|
|
 |
Success
with Shampoo Bars
and
General Hair Care |
 |
|
We often receive questions from customers asking for
help with specific hair care problems or
problems
with their hair adjusting to shampoo bars.
I will be perusing all of my archived questions,
comments, and helpful hints
I have received from customers over the years and
posting the information here.
If you have a question or a helpful hint, please
send me an e-mail.
I will not be using names (unless you send a
recipe), since similar questions and suggestions
are often posed by a number of people.
This page is a "work in
progress." At this point I am just beginning
to add the material, and hopefully I will be
continually adding new information
|
|
QUERY LIST
When
the page is complete...clicking on the
question or
statement will bring you to some suggestions
on this page
or another information page.
If you are taken to another page,
please use your browser's back button to
return to this page!
|
|
|
|
SUGGESTIONS
(Suggestions, Thoughts and Ideas given
to us by our fabulous customers!) |
|
|
A Few Words About "BUILD
UP"
"Build up" in our hair and scalp is unavoidable. We
secrete sebum (natural oils)
from our sebaceous glands and sweat from the apocrine (sweat) glands
located in our scalp. Also, as new skin cells form we shed dead
skin cells from our scalp. So, we all naturally create this
lovely mixture of sweat, oil, and dead skin cells that can coat our
hair and scalp.
Now, add to that lovely natural mixture the additives
in your commercial shampoos and conditioners.
Since
everybody is different, you may even have an overactive gland or
two, or shed skin cells a bit more than someone else.
Furthermore,
sometimes
the dead skin cells lining the opening of you hair follicle do not
shed properly and clog your hair follicles, producing even more build
up and an itchy scalp.
So, the hair care products
you have been using, your water, and your own personal "hair genetics"
will determine your adjustment period to a natural shampoo bar.
Detergent
shampoos are very good at stripping EVERYTHING (even those natural
oils we want), so you may not notice this build up as readily with
your commercial shampoo. Our shampoo bars are very gentle
cleansers.
When you first begin using
shampoo bars it is
best to clarify your hair and scalp at least once a week using
either with an Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) rinse
or a Baking Soda rinse.
Or simply add less
than a teaspoon of baking soda to the shampoo bar suds already in your
hair. Add a bit more water and shampoo.
|
|
|
My hair is having
trouble adjusting to the shampoo bars.
The most common e-mail we receive from new
shampoo users with hair adjustment troubles goes like this..."I just love
the idea of using an all natural shampoo, but my hair feels funny!" We have many customers who have no adjustment
problems at all. Adjustments periods can range from a few days to a
few weeks, most adjust within the first week. We have had a few
whose hair simply does not like shampoo bars. I have received
e-mails from customers who tried shampoo bars for weeks and stopped using
them, only to try again in a month, and have great success.
Unfortunately, there is no single common thread in those with adjustment
issues. Most of the time your hair simply needs to adjust as
you switch from one type of shampoo to another.
Below is some of the
information we have learned from our customers!
 |
Residue from other
products:
|
|
|
Whether you realize it or not your
commercial liquid shampoos and conditioners
often contain
synthetic silicones and silica that coat your hair,
to make it "feel" nice, but
leave a residue in your hair.
For that reason, many
hairdressers will tell you that it is a good idea to
change commercial shampoo brands regularly.
This is a common scenario when you
try a new shampoo . . .at first your hair feels
funny, then you love it for a week or two, but then
your hair seems dull and lifeless again. The
fist week it was stripping your hair of the old
shampoo residue, then it begins to leave its own!
Other hare care products can
also leave residues in your hair.
Synthetic silicones are derived from
polymers which are soft, plastic, gel-like
substances
that are hard to remove from your hair and scalp.
The detergent
shampoos with with
loads of SLS
are very good at stripping EVERYTHING (even those
natural oils we want). Our shampoo bars are
very gentle cleansers.
You need to give
the shampoo bars about a week to rid your hair of
the old residues from your commercial shampoo.
Because
shampoo bar soaps do not strip hair in the same way
as detergent based shampoos, you may notice your
wet hair feeling different after washing than you
may be accustomed. This is perfectly normal,
you'll love how your hair feels after it dries.
|
For
some, using a clarifying rinse before
beginning a new shampoo is helpful to rid your
hair of residue left from other hair care
products! |
|
Baking Soda Clarifying Rinse
1 T baking soda
1 cup warm water
Combine the ingredients in a
spray bottle or cup.
Wet hair and spray
or pour the rinse on your hair and work it through.
Rinse
thoroughly with warm water, then shampoo with your regular
shampoo |
For others using a
vinegar rinse after
shampooing for the first week solves the problem.
(I
am in the process of creating a page of hair rinses--coming soon!)
|
|
|
Not the right
shampoo bar for your hair:
|
|
|
Each of our shampoo bar selections
is made with a unique recipe and contains a different
blend
of natural plant oils, essential oils, and herb infused
oils.
No two recipes are the same.
Our
best suggestion is to try some different samples.
Use them one at a time so that you can really judge how they
make your hair and scalp feel. We often tell customers
to take notes on what they like or don't like about each soap
or shampoo bar.
|
|
|
Hard water:
|
|
|
If you think you have hard water, read our information on
How Your Water Affects Hair.
Some of our customers with very hard water suggest rinsing your hair
with rain water.
|
|
|
Shampooing
Technique:
|
|
|
Our shampoo bars are
superfatted and thus contain extra oils and butters to nourish
your hair. If you rub the shampoo bars on your hair (like I do), you
are coating your hair with superfatted soap. If you do not lather up
really well, you will have areas that remain coated with soap.
