honey shampoo I had in the drawer (leftover from a hotel we stayed in). Frizziest hair ever!

 

[Mommawolfe]

People buy shampoo bars. The shop I sell my wares in sells 2 different brands. People who buy them swear by them, and they have their friends buying them as well. When I began making my pain cream, I gave my entire first batch away to "test" it. [30] one ounce cans. It was expensive, but to me, worth it. I personally don't use bar shampoo, but, it is mainly because I don't like how it makes my down to my butt long hair feel. (Totally personal reason).

 

[AliOop]

People buy shampoo bars. The shop I sell my wares in sells 2 different brands. People who buy them swear by them, and they have their friends buying them as well. When I began making my pain cream, I gave my entire first batch away to "test" it. [30] one ounce cans. It was expensive, but to me, worth it. I personally don't use bar shampoo, but, it is mainly because I don't like how it makes my down to my butt long hair feel. (Totally personal reason).

Are you talking about bars of lye-based soap that are labeled as "shampoo bars"? Many, many people cannot use those as they are extremely drying to the hair. I did use them for years without any problem, but my hair is happier now that I make true shampoo bars with actual shampoo ingredients, aka syndets. The pH in real shampoo bars is much lower than is possible in any true soap product. My shampoo bars are also sulfate-free, since sulfates make my head flake and itch intensely.

I also make solid conditioner bars from the same ingredients as liquid hair conditioners. Well, I don't use all the ingredients used in most liquid shampoos and conditioners. For instance, my hair does better without silicones, so I don't tend to use those, or I use only tiny amounts.

 

[Kiti Williams]

I have put out an APB on my social media asking people why they don't seem to warm to shampoo bars. I have a bucket load of foaming apple here (all the way from the USA) that needs using up, but I don't want want to throw good money after bad making shampoo bars that are, quite frankly, very expensive to make. I have myself and my hubby and sister in law that use them regularly and that's it. And i only need to make circa 5-6 bars per year to service just us three.

Excuses people use not to try them are:
1) My hair is long and thick ( and I guess there's an implication that it won't do the job?)
2) They go gooey in the shower ( mine don't - but I remember the Lush ones used to when we bought those)
3) It will ruin my coloured hair
4) I have sensitivities
5) I have grey hair and need special shampoo ( is this a thing?)
6) I don't want to buy a (big) bar only to find out that I don't like it, so if I could get a little sample I might try it (my cost price is just over $3 for a 40g bar, so I don't fancy giving a truckload of those away!)
7) I'm fussy with shampoo and i like my salon-bought brand (even though it costs them nearly $40 per bottle)
8) I only spend $3 per bottle on shampoo so i don't want to spend $12 on a shampoo bar
9) How do you store the bar between washes? ( genuine question, but one wonders what they are imagining...taking it out of the shower each time and putting it back in again next time you need it? I mean - where do you usually store your shampoo?)

Can anyone help me out here with responses to some of these questions? Thoughts? Ideas? Anything?

i give a plastic screw top container with the 1st shampoo bar. A bit of plastic canvas in the bottom to hold it out of the drippings. I tell them to have this container out of the shower spray and to put the top on after 6 hours.

 

[not_ally]

I buy these soap savers from the Dollar Tree by the case (24 packets to a case, two in each packet, it works out to about 62 cents per soap saver.) I don't sell, but I hate thinking of my giftees drowning my soap babies in stagnant water. So every time I give soaps to a new giftee they get soap savers as well. They work on all kinds of bars, including shampoo and conditioner bars.

https://www.dollartree.com/home-collection-clear-plastic-soap-savers/858703

 

[dibbles]

@not_ally I use the same soap savers and give them to everyone who is getting soap for the first time. Even though I tell people to keep them from sitting in water, I think giving a soap saver reinforces that. We all know how sitting in water can affect handmade soap, and I would hate to have people forming an opinion after having soap getting all soggy after a week or so of sitting in a puddle.

 

[not_ally]

@not_ally I use the same soap savers and give them to everyone who is getting soap for the first time. Even though I tell people to keep them from sitting in water, I think giving a soap saver reinforces that. We all know how sitting in water can affect handmade soap, and I would hate to have people forming an opinion after having soap getting all soggy after a week or so of sitting in a puddle.

@dibbles, my sister is always telling me that I don't get to be bossy over the soap/other things I give away ("once they're out of your little mitts, that's it, you're not the Empress of Soap!!") It doesn't stop me from trying, though

 

[dibbles]

@dibbles, my sister is always telling me that I don't get to be bossy over the soap/other things I give away ("once they're out of your little mitts, that's it, you're not the Empress of Soap!!") It doesn't stop me from trying, though

But perhaps you are the Empress of Soap. Maybe you should change your user name

 

[Mommawolfe]

Are you talking about bars of lye-based soap that are labeled as "shampoo bars"? Many, many people cannot use those as they are extremely drying to the hair. I did use them for years without any problem, but my hair is happier now that I make true shampoo bars with actual shampoo ingredients, aka syndets. The pH in real shampoo bars is much lower than is possible in any true soap product. My shampoo bars are also sulfate-free, since sulfates make my head flake and itch intensely.

I also make solid conditioner bars from the same ingredients as liquid hair conditioners. Well, I don't use all the ingredients used in most liquid shampoos and conditioners. For instance, my hair does better without silicones, so I don't tend to use those, or I use only tiny amounts.

No, I am talking about shampoo bars, not just labeled as shampoo bars. The shop I sell in has 2 brands, and shampoo and conditioner bars is what their specialty is. The bars are small, but they are also pricey.