How To Deal With A Shampoo Bar Transition Part
If you’ve made the switch to a shampoo bar and are struggling with the transition phase here’s all you need to know to enjoy better hair days.
If you’ve ever tried switching to a shampoo bar and have been trying to endure a “transition phase” in the hope of having shiny and healthy hair then you’re not alone.
I started using shampoo bars about 7 years ago or so, in a bid to cut my plastic usage. I had heard about potential transition phases, but the first time I washed my hair with the bar, I was pleasantly surprised. My hair felt clean and shiny, and I thought I had been spared.
But things soon went downhill. After each subsequent wash, my hair just felt like it was becoming greasier and waxier and a struggle to brush. Meanwhile, my scalp felt really itchy. I’d never had problems with my hair or scalp before, so this was something quite new to me.
The advice from the manufacturer was to keep using the bar, and that my hair and scalp just needed some time to adjust. But I had been washing my hair for years and years with shampoos from eco-friendly brands, using formulations that avoided silicones and sulphates, and other such ingredients. I just couldn’t understand exactly what my hair was transitioning from. It made no sense.
Then I looked into the ingredients and realised there is no such thing as a transition phase. If your hair reacts poorly to a shampoo bar, the problem doesn’t lie with you – it’s the shampoo bar itself. Here’s all you need to know:
Why Do Some Shampoo Bars Leave Hair Feeling Waxy?
If a shampoo bar is leaving your hair feeling greasy or waxy then the issue lies in its formulation. This is because quite a few shampoo bars on the market aren’t actually shampoo at all; they’re soap-based.
Traditional soap is made through what’s known as saponification. This is a process that combines oils or fats with an alkali (like lye) to create a cleansing bar that’s ideal for washing your hands or your body.
While this works well for your skin, it’s not ideal for your hair. Compared to your skin, your hair is a very different beast. After all, you wouldn’t use a face wash on your hair and expect good results. So it follows that using what’s essentially a soap bar on your hair isn’t going to give you the results you’re looking for.
This is because soap-based shampoo bars tend to have a higher pH than shampoo bars which have been specially formulated for hair. This higher pH level is good at lifting dirt and oil from our skin, but when it comes to our hair, this disrupts the natural balance of your scalp and hair.
This can cause the cuticle to swell, leaving hair feeling rough, coated, and difficult to manage. Soap ingredients are also harder to wash out of your hair, and can leave behind that waxy coating that makes your hair look and feel greasy.
What About Rinsing With Apple Cider Vinegar?
Common advice for anyone going through a shampoo bar transition phase is to rinse your hair with apple cider vinegar to balance the pH levels and help remove any soapy residue. However, I tried this during my own transition phase, and would absolutely not recommend it.
I am a huge proponent of using vinegar – I use vinegar in my laundry and to naturally remove bad odours from my clothes, and I’ve never had any problems. The smell quickly dissipates when the vinegar dries. However, I found that, even when used quite heavily diluted, the apple cider vinegar left a really strong sour smell in my hair. What was worse was that other people around me could smell it too.
It was the worst day, and I remember jumping in the shower as soon as I got home to get rid of the awful sour smell.
I think the problem is my hair is particularly porous. It really hangs on to any water – and can take hours upon hours to fully dry. I don’t think I had gotten all the moisture out, so the vinegar smell clung on.
What Makes a Good Shampoo Bar?
It was at this really low point that I started looking into shampoo bar ingredients. What I found was that a shampoo bar that’s specifically formulated for hair should work just as effectively as liquid shampoo.
It’s simply a myth that you need to suffer through an awkward adjustment phase or require additional treatments to get clean and healthy hair. You just need to find a good shampoo bar that isn’t a soap bar in disguise.
A high-quality shampoo bar is made with gentle surfactants, not soap. These are the same cleansing ingredients used in liquid shampoos but in a solid form. Look for bars that contain any of the following ingredients:
- Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate (SCI) – A gentle, coconut-derived surfactant that cleanses without stripping moisture.
- Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate (SLSA) – A mild cleanser that provides a rich lather while being gentle on the scalp.
- Cocamidopropyl Betaine – Helps boost cleansing power and adds mild conditioning properties.
These all cleanse your hair without leaving behind residue or disrupting your scalp’s natural balance.
Properly formulated shampoo bars also rinse out easily with water, meaning they won’t leave behind that dreaded waxy coating. They lather well, cleanse effectively, and won’t require a vinegar rinse to “fix” your hair. They will leave your hair feeling clean, soft, and manageable from the very first wash.
If you’re looking for shampoo bar recommendations, try my guide to the best solid shampoo bars for every hair type – as chosen by Moral Fibres readers.
The Shampoo Bar Ingredients To Avoid
If you want to determine if a shampoo bar is actually a soap bar in disguise you can check the ingredient list for signs of saponification. Ingredients to watch out for include:
- Saponified oils – such as saponified coconut oil, olive oil, or castor oil
- Sodium hydroxide – used to turn oils into soap
- Potassium hydroxide – again, used to turn oils into soap
- Lye – another term for sodium hydroxide, indicating a soap-based formula
These ingredients mean the bar has a higher pH, which can leave hair feeling rough. They’ll also be harder to properly rinse out, leaving you with that waxy or coated feeling.
The Shampoo Bars That Work Without A Transition Phase
As you can see, you don’t need to struggle through weeks of bad hair before things get better. A well-formulated bar will give you great results right from the start, without the frustration of feeling like you have to “train” your hair to like it.
Some brands that I’ve tried with no transition phase include:
- Lush – I’ve tried multiple shampoo bars from Lush and have never experienced any kind of transition phase or build-up of grease. My favourite is Montalbano – a fully vegan-friendly formulation. If you’re not vegan, then Honey I Washed My Hair is another firm favourite of mine.
- Green People – These lovely vegan-friendly and cruelty-free bars work from the very first wash, for fresh and clean hair.
- Ethics – It’s tricky to find Ethique in the UK now, but there is still a decent selection available at Holland & Barrett. I’ve tried a few different Ethique formulations and never had a problem.
- M&S – Yes, Marks & Spencer makes an own brand shampoo bar that has zero transition. It smells a bit like your gran’s stash of bath salts and soap bars but it works well and leaves hair feeling clean and not weighed down in any way.
- Faith In Nature – I’ve tried a few different scents and found each bar works really well. There’s been no limp, greasy or waxy feeling – just clean hair with every wash.
All are great options. But whatever bar you buy, just make sure you store your shampoo bar properly to avoid washing money down the drain!
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