Itchy scalp shampoo bar review
- Lucy
- Jan 9, 2021
- 5 min read
Updated: Oct 16, 2023
A quest for a natural alternative to Head & Shoulders.
I have an itchy scalp. Have done as long as I can remember. I don’t know why, I just do. What I do know, is that for probably 30 years, I kept it in check with Head & Shoulders. As long as I washed with H&S, the itch was under control. But even with the H&S ‘beach plastic' bottle and the brand’s published sustainability commitments, at a time when individuals were being encouraged to do more, I didn’t feel the brand was doing enough, so I decided in early 2020 I would seek an alternative.
Having dabbled once or twice before, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, and I knew it wouldn't be cheap, but at least now I had some options thanks to the explosion of shampoo bars available. Surely something natural and not wrapped in plastic could do the job?
What I want from my shampoo:
1. To be able to wash my hair every-other day and not feel the itch
2. For my dry (coloured) hair to not get any drier, or maybe even less dry
3. A good foam so I really feel it cleaning my hair and reaching my scalp
4. A nice smell, not vital, but nice to have
5. To feel like I’ve had my money's worth
Here's how I’ve got on.
Lush – Soak & Float £8.00 for 55g
This seemed like a good place to start, and on many counts, it does the job. Quick to foam, nice smell, lasted well, stayed solid to the end, and left my hair feeling nice. The downsides; left little bits of marigold petals in my hair, and didn’t ward off the itch. The petals I could live with, the itch I cannot.
My rating: 3/5
£6.99 for 80g
This was a slight deviation from the mission on account of having dyed my hair purple and needing the least harsh shampoo I could find to keep the colour. The actual one I bought doesn’t appear to be in the range any more, but it wasn’t for itchy scalp anyway, though I see there is now an Aloe Vera one, which might be worth a go. Anyway, the reason I left it in here is because before they added the hole and put a ribbon though it, Foamie came in a little nylon bag, and despite my initial disappointment at finding a plastic bag in the cardboard box, it’s been a game changer!
Shampoo bars can be messy, slippy, weld to soap dishes, and most don’t foam that well...until you pop them in a little bag! Each and every subsequent bar has been popped in that little bag, and now I have it, I hope it lasts forever. I suspect most people have got something similar tucked away in a draw, the one the sugared almonds came in at that wedding 10 years ago…
My rating: N/A
£4.50 for 100g
I really wanted to love this, the reviews gave me such hope, but for me this was the biggest fail so far, and I gave it a good go. No matter how much, or how little (the advice was don’t use much) I could not get enough of a lather to reach my scalp, and my hair was left in a straw-like mat. The price and size offers by far the best value though, and I quite liked the slightly ‘medical' smell, so it’s worth a go, it’s clearly working for some people.
My rating: 1/5
£6.00 for 50g
I bought this together with a conditioner bar, and love the brown letterbox sized card packaging they come in. Each box has space for 5/6 bars I think, so great for family buying and there's offers on multibuys as well. The bar has a nice smell and lathered well. Initially I was really impressed, but over time I was finding that by the end of a ‘no wash’ day the itch was there, and one or twice I ended up washing my hair that night, just to avoid spoiling the next day's lie-in by having to get straight in the shower.
My rating: 3/5
£6.99 for 55g
When I bought this it was billed as ‘for men’ but I’m pleased to see that’s been dropped. The smell was really nice and it lathers really well. It did go a bit mushy towards the end, but keeping it in a bag meant I was able to use every last bit, and most importantly no itch. I’m a perfectionist, and I guess the not perfect score reflects the fact that I didn’t feel that my quest was quite over yet.
My rating: 4/5
£8.00 for 55g
Desperate for some semblance of normality in the summer of 2020, I ventured into town and revisited a Lush store hoping, with a bit of discussion, a hidden gem would be revealed. Having already tried and failed with Soak & Float, Jumping Juniper was the recommendation. Bright purple and smelling exactly like...well Lush. I was hopeful, but it didn’t last long, my hope that is, I’m not sure how long the bar lasts because I had to abandon it due to the itch. Not for me at all, this one.
My rating: 1/5
£7.50 for 70g
I’d seen some good reviews for this one, but been put of buying a few times, as with P&P it felt like a big spend, but running out of options I gave it a go. There’s no way I could have used it as a 2in1 and not used conditioner, it was just no where near as moisturising as I needed it to be, but it shampooed well, smelt nice and lasted well, but wasn’t as effective as I need it on my scalp, by the evening of a non-washing day the itch was really noticeable, and I started to wash my hair every day to avoid it, which isn’t want I want to be doing.
My rating: 3/5
In conclusion
At this point I’d pretty much exhausted all options available, so after a year of research I crowned Soul and Soap, Char-Cool as the clear winner, and was about to order a second bar when…
I decided to visit (for the first time probably since the 90s!) The Body Shop, the original high street nature conscious go to.
Surprisingly no shampoo bars on offer there yet, but they do have a natural alternative to H&S, so just in case, I gave it a go.
£7.50 for 250ml
The plastic bottle does give me some anxiety, but it does go in my kerbside recycling, and it is available in 400ml bottles, so there is a sort of 'bulk-buy' option. That aside, it smells lovely (if you like the small of ginger of course) and lathers really well, meaning you don’t have to use loads. Best of all it is effective on my itchy scalp, and I can even get to 2.5 days between hair washes. I started with a 250ml bottle, but they do a 60ml tester at £2.00, and I did go on to buy a 400ml bottle, so, at least for the remainder of that, I’m taking a break from this quest!
Since publishing, The Body Shop launched its in-store refill stations, so this can now be bought in an aluminium bottle and refilled.
Update October 2023
£10 for 60g
The Body Shop finally launched a shampoo bar, and it's great! I only got this a few weeks ago, at the time of writing, but so far, so good. It lathers really well, smells lovely and leaves my hair feeling exactly as the liquid version did, and it's also available in Shea and Banana. My hair is really short now, but it feels like it will last well.
My rating: 5/5
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