Shampoo Bars and the porous curly

dernhelm · 01-17-2011, 06:12 PM

Any porous curlies out there have long term success with poo bars?

I started using shampoo bars about two weeks ago and my hair absolutely loves them. I do have a water softener and I do follow with a weak acv rinse.

About one week ago I started doing research on poo bars and it sounds like using them is not good news for porous curlies. I would really hate to lose my length due to any possible damage, it's taken me sooo long to grow!

Any thoughts?

SaSSyClaSSy · 01-17-2011, 06:44 PM

Wow, that's interesting knowledge. I have been using a shampoo bar for over 6 months with no problems. I have normal to high porosity, but I do ACV rinses.

3c4d7zwhatevs · 02-10-2011, 12:40 PM

I too use shampoo bars pretty regularly and have not had a problem. I used to do ACV rinses and do them now, sometimes, but not every time I use a 'poo bar. At the moment, I am using Auromere's Tulsi-Neem soap bar for shampoo (my scalp needs the herbal treatment badly) and have not felt that need for the rinse like I have with other bars.

I am highly porous, I color my hair with high lift color regularly.

dernhelm · 02-11-2011, 05:57 AM

Thank you for both of your replies.

I've never heard of Auromere soap before, I'm going to go look that up now.

Alas, I think I am done with my shampoo bars for now. Hopefully, I can revisit them when my hair is in better shape. They seem to leave my hair dull-looking. Maybe I need to up my acv ratio.

Also, I have noticed a ton more halo frizz. Is it new growth or breakage? Can't tell.

If it is breakage, I guess it could be from plopping, I think I started doing that about the same time I started using the poo bars. My hair is so fine and fragile!

Greatcurls · 02-11-2011, 06:40 AM

I used to use shampoo bars in the past, but didn't know that I needed an ACV rinse afterward. As a result, my hair was very dry and tangled. I did DC afterward, but I didn't like the way my hair felt after I shampooed with the soap.

3c4d7zwhatevs · 02-11-2011, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dernhelm

Thank you for both of your replies.

I've never heard of Auromere soap before, I'm going to go look that up now.

Alas, I think I am done with my shampoo bars for now. Hopefully, I can revisit them when my hair is in better shape. They seem to leave my hair dull-looking. Maybe I need to up my acv ratio.

Also, I have noticed a ton more halo frizz. Is it new growth or breakage? Can't tell.

If it is breakage, I guess it could be from plopping, I think I started doing that about the same time I started using the poo bars. My hair is so fine and fragile!

Yes, do revisit them if you get the urge. Also, please remember that your hair will respond differently to some bars than others. I had the dull-looking thing happen with one brand of shampoo bars (all of their bars) and I only tried the Auromere bars because I was traveling and my products were damaged in transit. I had previously sworn off bars but was staying in a hotel owned by people who provided some ayurvedic bars and I loved them. They had the same ingredients as the Auromere bars, plus the Auromere bars had the ingredients to keep my scalp healthy.

I swear being curly is a dang hit-or-miss with the products.

kathymack · 02-11-2011, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sagehen

Yes, do revisit them if you get the urge. Also, please remember that your hair will respond differently to some bars than others. I had the dull-looking thing happen with one brand of shampoo bars (all of their bars) and I only tried the Auromere bars because I was traveling and my products were damaged in transit. I had previously sworn off bars but was staying in a hotel owned by people who provided some ayurvedic bars and I loved them. They had the same ingredients as the Auromere bars, plus the Auromere bars had the ingredients to keep my scalp healthy.

I swear being curly is a dang hit-or-miss with the products.

+1. I had a horrible experience with the Chagrin Valley bars that are well loved around here. It was the castor oil. If I hadn't used a bar with great success prior to that experience, I would never have tried another. I'm picky about the ingredients, too. That's the way you should be with all of your products, LOL!

Reeky · 02-11-2011, 02:50 PM

i used them for some months.. i had no issues with them but I did an acv rinse everytime. I looove the chagrin valley ayurvedic & herb garden bars! The acv got rid of the tangled waxy feeling and always left me with soft hair. I still have them and will use them up eventually i just got tired of having to lather them. It was time consuming for me to wash with them..

3c4d7zwhatevs · 02-11-2011, 03:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kathymack

+1. I had a horrible experience with the Chagrin Valley bars that are well loved around here. It was the castor oil. If I hadn't used a bar with great success prior to that experience, I would never have tried another. I'm picky about the ingredients, too. That's the way you should be with all of your products, LOL!

