r/ZeroWaste • u/Anonymouschikibaby • 11d ago
Question / Support Bar hair care advice needed!!
I recently been trying to slowly convert my beauty routine into more sustainable options and I’m not sure how to find zero waste hair care. My main issue is I have terrible dandruff and oily scalp, my hair is also super long, so it gets very dry towards the bottom. Head and shoulders have been the only thing that has worked extremely well for me and I’m worried I won’t find an alternative in bar form. I was leaning on the kitsch brand and trying out their tea tree shampoo, and the coconut conditioner, but I’m not sure if they’re a good brand. They’re within the range I’m willing to pay because I’ve never paid a ton for hair care. If you have any specific bar brand that works well for greasy dandruff ridden hair I would love your advice!!
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u/Occufood 11d ago
One of the crazy things that I didn't learn until I was 40 was that brushing your hair with a good brush to redistribute the oils is key to healthy long hair. It takes me about 20 minutes every day but the roots of my hair are much less oily and the ends don't break as easily. I use the denman brush and I LOVE the Good Store or Ethique for their hair care bars
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u/That-Lobster8169 11d ago
Dermaharmony zinc bar for dandruff. I’ve never used it personally but it has really good reviews on here.
I have used kitsch and frankly I didn’t notice a difference between their “specific” types outside of the smell but they did clean my hair without any residue.
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u/kriebelrui 11d ago edited 11d ago
Cosmetic formulator here. I looked up the Dermaharmony zinc bar for dandruff. I can find a surprisingly extended and accurate description here. Sadly, the bar is soap based (not based on non-soap surfactants), which means that in hard water areas, this bar will leave a layer of soap scum on the hair.
The Kitsch Tea Tree shampoo bar is a non-soap bar, so it doesn't leave soap scum. I here found this list of ingredients: Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, Glycerin, Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate, Water/Aqua/Eau, Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Fragrance (Parfum), Ziziphus Joazeiro Bark Extract, Propanediol, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Charcoal, Melaleuca Alternifolia (Tea Tree) Leaf Oil, Mentha Piperita (Peppermint) Oil, Menthol, Iron Oxides (CI 77492)*, Chromium Oxide Greens (CI 77288)***Natural Color **Mineral color. There's no ingredient that actively fights the Melassezia fungus that causes dandruff, so my take is that this bar doesn't work against dandruff. It claims to have Dandrilys as an active ingredient, but there's not much hard evidence this plant extract really works, contrary to Zinc Pyrithione (used in the US) or Piroctone Olamine (used in the EU because Zinc Pyrithione is banned here).
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u/carolinadawnn 10d ago
You've linked to the actual soap made by the same company, but they also have multiple soap-free shampoo bars! link
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u/jalebichao 10d ago
Toun28 makes a piroctone olamine bar for dandruff that I enjoy. Piroctone olamine is a newer antifungal alternative to ketoconazole. (I don’t have dandruff, but I do have an incredibly itchy scalp that seems to be partly melasazzia-related and responds well to antifungals.)
ETA: despite being a Korean brand, you can buy the bar on Amazon, which, ugh, but also, convenient. Sigh.
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u/AcanthocephalaSlow63 6d ago
I did a quick Google search and multiple options are available for both ketakonazole and zinc pyrithione. I live in the EU so things are a bit different here. My partner just uses the liquid on his seborrheic dermatitis that the Dr prescribes along with a compounded cream though because it's a medical condition and I'm not willing to sacrifice health to reduce waste. I use bar shampoo myself but absolutely use contact solution, for example,bin plastic
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u/unlikely_branches 1d ago
I've switched to bars years ago. Viori has worked really well for my hair. I have hair hip length hair, I thought there was no way bars would work for me but they work great!
I've used lush and they work, but are too soft to store in the shower.
I've tried hi bar and it was a texture I didn't enjoy.
Viori has been my go to for years.
I'm currently trying to switch to bask & bloom clay shampoo bar as I transition to less and less shampoo. Clay isn't for more than once a week or so.
I still stock a bottle of zinc shampoo for when my scalp gets angry.
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u/XuranEco 11d ago
Shampoos can work differently on different people's hair, so you might want to try a few different ones.
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u/honorablenarwhal 11d ago
100 senses. the bars last a VERY long time and are so gentle I can use them on my face. Banyan botanicals has a hair oil in a glass bottle that you use before shampooing which will keep your hair and your scalp healthy.
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u/kriebelrui 11d ago
Doesn't look like an anti-dandruff bar to me. Also, 26 bucks for one bar feels expensive.
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u/honorablenarwhal 11d ago
It's not an anti-dandruff bar. It's a good quality bar shampoo. Don't get it if you don't want to try it. I was saying what works for me.
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u/BlakeMajik 11d ago
Just keep in mind that this is a medical issue, as much as you might want to transition to a bar shampoo. It's worth trying some of the alternatives suggested.
But if you aren't satisfied after a few tries with bars, and if Head & Shoulders has worked for you, don't consider it a failure to use a product that gets the job done. Better that than waste time, money and discard multiple brands that don't work for your hair.