Testing, Testing: A Review of 6 “Top-Rated” Bar Shampoos

It’s finally here! My first installment of “Testing, Testing” where I put a handful of any given product or item head to head, reporting back on all my thoughts. First up is bar shampoos, mostly because I’ve been so curious about them for so long, am trying to bring down my plastic waste and you all seemed interested when I brought it up a few months back. Because I wasn’t sure where to start, I poked around the Internet and read article after article of recommendations, picking some of the ones I kept seeing over and over again. Most of the reviews were pretty generic, so I wondered if anyone had even tested the product, or if they were going off the descriptions on the websites.

This, though, is a true test. I lathered. I rinsed. I repeated…two days later with another bar shampoo. Some were, eh…not so great. Most were pretty okay. But one, oh boy…one won my heart. I wanted to stick my head through the open window and proclaim for my whole neighborhood that I found my true shampoo love, and that, my friends, was a total surprise to me. I didn’t really expect to love any, not trusting that anything could replace my full-of-chemicals liquid shampoo. I’m glad I was wrong.

Now, to be very scientific about things, I tried to keep as many constants as I could. Here’s what I did:

• Washed my hair every other day, applying the same dry shampoo between washes to make sure the same amount of build-up was in my hair
• Dried in my Aquus hair turban most of the way, and then air-dried the rest of the way
• Only brushed my hair straight out of the shower, and then just combed my fingers through it before taking a photo
• Used the same conditioner (Nexxus Humectress Conditioner)

I judged each by smell, application ease and latherability, that super squeaky feeling I hate when I use something other than my moisturizing shampoo, and then general overall thoughts and rating. So, ready to read about some bar shampoos? Let’s do it!

by Humankind Citrus Lavender Shampoo Bar, $15

Smell: Subtle, kind of bar-soap like but not bad. Really gotta dig your nose in there to smell it, tbh.

Application & latherability: Very easy to apply. I’d say it was the bar that got me from wet to fully lathered the fastest.

Squeakiness post-wash: SUPER squeaky after. Uncomfortably so.

Overall thoughts: This was the first (and then last, because I needed to check again) bar shampoo I used during this test. The first time I used it, my hair felt like hay once it dried. Looked like it, too. I can’t remember what conditioner was used that first go around, but the second time, I used the “control” conditioner and it went a bit better. However, I fell asleep before I could properly rate it dry, and when I woke up, my hair was wild, kind of greasy in a “didn’t wash out my conditioner” way, and just generally a little stiff. Also, the ingredients list palm oil, which is a major driver of deforestation, and had I noticed it on the ingredient list, I would have skipped it altogether.

Rating: 3/10

J.R. Liggett’s Old-Fashioned Bar Shampoo, $10

Smell: I picked the coconut and argan oil scent, which is again, pretty subtle, but nice. It doesn’t really smell like coconut, and I’m not sure what argan oil smells like, but in general, it kinds of smells like some old-fashioned apothecary. A little herbal, clean, essential oils.

Application & latherability: Solid middle-of-the-road application. The bar is short and squat, kind of cube like, so it has a decent surface area to rub your strands against. It took a minute to apply to all my hair and get the lather going, but it wasn’t so slow that if I were in a hurry, I’d get frustrated.

Squeakiness post-wash: A bit squeaky-squeak, but nowhere near like the by Humankind shampoo. Definitely need to condition after as it felt quite dry (like if you washed your hair with, well, soap), but not tragically so.

Overall thoughts: This was just okay. The ingredient list is great (five different kinds of oils, vitamin E, and no fragrance added). Super natural, which I liked, but there was nothing overly memorable about how my hair felt after use or any part of the shampooing process. The description mentioned that “this shampoo doesn’t strip the natural oils from your hair so most will not need to condition” but I didn’t really find that to be true. Perhaps if you have softer water at home, it would be better for you. My hair wasn’t as shiny as I know it can be, it was pretty flat and a little squirrely. If you’re looking for an all-natural, simple product, I’d say give it a whirl. It might be better for you than it was for me.

Rating: 5.5/10

Foamie Shampoo Bar, $10

Smell: This was my favorite scent across the board. It smelled like a beach vacation, pina colada in hand.

Application & latherability: If I was rating all these bar shampoos based on ease of use alone, Foamie would win. Mostly because it comes with a string attached to it, so it’s perfect to hang up when you’re done, avoiding the dreaded soapy water soup that tends to happen under bars of soapy things in the shower. It’s slightly arched, so it fits perfectly in the hand with a nice grip, so rubbing it into your hair feels really second nature and…ergonomic if that’s a thing here.

