Mimi and Poppy's Place Shampoo Bar
Are you ready to make the switch to a natural shampoo bar?
Commercial shampoos are made from various detergents, synthetic materials, chemicals and cleansers, and stabilizers that are harsh on your hair and scalp and strip it of its natural protective oils and moisture. To compensate for the weight in which they strip natural oils from your scalp, you reach for the bottle of conditioner. These conditioners simply coat the hair weighing it down. The strong detergents in commercial shampoos can dry the skin and hair and may contribute to hair loss, dandruff, dermatitis, or an irritated scalp.
Natural Shampoo Technique
1. Wet hair: I mean a lot of water. Be sure that the water saturates your hair all the way down to the roots.
2. Create the Lather: There are two possible ways both of which help prevent pockets of soap residue left in your hair that can make hair feel tacky.
a. Create a nice foamy lather by rubbing the wet bar between your hands, a soap pouch, or a natural sponge, and use only the lather to wash your scalp.
b. Create a nice foamy lather by rubbing the shampoo bar on TOP of your head only. Rub in only one direction to prevent tangling.
3. Massage the lather into your scalp only at the roots of the hair until you work up a good lather.
a. It is very important to work the shampoo into your scalp with water and really build up a good lather so there aren't patches of soap left on your hair.
b. Lathering up also allows the dirt and extra oils to be washed away.
c. If the lather is not foamy enough, add more water.
d. Gently massage into scalp and allow lather to cascade down to the tips of your hair.
4. Using your Fingers like a Comb: use your fingers to smooth the lather as it cascades down to the tips of your hair while you rinse with water. To prevent tangles, be sure to always work from the top down, use your fingers like a comb, not a mixer, and don't pile your hair on your head.
5. Rinse, rinse, rinse, rinse, and rinse again. I cannot stress how important this step is to shampoo bar success. To remove the excess shampoo, which can leave a filmy feeling and weigh hair down, do NOT rush this step! The rinsing should take longer than washing and lathering time.
a. If your hair is long or thick, lift up sections of your hair to ensure that all of the shampoo is rinsed clean.
Don't neglect parts of your head that are more difficult to reach, such as the nape of your neck or the back or your head.
6. Shampoo Twice: If you are used to commercial shampoo and shampoo twice, you will have already noticed that the second wash produces a lot more lather. The first wash is mixing with the dirt and excess oils in your hair, so the second wash is working on cleaner hair. The same is true for our shampoo bars.
a. Instead of using lots of shampoo with one washing, lather, rinse and repeat, again cleansing only the scalp! I find that the second wash creates a better, more intense lather that rinses
cleaner and leaves my hair feeling softer and shinier.
7. Relax: You can wash your hair with natural shampoo every day if you desire! It cleans thoroughly without drying or coating your hair or scalp. Dry and style your hair as normal.
