Shampoo bars are one of the many gentle ways to clean hair without stripping it of all the natural oils. Here, at Henna Sooq, we stock a range of all natural hand crafted shampoo bars:
Soapnut: Deep cleansing/clarifying. Refreshing.
Cocoveda: Rich moisturising bar, stimulates growth, invigorating.
Pure Carrot: A moisturizing cleansing bar rich in vitamin A, revitalizing.
Sweet Honey: Strengthening, conditioning, leaves the hair shiny.
Argan Oil: A gentle cleansing moisturising bar that is great for sensitive scalps.
Moroccan Clay: A bar that detoxifies the hair.
Berhempsu: Moisturising, great for normal to dry hair.
Our shampoo bars are cold pressed, and we find this to be the best method for making shampoo bars. In your search for information and reviews on shampoo bars, please remember that not all shampoo bars are not created equally, nor with the same methods of processing. We take great care, and pride in our shampoo bar formulations for best results.
Our shampoo bars are also superfatted. Superfatting is the process of adding extra oils and/or butters when formulating our soap and shampoo bar recipes. This ensures a rich, creamy, nourishing shampoo bar for your hair type and regimen.
Hair, Water Hardness and pH.
According to www.wisegeek.com:
“The pH scale takes its name from the words potential of hydrogen. It is a scale used to measure the acidity or alkalinity of a solution. The pH scale uses a range from 0 to 14, with 7.0 indicating neutrality. Numbers beginning at 7.0 and moving toward 0 indicate acidity, while the numbers beginning at 7.0 and moving toward 14 indicate alkalinity, so the scale divides acids from bases.”
Our hair and skin is happiest within the 5.5-6.5 pH range. Here’s a pH table showing exactly where the hair and skin are on the pH scale:
As you can see, the hair and skin prefer a slightly acidic pH to thrive. Henna Sooq shampoo bars are pH balanced (ranging between 8 to 10) to the hair which means you shouldn’t need a diluted acid rinse after wards. However some shampoo bar users with hard water* may need to do the rinse if their hair feels a little waxy and heavy after washing with shampoo bars as hard water does make it harder to rinse out due to dissolved magnesium and calcium in the water itself. Depending on where you live, you either have hard water, soft water or something in between.
*Hard vs Soft Water.
Hard water is water that has dissolved minerals. The dissolved minerals in hard water tend to leave a film. This is evident if your drinking glasses are cloudy after washing, soap scum builds up on you and in the shower, chalky residue build up around taps. It is best to use an acidic rinse if you live in a hard water area.
Soft water lacks the minerals or has very little dissolved minerals in it. Soap scum will not build up, clothes can be washed without adding a softener, and there’s no chalky residue. All though soft water sounds like a dream for hair care, hard water is more beneficial to our inner health overall. The most common water types are between soft and hard. There are no shampoo bar related problems associated with softer water.
If you’re unsure whether your water is hard or soft, you can contact your main water supplier and ask them the kH of the water supply, or you can take a sample of your tap water to your local pet store (preferably one that stocks aquatic supplies) and have them test the hardness for a small fee, or even free.
Using Your Shampoo Bar:
Wet the hair with warm water thoroughly. Rub the shampoo bar in the palms of your hands until you achieve a lather. If you have hard water, adding a few drops of lemon juice/vinegar to your palms right before lathering the bar will help create lather. Distribute this lather gently throughout the hair. Rinse well and repeat if desired. If the hair has a waxy feel, then rinse with a diluted acidic rinse (2 TBS Apple cider vinegar/white vinegar/lemon juice in 2.5 cups of water). Leave the rinse on for around 3-4 minutes, then rinse out.
After use, let your shampoo bar dry away from moisture completely before each use. If you wash your hair frequently, having two or more bars in rotation helps the bar dry out.
Shampoo bars aren’t only beneficial for the hair, they’re also fantastic for the skin.
Remember, experimenting is part of the fun! What works well for someone else’s hair or skin may not work for you, and vice versa. Our shampoo bars can be found with our Cleansing Products at Henna Sooq. If you’re unsure which shampoo bar you need, we have shampoo bar samples so that you can try a few out to see what works best for you.
Happy lathering! 