Squeakiness post-wash: Decent on the post-wash squeaky scale. Not perfect, but livable.

Overall thoughts: There is a lot to like about the Foamie Shampoo bar, but ultimately, the dried result wasn’t my favorite. My hair was super soft, so there’s that, but I prefer more of a slickness to my stands, where this left my hair almost…fluffy? I think you can see it in the photo. This might be a good candidate to pair with a hair product like a finishing oil, but overall, relatively good.

Rating: 6/10

HiBar Solid Shampoo, $12

Smell: Does anyone remember what a Coke-flavored Icee or Slurpee smells like? This smells *just* like that, which is kind of strange, tbh.

Application & latherability: This solid shampoo is shaped like a teardrop that had a slice taken off the top at an angle, so not the easiest applicable. You’re supposed to take the flat part on top and rub it into your hairline, but I found it to be a bit cumbersome and just ended up lathering up my hands and then my hair, back and forth, until I got to peak latherability. It took…a while.

Squeakiness post-wash: Honestly, I cannot remember. I forgot to take notes about this one immediately after use, so this little tidbit escapes me. Sorry!

Overall thoughts: I was most excited to try the HiBar Solid Shampoo because it was on nearly every “best bar shampoo” list I could find on the internet when doing my research. It has very modern branding and packaging, which I’m a sucker for, but it took the longest to arrive for some unknown reason. I didn’t necessarily like the scent or the in-shower application, but I did like the way my hair felt when it was dry. It wasn’t stick straight, it had some movement, it was soft and easy to manage. I even fell asleep with my hair sort of wet and the photo is from the next morning, which normally, for me, means a huge bird’s nest of a mess, but not this time.

Rating: 6.5/10

Kitsch Nourishing Shampoo Bar, $15

Smell: Technically, I bought the “unscented” bar shampoo, but this puppy is *not* unscented. It might have the strongest smell of the whole bunch, but it’s actually quite nice. Very “high-end spa” but also kind of medicinal. There were times that I would walk by my bathroom and I could smell the bar via the open door, so…there’s that. But again, I didn’t mind it.

Application & latherability: This was not a very easy lather…at all. The bar itself is similar in shape to a hockey puck, so plenty of surface area, but I felt like I had to work it…and work it…and work it some more before getting somewhere. This is more of a leisurely Saturday kind of application, when you have nowhere to be, or no Zoom meeting waiting for you. Granted, if you only wash your hair a few times a week, it’s probably manageable.

Squeakiness post-wash: As I mentioned, I found just about all of these bar shampoos to be up there in the squeakiness scale, and this one was middle of the road. Squeaky, but not offensively so.

Overall thoughts: I liked this bar soap from Kitsch. My hair was soft, clean, shiny and easy to manage. It didn’t do much for me in terms of volume. In fact, I think my hair was maybe the flattest using this, but with all the other pluses, that didn’t bother me that much. Hey, sometimes…my hair is just kind of flat. Pish posh.

Rating: 8/10

The Earthling Co. Shampoo Bar, $15

Smell: Minty and refreshing. Really nice! They offer seven scents (including unscented), and I have Simple Fresh.

Application & latherability: It pains me to say this, but the application on this was not that easy. It took a bit to get this to lather up, and the roundish bar easily flies out of your hand if you press too hard like I did. (But wait, because it’s worth the effort.)

Squeakiness post-wash: Surprisingly, not super squeaky! The least squeaky-clean of the bunch, in the best way possible.

Overall thoughts: OMG I LOVE THIS SHAMPOO BAR. It was the second one I tested (after by Humankind which was a big dud to me), and I almost called off the rest of the test to declare that I found the only bar shampoo anyone would ever need. My dry hair was so silky, so slick, so shiny, that I couldn’t stop running my fingers through it that day. My hair hasn’t felt this good in…I have no idea how long. The bar is small but mighty, claiming to last between 50 and 75 washes, likely depending on how much hair and length you have. The funny thing about this shampoo bar is, I didn’t even buy it. I found it stashed away in a cabinet when I was looking for something, and included it in the test. How fortuitous! If I remember correctly, a friend had given it to me after she got it for free, and I never bothered to try it. ALL THIS TIME WASTED! The company (The Earthling Co.) has carbon-neutral shipping, is climate-neutral certified in their production process, and donates a portion of their annual profits to environmental causes.

Rating: 10/10

Please let me know if you have any other recommendations for the group to try, or any questions on anything I reviewed here. I love doing these types of product reviews, and working on figuring on what’s next. Stay tuned (and make any suggestions of me that you’re interested in seeing).

See you tomorrow, FOAS.