It feels quite appropriate that the final post of our 12-month plastic reduction challenge is announcing that I have found a moisturizing shampoo bar that works!! And oh what a journey it has been.

Benefits of a Bar

I’m going to regale you with the highlights from my sometimes ridiculous (and always disappointing) shampoo bar misadventures. But first, let’s talk about why shampoo bars are a sustainable choice.

• Plastic free. Shampoo bars are nearly always plastic free. Usually just a bit of paper or cardboard packaging.
• Long lasting. Shampoo bars are very concentrated so they last a long time if you keep them in a dry spot in your shower.
• No water. Shampoo bars haven’t been watered down, like typical liquid shampoo. This makes them lighter than a bottle of shampoo and thus less energy is wasted in transporting them. A shampoo bar is a lot lighter than a full shampoo bottle!
• Nothing to recycle. Bathrooms are notorious for being neglected when it comes to recycling behaviors. With a shampoo bar you don’t need to worry about drying out a bottle and recycling it.

The Winning Bar

I’m sure you’re waiting eagerly to know which shampoo bar ended up working for my color treated, wavy, fine hair. Well, wait no more – Ethique Damage Control / Mintasy is the moisturizing shampoo bar for me! Ethique is a pretty cool brand that’s completely dedicated to reducing plastic pollution. They’re a certified B Corporation, donating 20% of their profits to environment focused charities. Additionally, I really like that all of their products are:

• Plastic free
• Palm oil free
• Cruelty free (no animal testing)
• Vegan
• Sustainable

Ethique has 10+ difference shampoo bars, so the chances of finding one that suits your hair is pretty high! They even sell sample packs that allow you to try a range of products before committing to a full sized bar.

Based on the stockist information on the Ethique site it appears that some Target stores carry Ethique products, but I have had to rely on Amazon for this product. Pro tip: to reduce the impact of online shopping, choose a slower shipping time and try to bundle multiple products into an order.

A Bumpy Road

As promised, I do have a number of stories of failed shampoo bars. They all left my hair feeling squeaky clean, kinda like hay. Here’s a quick rundown:

• Lush: I tried three different Lush shampoo bars. They smelled so good. My favorite scent was Jason and the Argan Oil. Rose scented – yum!
• HiBAR: Despite choosing the one called “Moisturize”, it also left my hair squeaky clean and quite dry. My scalp even started to flake!
• PlaineProducts: This is actually a liquid shampoo that comes in refillable metal containers. Only kind-of drying, I almost went for this one but it was too hard to comb through my hair. Once again, smelled so nice! I liked both scents but the Rosemary-Mint-Vanilla was my favorite.

My most spectacular, and stressful, sustainable shampoo failure was trying to wash my hair with chickpea flour. Yep, you read that right. It’s part of the popular “no poo” method of not using soap on your hair. You mix chickpea flour with water and use it like shampoo, then finish it off with a quick apple cider vinegar rinse for softness. Tah-dah, fabulous hair! Click for tutorial. After a few tries the texture of my hair was showing signs of being awesome… however, I couldn’t get the flour out of my hair! I was spending way too long in the shower (water waste) and still finding tons of flour in my hair. After my shower I’d have to then scrub my head in the sink in a desperate attempt to not look like I had horrendous dandruff. After two weeks of very stressful hair washing episodes I gave up on this method. So disappointing!

Thankfully I found Ethique! I’m quite pleased with this effective, sustainable, affordable, and nice smelling solution!

xo, Nicole