I came across these via my local whole food wholesalers Essential. Having tried so many shampoo and conditioner bars that I was dissatisfied with, I almost completely missed these and didn’t bother. However out of curiosity I looked up the ingredients, just in case there was a worthy list for me to try out something new! I use powdered isethionate in my own creations so was keen to try this with such simple ingredients and only ONE surfactant.
Zerolla
The lather is punchy and effective, but feels soft due to the shea butter base. I know that it is a gentle surfactant, so didn’t bother diluting as I usually would, just cleaned the slightly dirty parting, crown and fringe. Many shampoo bars have a lot of oils and butters which I find heavy on my fine strands. This one seemed to be a good balance, and I KNOW it’s going to work and is NOT a saponified soap-based bar (see my last blog post on understanding ingredients of shampoo bars).
As for the conditioner…I am not sure how other companies have got them so wrong! I usually prefer to just use some rain water and a little olive oil, often much more effective than some of the pricey conditioner bars I have tried. This felt really noticeably silky and slippery going on, where some in the past just felt heavy and didn’t give any slip whatsoever. It lasted until the hair was dry too, had a lovely gloss and easy to comb through.
Shampoo (left) conditioner (right)
I shall be adding these to my regime, as there are very few products I like to use for my Shampoo aspect. I shampoo a couple of times a month typically! I recommend finding one or two gentle shampoos you like and using 1-4 times a month with more natural cleansers in between (herbal options like conkers, soapnuts, rhassoul clay, yarrow, henna etc). Our hair loves variety and diversity just like our gut. Shampoo isn’t necssary more than once a week and the less you use the better. Feed your hair between more clarifying shampoos, pay your scalp more attention too and give it moisture!
We just did an online Herbalism for Hair talk which we recorded and shall make available soon…this explains in a bit more depth how and what to use between shampoo. 😊