The most common spot, especially for people with long hair, is at the
nape of the neck. You need to work the shampoo into your hair with
water and lather up so that the dirt and extra oils not needed by your
hair can be washed away. If you are used to commercial shampoo and
shampoo twice, you will have already noticed that the second wash
produces a lot more lather. The first wash is mixing with the dirt
and excess oil in your hair so the second wash is working on cleaner
hair. The same is true for our shampoo bars.
So lather up, once, twice, maybe even three times at first. Then be
sure to rinse, rinse, rinse!!! Again, if you have long hair,
pay special attention to the middle back of the hair so that you rinse
all of the soap out of your hair. |
|
|
I have used the new shampoo bars for a few
days and my hair
feels awful!
|
|
Why it happens: |
|
|
This
weird hair feeling happens most often when the soap residue does not
completely rinse out of your hair. This can happen if you have
extremely hard water (the minerals interfere with the ability of the
soap to be rinsed off your hair) or if there is residue on your hair
from chemicals left behind from previous shampoos and
conditioners. Many commercial conditioners and shampoos leave behind
a coating on your hair, especially those that contain silicones.
These "chemical coatings" are what make your hair "feel" nice!
Since our shampoo bars are mild and do not contain detergents or
degreasers like SLS, it may take a few days for the shampoo bar to
strip off these excess chemicals.
|
|
|
Get your hair clean before
trying a new shampoo bar: |
|
|
If the mild shampoo
bars do not wash out this residue, go back to your commercial
detergent shampoo and wash your hair. Then use a
baking soda (recipe above), vinegar, or citric acid rinse to remove the residue.
|
|
|
Hard water:
|
|
|
If you think you have hard water, read our information on
How Your Water Affects Hair.
Some of our customers with very hard water suggest rinsing your hair
with rain water.
|
|
|
My hair loves the shampoo bars, but my
scalp gets itchy
(or my hair feels heavy)
after a month or so!
An itching scalp or hair that feels heavy
after using shampoo bars
for a while may be caused by build up,
especially if you have hard water.
|
The one plus for detergent based
shampoos is that they do rinse cleaner
than soap. The detergents, like
Sodium Laurel Sulfate, are engineered in
laboratories to lather quickly, rinse
easily, and leave minimal residue or
soap film. This is why they became so
popular. Unfortunately, these
synthetic detergents also have unwelcome
side effects for us and our environment! |
|
|
Vinegar Rinses: |
|
|
We recommend using a
vinegar rinse. When using a vinegar rinse, some use a spray
bottle to spray on the rinse. Others pour on the rinse using a
cup. If you have thick hair, the rinse may not be getting to
your scalp. One of our customers uses one of those ketchup-type
dispensing bottles to squirt the vinegar deep onto her scalp and then
massages it in. She also suggests using a bristle brush on your
scalp prior to shampooing if you feel you have a build-up.
|
|
|
Baking Soda
Rinse: |
|
|
If you have already tried
using a vinegar rinse or you do not like them, try a clarifying
Baking Soda Rinse (recipe
above). OR, rather than using an actual baking soda rinse,
some people add a bit of baking soda to their hair as they shampoo--it
helps with lathering and rinsing!
|
|
|
Shampooing
Regime::
|
|
|
Develop
a regime that works for you. Some of us have hair that
does not like using the same hair care products for a long time.
Some natural shampooers find that their hair is happier if they
alternate shampoo bars. Find 2 or 3 shampoo bars that
your hair likes and alternate. My hair liked alternating
shampoo bars at first--but now I can use the same shampoo bar for
months!
One customers that did not like the fuss of
using vinegar rinses, uses the shampoo bars for 3-5 weeks, or until
her hair tells her it has had enough. Then she uses a regular
shampoo for just two days and then she goes back to the shampoo bars.
She has been doing this for months now and it works for her.
Other customers have also had success with this method. I
realize you will be still using some of that nasty shampoo once in a
while, but as one customer told us, "...a few days a month is worth it
if I can keep using the shampoo bars!"
|
|
|
Shampooing
Technique:
Be sure to lather up really well and then rinse, rinse, rinse!!!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Swimmers: Chlorinated water does damage to my hair!
|
|
Some Suggestions:
-
We do not have any shampoos that
are specific for swimmers--but a mild shampoo will help by not
stripping the natural protective oils.
-
Some suggestions given to me my
others include using lemon juice or vinegar or even tomato juice to
rinse your hair after swimming. The acidity of these liquids may
help neutralize the chlorine.
-
One way to protect your hair
from all the chemicals in a pool is to wet it with non-chlorinated
water before you swim. Since your hair absorbs water from the pool,
if your hair can absorb some non-chlorinated water before swimming,
it will take up less of the chlorinated water.
|
|
|
Beauty
Secret Cucumber Hair Rinse for Swimmers
A
lot of customers ask for "hair help for swimmers." We all know
what chlorinated water can do to your bathing, well it can do the same
to your hair! This little homemade beauty secret may help keep
chlorine damage to a minimum.
Blend one whole egg, one quarter of a large peeled
cucumber, and one eggshell's worth of olive oil together. Spread
the mixture evenly throughout your hair. Leave on for 10
minutes, then rinse thoroughly. Use monthly for the best
results.
|
| |
|
|
|
Click link to read
disclaimer concerning liability and health information.
|
