I’m very excited to be able to share some details about the new solid shampoos and conditioner here at Maldon Soap.

Those of you who have been with me a long time will probably remember that I used to make a solid shampoo bar.  I discontinued it about three years ago because, at that time, I didn’t really have enough customers ordering it to justify making it.

Well all that’s changed now and I’ve been asked so many times if I could make sls free solid shampoos so it seemed like a good time to bring it back!

I’ve tweaked and reformulated it slightly, I’ve left out the honey, so it’s now vegan and it’s just been relaunched!

It’s called Lavender and Tea Tree Solid Shampoo and it’s fab! 

I’ll be honest, when I first made it in the early days of Maldon Soap I didn’t really get on with it (not that we argued constantly or anything, my hair was just a bit too long and curly and didn’t seem to be the right hair type).  But after a chat with some lovely ladies who are devotees of my survival soap/shampoo (Kate and Helen) at the afternoon tea the other day they said just persevere with it and it’ll all be good, so I decided to give it another go and I’m so glad I did!  I have used it constantly for nearly two weeks now and my hair absolutely loves it! It has never felt so soft and shiny and I can actually get a brush through it now which is amazing! I’ll never go back to the bottle – well gin maybe but shampoo never!

Now, for all my newish customers who may have have migrated from a certain shop that makes lots of ‘shampoo bars’ I need to explain something to you.

Those other colourful shampoo bars are easy to use, they foam a lot and they behave very much like a bottle of shampoo minus the packaging.  And that’s because their base ingredient is exactly the same.  SLS (sodium laureth/lauryl sulfate), an artificial industrial foaming agent that is in nearly every foaming product on the market.  SLS is the scourge of many peoples lives due to its harshness and irritation to the skin. These shampoo bars are basically made up from compacted ‘needles’ of SLS.  They look like hundreds and thousands all squished together.  They are made from around 95% SLS needles plus some water to bind the needles together and the other 2% or so is made up with fragrance, colour, other softening/foaming agents and ‘good’ additives like salt, seaweed and other stuff.

My shampoo bars are made very differently and behave very differently.   And here’s why..

I use gorgeous oils like coconut, almond, olive, castor and jojoba in my shampoo bars.  I fragrance them with pure lavender and tea tree essential oils and they take around 4-6 weeks to cure and allow the saponification process to take place to turn them from oils to luxurious lathering shampoo. That’s it, no chemicals, no foaming agents, no colours, no additives.

Lavender and Tea Tree Solid Shampoo from The Maldon Soap Company

When you use my shampoo bars for the first time they will feel very different in your hair to other ones because they are natural.  They still foam but you need to rub the bar into your scalp to get a layer of it on your hair, then wet it a bit (best done in the shower) then get the foam going and work it through the rest of your hair.

When you come to rinse it out it might feel a bit weird and squonky (new word I made up on the spot). This is the feeling I got when I first tried and failed with the solid shampoo before. I didn’t think the shampoo had worked.  If it does feel a bit unudusl like this just use a tiny bit more shampoo and give it another rinse.  You may need to do that for the first few uses until your hair gets used to it and you get used to how it feels in your hair.  You might need to use a light conditioner afterwards just on the ends of your hair if it’s long or if you usually use conditioner (I’ll get onto conditioners next).  Your hair should be easier to brush and will feel soft and bouncy and smell incredible.  I found that I couldn’t stop touching and sniffing my hair afterwards as I couldn’t believe I’d just washed it with what was, effectively, a bar of soap!

The shampoo is great for dry, brittle hair and also brilliant if you suffer from an itchy, flaky scalp as it won’t strip your scalp of it’s natural moisture barrier due to not having SLS in it.  If it feels really odd just persevere and, hopefully, you’ll be converted like I was! The bars are quite small but they last well and, if they are popular, I will introduce a larger size bar.  These are very much a chance for people to try them out.  To see them and read more about what’s in them have a look here. 

I’ll be doing a nettle and rosemary version too which will be ready in a few weeks.  This one will have peppermint and rosemary essential oils in so it will be scalp stimulating.

So if I did a shampoo it only seems fair that I also make a conditioner to go with it!

Introducing Organic cocoa and shea butter solid hair conditioner!

Oh my goodness, I cannot wait for you to try this brilliant little bar.  Not only does it last for flippin ages (I’ve used mine every day for a month and have hardly made a dent in it even with using it all through my long hair)

Organic cocoa and shea butter solid hair conditioner from The Maldon Soap Company

I had to do quite a bit of research and experimenting (with some degree of disaster) to come up with this conditioner. Other solid conditioner bars on the market are mainly made up of SLS (again), propylene glycol (petrol based main ingredient of antifreeze), water and cocoa butter. Then the cocoa butter is mixed with stuff to make it water soluble and therefore not moisturising anymore, although it’s not as simple as just using cocoa and shea butters alone which would basically make your hair greasy and gloopy.

I’ve now found the perfect combination of ingredients to condition the hair, soften and smooth, make it easy to brush through and smell incredible.  This bar also contains organic argan oil and has a fabulous sweet orange essential oil fragrance, this also gives it it’s vibrant orange colour – no artificial colours used at all.  In order to make the conditioner slippery and condition the hair it has to have certain waxes and things like vegetable keratin in otherwise it’s just like a body moisturiser and won’t penetrate the hair.

The entry on the website goes into more detail about the ingredients so do pop across and take a look.  The link is here. 

I’d love to know what you think of them so feel free to leave any comments below.

Lots of love
Sue xxx