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.
*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! 🙂
I think I don’t understand your explanation correctly. If the pH of the shampoo bars is around 8 to 10 does not mean it’s a little alkaline for the hair?
I always thought I should look for for shampoos with a pH around 7 (very neutral) and condition with products slightly more acidic around 4 to ensure the closure of the cuticle. As a neutral shampoo may not require a slightly acidic conditioner?
While liquid shampoos lean more towards neutral-alkaline (clarifying shampoos have a much higher pH), they do not need an acidic rinse as conditioners, which are on the acidic side, help to bring the pH of the scalp down to 5.5-6.5 after shampooing. With shampoo bars (which still have much lower pH than soaps and some other shampoo bars), it is recommended to use an acidic rinse to restore the scalps acid mantle. The superfatting prevents hair and skin moisture loss.
I forgot the mention. The reason why all shampoos have a higher pH than the scalp is because alkalinity helps cleanse the hair, while acids help to close the cuticle and restore the acid mantle. I hope I answered your question!
I’m trying to incorporate more natural products into my regimen. If I used a moisturizing shampoo bar such as the Cocoveda would I have to use a conditioner too? Are the moisturizing shampoo bar gentle enough to use biweekly for cowashing?
Hello, JMason.
The Cocoveda shampoo bar is a rich moisturising bar as well as being very cleansing and gentle. There is no need for a conditioner after wards (though, some people still like to use a conditioner anyway). However, following the shampoo bar wash with an acidic rinse helps to further smooth the cuticle.
Thanks Vanessa! How often can you use the shampoo bars? Is daily or 2x a week okay? Does it make your hair dry if used more than once a week?
JMason,
2x weekly for shampoo bars is absolutely fine. Henna Sooq shampoo bars are super-fatted, so they’re very moisturizing and not drying at all. 🙂
I hope to find a product on your site that is used specifically on fine, straight hair. I cannot use either the Cocoveda nor Moroccan Clay – too bad.
My hair is very long, thick, and wavy. I received a sample in my henna shipment and so far I love it as I just happened to be transitioning to no-poo. My question is, can I shave the bar into a bottle and add water to create a liquid shampoo? I find it very hard to work the shampoo bar through my hair and the lack of suds while wonderful is confusing for me to know if I’ve thoroughly washed my hair.
Hi Sarah. Yes absolutely. Here is a blog post about that: https://hennablogspot.com/how-to-make-liquid-shampoo-from-a-shampoo-bar/
I hope this helps. Please let us know how it turns out.