5 Reasons to Ditch Your Favorite Shampoo Bottle for a Shampoo Bar
Nothing in the world compares to the feeling of freshly-shampooed hair. But every time you wash your hair, you may actually be causing more harm. And we are starting to realize that now, which is why, like some kind of a global movement, we have been swapping our favorite shampoo bottles with a bar of shampoo! And if you haven’t heard yet, here are 5 reasons that will convince you to ditch the bottled shampoo for good.
1. Bottled shampoo wreaks havoc on your hair
Earliest-known shampoos were made from lye and lard, and made hair dry, damaged, and brittle from the high-alkali pH levels. Then came along Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (SLS), the first man-made detergent. This was originally meant for washing laundry, but since it was cheap, easy to make, and lathered too much, manufacturers began using it in shampoos. And because it lathered so much, people believed that it really cleaned their hair well.
The problem: SLS or SLES contain surfactants. The surfactants' hydrophobic tails turn inwards and form spheres (micelles) with the hydrophilic heads faced outwards. This way, they suspend the dirt and excess oil in water before it is rinsed out and down the drain. But the problem is that they don't discriminate between the excess oil/dirt and your scalp's natural protective layer of sebum. This layer keeps your scalp and hair hydrated, protects it from allergens, environmental pollutants, and the sun, and prevents it from drying out.
So, every time you shampoo, you successfully wash away your hair's natural barrier, leaving your hair dry, irritated, and easily tangled, and then the body tries to replenish that layer, resulting in a cycle of oily hair and shampooing. And if you dye your hair, the surfactants can also grab the pigments and remove them, essentially fading the hair color over time.
2. Shampoo bars eliminate the need for using a conditioner
It's evident that bottled shampoo strips your hair of its natural sebum layer. So, when you shampoo, it leaves your hair feeling dried out. Then, when you top it with conditioner, it uses silicone to imitate your natural sebum barrier. This makes it feel smooth again to run your fingers in your hair, and you end up feeling satisfied, believing that your hair has been cleaned and then made smooth like butter. But is it ever really a good idea to remove the natural thing only to replace it with the artificial?
Since shampoo bars gently cleanse your hair to remove any dirt and excess oil, but leave the scalp's natural protective barrier in place, although you can, there's absolutely no need to use conditioner!
3. Shampoo bars are on their way to becoming the new normal
Although people have been using soap bars to wash their hair for centuries, the first shampoo bar was developed in 1988 by Constantine & Weir. Even then, shampoo bars were messy and hard to use, and they didn't really blend well. Additionally, they had a transition period before they would work. But we have come a long way since then. Today, we make our shampoo with natural, powerful ingredients, and make them easy to use for everyone in the family, making for moisturized, supple hair from the first wash.
4. Shampoo bars are travel-friendly
70%-80% of most liquid shampoos is water. Since shampoo bars don't contain water, they take up less space and are easier to carry when traveling. And because they take up less space, more can be transported for the same amount of fuel, reducing transport carbon emissions, which brings us to..
5. Shampoo bars are eco-friendly
The average person will go through roughly 800 plastic shampoo bottles in his lifetime, and these will end up in landfills and in our oceans, choking our marine life and contaminating our food and water. Once loose in our waterways, these surfactants cause serious harm to aquatic life. For example, they are toxic to fish- they enter the gills and impair their ability to absorb oxygen from the water.
Shampoo bars also eliminate the need for plastic packaging. Whether purchased from a store or delivered to your doorstep, shampoo bars can be packed in biodegradable packaging. They are a zero-waste hair care solution. And since they can last you a long time, that avoids the amount of plastic packaging you would have thrown away during that time had you been using bottled shampoo.
Apparently, “Lather. Rinse Repeat” is only beneficial to the shampoo companies; it’s a marketing gimmick that makes us use more and buy more. But it wreaks havoc on our hair and kills our environment one shampoo bottle at a time while the surfactants destroy our marine life.