I started making shampoo bars after I happened to look at the list of ingredients on my husband’s shampoo, which he had been using for ten years to treat his seborrheic dermatitis or psoriasis depending on which dermatologist he was seeing, and found it contained an endocrine disrupting chemical that is actually banned in Europe.
As well, over the years, I began to have dandruff and had found myself using his shampoo a couple of times a month to treat it.
After being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and going down the rabbit hole of diet and nutrition, I finally started looking at what we were using on our skin. I had become interested in tallow for nutrition reasons, and I looked into rosemary because my husband had also been losing his hair and rosemary is touted for being as effective as Rogaine for combatting hair loss.
We both had good results from using the tallow shampoo bar. His seborrheic dermatitis is in remission and I have not had any dandruff. On a side note, two years later, he still has his hair and his hair is still black.
Switching to a shampoo bar can take some time. The commercial shampoos, especially the ones for dandruff, can overly strip the scalp of oils, making your scalp overcompensate and produce even more oil. It takes time for your scalp to get used to producing less oil.
An important note to make is that the shampoo bar is technically not a shampoo, but a soap. It has a high (alkaline) pH, and it’s necessary to either rinse or spray your scalp with a solution of half apple cider vinegar, half water, after shampooing to restore your scalp’s pH to normal. Even my husband’s scalp will start flaking again if he skips this step.
My hair is dry, so I add a few drops of jojoba oil to my apple cider vinegar solution, to use instead of a conditioner, and that has worked very well for me so far. It also works as a detangler anytime I am brushing my hair and have tangles.
To use the bar:
- Wet your hair.
- Lather the bar by rubbing in your hands with water, or rub the bar directly on your hair, or both.
- Rinse thoroughly.
- Afterward, towel dry your hair a little bit.
- Spray your scalp with solution of half apple cider vinegar, half water.
I have long, dry hair so I spray the solution that has apple cider vinegar and jojoba oil in it all over my hair. My husband has short, oily hair, so he sprays a solution with apple cider vinegar on his scalp.
The shampoo bar is worth it if you are ready to get away from the toxic ingredients in the commercial shampoos or have a scalp condition that is getting worse over time no matter what products you use, and you are willing to spray your scalp with apple cider vinegar after shampooing.
If the shampoo bar causes irritation, or your condition gets worse (beyond just a little extra oil while you’re transitioning), please stop using it immediately and let me know at tozzisoapco@gmail.com
I am interested in formulating products for people with tough conditions and would like to help you find something that works for you, if I am able.
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