Using a shampoo bar is easy and it is also convenient while traveling. With these tips you will get the most out of your shampoo bar.

1. Brush Well and Use Plenty of Water

Brush your hair throughly and remove possible hair tangles. Wet the hair with warm water and wet the shampoo bar. Use plenty of water on your hands and on your hair in order to get the bar to foam easily. You can first foam the bar in your hands and massage the foam into you hair or you can massage the shampoo bar directly on to your hair. For long hair the best way is to first rub it in the hair lengths and then foam.

Rinse your hair afterwards with plenty of warm water. We recommend to only let foam once, but in case you are in need of an additional wash e.g. around the neck area or use a lot of hair products, a double foaming can be in place. Normally one foaming is enough to cleanse the hair and is also more gentle on the scalp.

2. What Conditioner to use After Washing with a Shampoo Bar?

Our Shampoo Bars contain D-Panthenol, which for many is enough as a conditioner. D-Panthenol and vitamine B5 makes your hair silky and easy to treat. If you want a more shiny and treatable hair, we recommend to use a natural acid rinse. It also balances the pH of the scalp, bringing shine, smoothness and making the hair easier to treat. Apple wine vinegar also has an anti-inflammatory and fungicidal effect and helps prevent the growth of bacteria and fungi on the scalp. Apple vine vinegar is efficient also for treatment of dandruff, dry and easily greasing scalp. Acid rinse is a good and light alternative to regular conditioners or hair oils, especially if you feel they are flattening or making your hair heavy.

Acid Rinse Recipe:

2 dl Water

2 tbs Apple Wine Vinegar/Apple Cider Vinegar (also regular vinegar works, however best results will be gained by using organic and unpasteurised with “mother”) I myself use this. If you wish you can add a few drops of an essential oil.

Mix water and vinegar and apply to hair and scalp. For short hair half the recipe is enough. For long hair it is recommended to apply the rinse with your head down and let the rinse drain down to the cup, for which reason you can repeat the treatment. Let the rinse affect the scalp and hair for a while. Finally rinse the hair with lukewarm water. The acid rinse may be witty on the nose, but it disappears soon after the hair dries. You can slightly adjust the mixing ration of the acid rinse to suit your own hair.

3. Store the Shampoo Bar Correctly

A shampoo bar will get soft if it cannot dry airy. This way it also wears out much faster and wet conditions are also a much better breeding ground for unwanted contaminants and bacteria. A good setting for the shampoo bar is the kind were there is no humidity underneath. A breathing and also safe option to keep the shampoo bar in the bathroom is a Luffa soap holder. Luffa is very breathing and the shampoo bar will dry in an instance and does not easily stick to the luffa. The luffa-vegetables complex mycelium binds soap drains and the bathroom stays clean. In case the luffa contain excessive amounts of soap, it can be washed and you can continue to use it.

Neither will the Luffa soap holder break in case it falls on the tile floor and it is 100% natural and completely biodegradable.

The shampoo bar is also convenient while traveling, hiking or engaging in sports activities. A convenient soap container on the road is a technical soap bag FlatPak, were the soap bar dries inside! The soap bar dries through the technical fabric and does not wet nor mess the bag.

Why Choose a Shampoo Bar?

A shampoo bar is a great alternative to a liquid shampoo, because it saves nature and often also money. One shampoo bar equals to about 3-4 bottles of 250ml shampoo bottles. We counted the amount of shampoo bars sold last year, and would we have sold liquid shampoo in plastic bottles, it would have accumulate to 9876 bottles of excessive plastic waste. In packaging the soap bars we use a thin unbleached paper bag. You will however recognise Kolme Cosmetics shampoo bars also without packaging, because they are all triangular in shape.

Our shampoo bars are soap based and our main ingredient is domestic Finnish rapeseed oil. The bars do not contain sulphates, synthetic surfactants such as SLS (sodium lauryl sulphate) or SLES (sodium laureth sulphate).

In comparison to industrial shampoo our shampoo bars are more gentle and leave the hair feeling voluminous, because it does not wash the hair or scalp as strongly. Many have received help in treating symptomatic scalp simply by switching from a conventional liquid shampoo to a natural shampoo bar. Give your scalp and hair some time to get used to the shampoo bar and you will notice, among other things, that the scalp sebum production will get more balanced which often results in extended washing intervals. More tips on extending washing intervals and for a more natural hair care recipes you will find in an older blog post.

How to Choose the Correct Shampoo Bar?

There are different kinds of shampoo bars and each producer has their own recipes. If one shampoo bar has been a flop another one may very well work. Kolme Cosmetics shampoo bars are light in their fat profile and therefore suits Scandinavian and fine hair. When the main ingredient is domestic Finnish rapeseed oil, you wonder if it is only a coincidence that a plant grown so close is also a good choice for this kind of hair type. Heavier waxy fats are less likely suitable for thin and fine hair, such as shea butter, that can leave a sticky film on the hair. For rougher and curly hair, they may on the other hand work perfectly.

The largest impacts on a shampoo bar are the oils used and superfat. These are also the facts that differ shampoo bars from a regular soap bar of facial soap. In a shampoo bar there needs to be less superfat, i.e. fat that is not saponified. Soap bars intended for the skin are usually too fat to wash the hair with, which will most likely result in sticky hair at least a day after washing. For some this will still work well. There are so many different hair qualities and scalps and by testing you will find the one best suited for your hair.

You can order a tester from our shampoo bar 1,90 €/pcs. Shampoo Bar testers weigh ca. 10-20g and you can easily make several test washes with one piece. Select here.

Do you have any additional questions concerning the use or manufacture of shampoo bars? I will be happy to comment and answer them!

Toxfree Regards, Hanna