Now, see, I was not trying to name names LOL!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reeky

i used them for some months.. i had no issues with them but I did an acv rinse everytime. I looove the chagrin valley ayurvedic & herb garden bars! The acv got rid of the tangled waxy feeling and always left me with soft hair. I still have them and will use them up eventually i just got tired of having to lather them. It was time consuming for me to wash with them..

This is my only issue with shampoo bars. If I am in a super hurry I sometimes end up cowashing because it IS time-consuming to lather up a shampoo bar all over my scalp. Also, perhaps I should have rinsed with ACV all the time, but I am not organized enought to do that and I had read in several places that after awhile you shouldn't have to, so in the interest of saving a step I chose to believe that. I have not needed to do that with the Auromere bars, so I think that is the reason I stick with them.

I just multi-quoted! Yay!

SusieQin · 03-03-2011, 09:33 AM

I used Kathymacks soap bars :P I've been using them for a year now, but I do alternate between co-washing and soap bars. I've only recently started doing ACV.

My hair likes them very much.

tricello · 11-28-2012, 07:54 AM

Hmm, I’ll have to research what the deal is with highporosity hair and poo bars mentioned in the OP, since I am heavily colored.

I bought a few products to try at the holiday sales and a poo bar was one of them. The outcome was fine – didn’t notice a big difference with or without using it but like mentioned above, it took forever to wash my hair. I think 15 minutes total. I have very dense hair and I had to go section by section to get my entire head cleaned. Too much time to use on a regular basis. The one big benefit was an incredibly clean scalp. I used the Bo Beam cheris hibiscus bar that has some grainy aspects to it so it was a bit of an exfoliation. I don’t think my scalp has been this squeaky clean since elementary school. So I will pull it out a few times year just for that benefit!

wholelottalove · 01-25-2013, 09:58 AM

My hair doesn't like shampoo bars, the ph is way too high for my already porous and delicate color treated hair. I know your supposed to do an acv rinse after, but even that didn't help much, and besides, I kind of feel like, what's the point of using such an alkaline product if your just going to have a use an acidic product to neutralize it? Why not just stick with a one step, gentle cleanser that never exposes your hair to a harsh ph level? They all left my hair feeling coated in residue too, they're just not good news for my hair.

PomegranateCurl · 04-06-2013, 06:22 AM

I'm curious... what's the benefit of shampooing w/ soap bars over a low-poo?

etos · 04-08-2013, 05:40 PM

why don't you do a co-wash instead of poo bars?

kathymack · 04-08-2013, 07:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PomegranateCurl

I'm curious... what's the benefit of shampooing w/ soap bars over a low-poo?

For me, soap bars are much gentler than lowpoo. Natural bars that are saponified oils don't contain surfactants.

Quote:

Originally Posted by etos

why don't you do a co-wash instead of poo bars?

I cowashed for six months. Didn't do much for me. I started using soap bars to cleanse when they were really popular on nc.com almost five years ago. I felt that they tighten curls and increase volume.

Firefox7275 · 05-06-2013, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kathymack

For me, soap bars are much gentler than lowpoo. Natural bars that are saponified oils don't contain surfactants.

Quote:

Originally Posted by etos

why don't you do a co-wash instead of poo bars?

I cowashed for six months. Didn't do much for me. I started using soap bars to cleanse when they were really popular on nc.com almost five years ago. I felt that they tighten curls and increase volume.

I can see how that *might* be beneficial for someone with low porosity like yourself, t might be a good thing to prevent build up and open the cuticle slightly to allow ingredients to enter. Is there any research backing up any benefits for the rest of us? 'Curl Chemist' Tonya McKay does not advocate them.

"Another very important ingredient to avoid for long, curly hair especially is soaps. In the past, I have written an article cautioning users of soap to be careful, but basically concluding that it was probably okay to use soaps with an acidic rinse and lots of moisturizing agents. Based on the following information obtained from the research of Dr. Ali Syed (a hair care researcher who specializes in African and curly hair), I cannot in good conscience advocate use of any soap products on curly hair.

Soap molecules are salts of fatty acids found in plants and animal fats. They are somewhat alkaline and cause the hair to swell and the cuticle to raise up away from the surface of the hair shaft. These molecules are then able to penetrate through the cuticle and into the CMC where they neutralize the fatty acids in the lipid layer, rendering them water soluble. The fatty acids are then rinsed away in the shower and are gone forever. Use of soap to cleanse one’s hair, especially long curly hair, seems to be a really effective way of permanently destroying the cuticle layer and making the hair very highly porous. This is an example of why natural may not always be superior. It is no surprise that researchers have invested years and many millions (billions) of dollars to develop more gentle cleansers for our hair."
Porosity and Curly Hair

Plus you cannot repair a destroyed acid mantle on the scalp with a dilute vinegar rinse.