Shampoo bars: The verdict

Deodorant, washing powder, soap, razors, straws…when there are so many plastic-free alternatives out there, you have to start somewhere.

Shampoo was where I started. Quite a while ago actually.

When I started using solid shampoo, there weren’t a whole lot of options. Now, there are so many, it seems they’re rivalling mainstream shampoo brands.

I tried five of them. I bought six, but I’ll explain that later.

If you haven’t yet tried solid shampoo, there are many reasons why you should:

• Worldwide, 1 million plastic bottles (including shampoo bottles) are bought every minute.

• Shampoo bars are waste free — when they’re gone, they leave nothing behind.

• They’re great for travelling — no risk of spillage and if you only have hand luggage, one less liquid to have to put in your clear bag.

• They last for ages! When I first saw they lasted three months, I cynically thought it was just a ploy to get me to spend more than I would on a bottle of shampoo. But it’s true — a bar (depending on the bar) easily lasts three months.

• Many shampoo bars have more natural ingredients than bottled shampoo.

A word of warning though — there will be a transition period, which can last from a few days to a few weeks. When your hair is used to a load of chemicals and you take those chemicals away, your hair starts to object by producing more natural oils, before it realises that it actually quite likes being chemical free. Persevere — it will change. In the mean time, lather up a little more and use an apple cider vinegar rinse.

Different bars will, of course, work for different hair types. My hair is fine, with the tendency to be a little greasy and flat. I wash it every second day and usually my routine is shampoo, conditioner, shampoo. For the purposes of this test, I cut out the conditioner — I wanted to see what the shampoos were like on their own. I used each shampoo for three washes, to give it a chance. Here’s what I found:

Lush Seanik shampoo bar

£8 for 55g (plus £2.50 for a tin)

If there’s a smell you like, Lush has probably put it in a shampoo bar. Whatever your hair type and whatever your preference, there’s an option for you.

The Lush bar was the first one I tried. One of the advantages being that I could buy it in a physical shop, so didn’t have to pay postage. However, that’s counteracted a bit by the price — this is definitely one of the more expensive options. If you use it right, it does last a long time. You really do only need a couple of strokes over your hair to get a bit of a lather.

My biggest downside with this one (other than the price) is the tin. The bar just fits in it when it’s dry. When it’s wet, it sticks to the bottom and can be nearly impossible to remove. This isn’t a big deal if you’re at home and have a soap dish to dry it in, but I took this bar on holiday at the end of the summer and basically, the bar hasn’t come out of the tin since. It’s now the mess in the photo. Lush have recently started making a cork pot, which comes at a hefty £7.50, but is a very environmentally conscious option and apparently pulls the moisture away from the bar.

The bar works — it cleans hair as well as any liquid shampoo I’ve ever used and my hair stayed clean for a couple of days.

Another downside is that these bars do contain SLS (as do most liquid shampoos), which can cause skin irritation.

Good points: cleans hair, lots of options for different hair types Bad points: price, misfitting tin, SLS

Overall, 7/10

Friendly Soap Lavender & Tea Tree shampoo bar

£2.75 for 95g

Friendly soap is available online and in some shops and they do various shampoo, conditioner, shaving and soap bars. I ordered mine online and it arrived in completely plastic free packaging, with the bar in a little cardboard box.

The ingredients are natural, with no SLS and no palm oil.

But, in terms of being effective, well it’s not really. I tried the bar three times and it lathered up a lot, but that’s about where the good stuff ended. Brushing it after washing wasn’t pleasant. I wondered how I had any hair left on my head! My hair was really tatty, so it took a bit of effort to brush and dry. After drying, it felt greasy straight away. I ended up wearing it tied back and washing it a day later.

Good points: price, natural ingredients Bad points: didn’t really do what a shampoo is supposed to do

Overall, 4/10

Soul and Soap Fresh Lemongrass shampoo bar £5.99 for 55g (plus £1 for a tin)

Soul and Soap produce a few options of shampoo bars. There are a lot of different smells, as well as an unscented option and a few vegan options. I love citrus, hence the lemongrass.

There’s a bit more space than in the tin of the Lush one, so it’s easier to get out, even when it’s been wet.

I really liked this one. It lathered a little, enough to feel like it was cleaning my hair and it was so easy to brush after. After drying, it felt clean and really smooth. As a bonus, it smelled great.

Good points: cleans well, no need for conditioner

Bad points: a bit more expensive

Overall, 9/10

Funky Soap Aloe Vera and Neem Oil shampoo bar

£3.00 for 65g

Funky Soap offer everything, from shampoo and conditioner bars to body butters, natural candles and cleaning products. Their shampoo bars are split into hair types, so I got one for normal hair.

The ingredients are all natural and vegan. The soaps are handmade in small batches. The bar came with an advice sheet, which is definitely helpful if you haven’t used a natural, solid shampoo before.

One of the things they recommend is lathering the bar in your hands rather than using it straight on your hair. I've tied this with other bars and it's never worked well for me, but since they recommended it, I tried it. I also tried it directly on my hair. Neither worked amazingly. It was quite hard to brush it when it was wet, so conditioner is definitely needed. After drying, it didn’t feel greasy, but didn’t feel very nice — heavy is the best way to describe it.

Good points: natural ingredients, price, handmade

Bad points: didn’t clean very well, needs conditioner

Overall, 5/10

Soho Soap Aloe shampoo bar

£4.25 for 70g (£1.25 for a tin)

I had bought all the shampoo bars that I planned to, when an advert popped up on my instagram feed from Soho Soap claiming to be the UK’s number one shampoo bar. That was too big a claim not to test.

Soho Soap had a deal on at the time, so I bought a shampoo bar and a conditioner bar and got a free shampoo bar (seriously, I’m not going to need to buy shampoo for about two years). It came in really pretty plastic-free packaging (turns out I’m a sucker for pretty things) along with a leaflet about why bars are better than bottles.

I was almost hoping this one wouldn’t be as good - because of the “number one” claim - I like to prove things wrong! But, I couldn’t. It’s really good. After running it over my hair three times, it lathered up a lot. As a slight downside, this made the bar stay quite wet and disappear quite quickly, so it's not going to last as long. It was very easy to brush and felt great after drying. It was silky and not greasy at all and I got couple of days out of it before washing again.

Good points: cleans well, price

Bad points: bar doesn’t last as long as others

Overall, 8/10

Then we come to number 6. It was a bit of a disaster. During my online search for shampoo bars, I found one that claimed to be 2 in 1 shampoo and conditioner. I ordered it from Amazon without doing any research at all. That was my mistake. It arrived a couple of weeks later, having come from China (carbon footprint fail). It arrived in a plastic bubble wrap envelope. Inside the envelope was the aluminium tin IN PLASTIC WRAPPING! But the ultimate fail was inside the tin, where I found the bar WRAPPED IN CLING FILM!

Complete fail, but I learned some lessons:

1. Buy local wherever possible - you'll reduce the distance your product has to travel and you're more likely to know exactly what you're getting.

2. Do your research and don't assume that products that seem sustainable or plastic free are. As well as this, I've seen bamboo toothbrushes in plastic packaging. It just misses the point.

At the end of it all, my winner was the Soul and Soap bar. There are many other options out there that I still want to try, but I hope this gives a starting point for you if you want to start using solid shampoo. You won't go back to a bottle!