When it comes to shampoo bars, you may already be a novice and a loyal user of them for months or years or it may be something foreign that you have been thinking about trying out and you do not know where to start or like many we meet at events and markets, you may have attempted to use them and you had a bad experience and it has put you off using them again?
Hopefully this blog post, our very first one too, will help you in your search and even inspire you to try again or try our ones out.
From what we know, there are two types of shampoo bars on the market at this time.
1. Shampoo bar made with lye water and oils. (The sodium hydroxide that soap is made of is technically a surfactant and falls under the anionic surfactants) I'll be doing a blog post about surfactants soon.
These are made from the traditional way of making soap with lye water and oils which are then saponified and a time of curing for a few weeks is needed. Ingredients like the oils and any additives can be customized to suit different hair types. The PH of a soap bar is around 9-10 which can be quite harsh for some hair types and leave your hair with a residue or feeling dry. Some users of soap bars on the hair use an apple cider vinegar rinse. Why use a rinse? The soap bar is quite alkaline and therefore the vinegar rinse balances this out and can act like a conditioner. Some users find depending on the soap bar they use, that they do not need a rinse. If you are using a shampoo bar of this type and you are happy with it and it is working for you, then great, it is all about finding the product that you are happy with using.
2. Shampoo bar made with surfactants (these shampoo bars are just processed differently to soap based shampoo bars)
These are the types of bars that Mia Belle creates. One of the main key ingredients in our shampoo bars is Sodium cocoyl isethionate - an extremely mild surfactant that is naturally derived from coconut oil - this surfactant has a nickname baby foam as it is so mild it is also used in many baby products and baby toothpaste. Surfactant is a fancy word used in personal care products meaning surface active agent. When a surfactant is used, it is to help an ingredient in personal care products become more efficient at doing it's job - ie. cleansing, conditioning, foaming etc. There are so many surfactants types in skin-care. The PH of shampoo bars created with surfactants are normally between 5-6 so it does well in not stripping the acid mantle of our skin. This is also one main reason why you would not need a vinegar rinse with our bars. You may find you do not need a conditioner, but for users like me who have extremely thick and colour treated hair, I need a good conditioner bar to coat and protect my locks, so we offer both shampoos and conditioner bars.
To help in your search of the right shampoo bars, check the ingredients before you purchase. For more information on our shampoo and conditioner bars, check our website www.miabelle.co.nz and any questions or queries please do not hesitate to email us or use the contact form on our website.
Our commitment to you
Mia Belle will always use naturally derived or organic ingredients, plant-based (with the exception of the beeswax wrap pouches and our goatsmilk and honey soaps), cruelty-free, non toxic, no nasties in our skin and hair-care formulations. You can have peace of mind that we will purposely and mindfully pick ingredients that will not harm the environment, our waterways and the people who use them.
