Sustainable hair washing: solid shampoo bars vs. soap bars

Hair washing without plastic waste: The environmentally friendly alternatives differ in solid shampoos and soap bars. Both do not require plastic packaging and help reduce plastic waste.

As a dry block that does not require a tube or bottle of plastic, solid shampoo at first glance has a great advantage for improving the environmental situation. However, their use can be dangerous for human health: They usually contain high amounts of sulfates - significantly more than liquid shampoos (sometimes more than 90%).

The acceptability of such artificial surfactants has often been discussed in recent years. Recent studies show that SLS (Sodium Lauryl Sulfate) and SLES (Sodium Laureth Sulfate) in shampoos can cause hair loss, irritation of the scalp or dandruff. Various sources of naturopathy indicate the dangers of SLS for skin, eyes, and hair. Furthermore, some even argue that SLS could cause cancer throughout the body.

Although scientific studies do not explicitly call the SLS a carcinogen, sulfates are currently criticized on the Internet, so that more and more people want sulfate-free shampoo.

Are Shampoo Bars without SLS better for the scalp?

Multiple shampoo manufacturers began to look for alternative surfactants that could have higher consumer acceptance. As a result, the number of surfactants used has risen sharply in recent years. However, many of the alternatives are produced using similar methods or ingredients to SLS and SLES. Due to the modified production, however, they may be labeled with other names in the INCI. Sometimes even simple synonyms are used for SLS and SLES. So even more conscious consumers can hardly identify the aggressive surfactants.

Vegetable oils in shampoos: attractive but ineffective.

As a marketing technic for shampoos, the focus is not on the surfactant used. Instead, manufacturers often add vegetable oils drop by drop and advertise this on the packaging. However, this has no advantage at all for hair and scalp: the surfactant combines with water and fat molecules when washed so that the caring oil cannot reach the hair at all.

The only effect that the vegetable oils in shampoos have is a reduction in washing power: since part of the surfactant has already combined with the oil it contains, it now absorbs less fat from the hair. Also, every vegetable oil has the same effects - even when most products often contain rare and expensive variants, such as argan oil.

Notwithstanding, vegetable oils have many advantages for the appearance and health of the hair. They only have to stay in contact with the hair for a certain time. Read more...

shampoo bar: wash hair like in the olden days - without any questionable ingredients

Our shampoo soaps are handmade natural soaps. They consist exclusively of selected vegetable oils and lye and are produced in the traditional cold process. This takes a lot of time - but no complex chemical transformations are needed. Before they find their way into the shower, our soaps must mature for at least 4 weeks. During this time they lose a large part of the water added during production and their pH value stabilizes. Thanks to our special mixture of six vegetable oils, our shampoo bars foam well and do not need any exotic additives to leave the hair clean and well-groomed.

Are shampoo bars always better than liquid and solid shampoos? What should you keep in mind when shopping?