How flexie a shampooer are you? I ask because in my green care exploration, I found out that organic certified hair products are — different.
From my research, I’ve only found two organic certified hair care lines: Dr. Bronners and Terressentials. However, both those lines don’t offer “normal” shampoos and conditioners.
Dr. Bronners recommends using soap as shampoo — then using a “Hair Rinse” instead of a conditioner. Difference between a hair rinse and a conditioner? The former requires a cup and mixing:
Just stir 1- 2 capfuls of this rinse into a cup of water, close eyes and slowly pour while massaging into hair. Keep hand combing hair until hair feels entirely sleek (~30 seconds). Rinse out well. Repeat if necessary in extra hard water conditions or with longer hair.
Terressentials also offers a “Hair Rinse” — but as a shampoo substitute. Difference between a hair rinse and a shampoo: The former requires you to put your hair through a lengthy “detox protocol” that recommends two to three washings for the first four days or so. Considering the fact that I don’t even shampoo every day, this “detox” seems rather onerous….
Using a bar soap as shampoo’s not unique to organic certified products. Many fans of Lush, for ex, swear by the soap-as-shampoo dealio. These hair rinses — defined either as a shampoo or conditioner depending on the company — are in a class of their own however. I’m wondering how many of you’ve tried these shampoo / conditioner alternatives — and how many of you would be willing to try them in the future:
If you’ve tried either of those products, please share your experience with the rest of us! I’m also curious about the popularity of bar shampoos (or bar soaps used as bar shampoos):
I actually just bought the Dr. Bronner’s hair rinse today. I have the bar soap, but haven’t tried it as shampoo yet. I’ll let you know how it goes!
Comment by Elise — June 14, 2008 @ 7:44 pm
Try BeeCeuticals Bee-Hair-Now shampoo and conditioner—they’re organic- and fair-trade certified and my current faves.
Comment by Jasmin — June 15, 2008 @ 11:08 am
Here’s a TH review I wrote a while back: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/11/beeceuticals.php
Comment by Jasmin — June 15, 2008 @ 11:09 am
Elise — I just bought the Dr Bronners rinse too! We shall both try it out –
Jasmin — Looks like the shampoo and conditioner use 60 and 87% organic ingredients, respectively. BeeCeuticals does indeed have some USDA organic certified products though, so I’ll def. check them out!
Comment by Siel — June 15, 2008 @ 3:20 pm
I don’t buy Lush anymore, but I used to use their Jungle solid conditioner bar. I liked the smell and it worked pretty well if I alternated it with another conditioner. I also tried other Lush shampoo/conditioner bars, but didn’t like most of them. Some left my hair clumpy; one left it too squeaky clean.
It takes a bit of getting used to using a shampoo or conditioner bar, but it soon doesn’t seem that weird. Keeping the bars dry in between showers/baths is key, though. Jungle, for one, leans toward squishiness once wet, and that sucker goes fast enough anyway. Another con (the one which now rules it out for me): it has sodium lauryl sulfate. Lush, incidentally, really took their time about removing it from any of their products for a “natural” company…
Comment by trill42 — June 15, 2008 @ 9:06 pm
i’ve used lush bar soaps with pleasure and satisfaction. the shine bar shampoo does make my hair squeak but after conditioning i’m usually guaranteed a good hair day. their godiva one smells awesome but that’s all i can remember. since the dioxane report and finding ewg i’ve been on this strict no toxins regime and its been a lot to get used to. dr. bronner’s baby soap, which is the one i finally chose (they’re not all equal according to ewg) isn’t lathery etc. but it’s pretty economical compared to the 25 bucks a bottle i was dropping on lush’s ‘the olive branch’. (it smelled so great and was so moisturizing i often didn’t have to do that after even in winter and i’ve got dry skin.) aubrey shampoos and conditioners are not nearly as moisturizing as i’m used to - and this is shocking and i’m trying to figure out why. but they’re different products too. i find that if i don’t use any styling products after, that half the time i’m like wow, my hair looks better than i’d expect. dr. bronner’s hair conditioning creme, the leave in one, i found it to build up and make my hair dull. he’s such a wonderful guy though - i saw his play when it came through nyc and it was so cool to hear the story of his dad, the company and how no matter what, they’re not going to sell out - so i hope any criticisms just help them make better products because i’ll gladly try more. lastly, i’ve been using suki face stuff instead of reviva labs again because of ewg and am horrified to find that after a month i am getting a ‘loose neck’. i’ve never had this before, but i guess the reviva labs creme that i used, it’s ‘tightening’ aspect is now lost on me. so this is a tough call, i mean, there are some lines i won’t cross like if the company has anything to do with animal testing forget it no matter how cheap and/or effective - hello, neutrogena - but am i so vain as to go back to a product that is reported as being carcinogenic?
Comment by susan — June 16, 2008 @ 10:15 am
to weigh in on the bar issue, i use lush’s soak and float, a bar shampoo that i leave in a soap dish to keep dry in between uses, because i have an awfully dandruffy head and it’s the only stuff i’ve found that really mitigates that. it smells pretty terrifying so i almost always condition my head as well, but i do recommend it for the dandruff-afflicted.
Comment by mb — June 16, 2008 @ 3:15 pm
I’ve used the Dr. Bronner’s soap as shampoo, followed by their new conditioning rinse, for a few days now. So far, I’m not loving it. But I’ll give it a little more time. It also seems like you have to use a lot of the goo (which is kind of gross looking) to make the rinse. I use a capful, but it seems like a lot more than I would use were it a regular conditioner. If I’m going to have to buy the rinse-goo more often than I would a regular conditioner, then I don’t think it’s worth it. It costs $10 at my local Whole Foods. I can’t be spending that on conditioner every few weeks. You get a lot of bang for your buck with the Dr. Bronner’s bar soap. Not so much with the rinse-goo.
I have been using their new soap-shave gel, and do like that. I’ll probably give the soap bar and icky goo more of a chance, though.
Comment by Elise — June 17, 2008 @ 9:15 am