We Tested Three Shampoo Bars – Here’s The Verdict

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Shampoo bars seem like a great thing, right? They’re super convenient to use and travel with (take that, carry-on liquid restrictions), and great for reducing your plastic waste. So as long as the performance is on-par with your favourite bottled shampoo, it seems like a no-brainer to make the switch, or just introduce these as an option in your beauty arsenal. To get to the bottom of this, we decided to put three different shampoo bars to the test, and let you know how they compared to our bottled products. Here’s what we found.

Our testers

We enlisted a range of women to test out the shampoo bars. Our testers have a wide range of hair types, from fine to very thick, dry to oily, shoulder length to extremely long, and mature hair with grey. This willing group of truth seekers ditched their liquid shampoo and soaped up their hair for us, all in the name of getting you answers. 

Godiva Shampoo Bar

LUSH says: The description for this shea butter shampoo bar says that it cleans and moisturizes in one step, and will leave even dry hair types feeling smooth and silky. The description also mentions “an ultra-sexy fragrance” that piqued our interest.

Usability: Our testers found this bar pretty easy to use overall. Since Godiva doesn’t lather as much as some of the other formulas, we got the best results by focusing on the roots vs trying to coat all of our hair, especially for those with very long or very thick hair.

Scent: In the shower, our testers found the smell to be pretty pleasing (verdict’s out on ‘ultra-sexy’), and you should find the scent left on your hair fairly subtle and quite nice.

Results: In terms of look and feel, our thicker-hair testers found that their hair felt really clean and styled normally after using Godiva. If you like 2-in-1 convenience and have a pretty easy-going hair type, this could be a hit for you. That being said, if you have finer hair that tangles easily and needs a little lift, or you prefer a shampoo with more lather, read on.

New Shampoo Bar

LUSH says: This bar is meant to “motivate your tired scalp” with clove, cinnamon oils, and a peppermint infusion. Sounds good enough to eat, right?

Usability: Our testers found the New bar to be great for lathering, and that earned it lots of easy-to-use points.

Scent: Again, our testers found the smell of New to be very pleasant while washing their hair. The scent was again a little stronger – but not overpowering – while in the shower as compared to once hair had dried.

Results: Together with how great the lathering was, our testers with average, oily, or thick hair really liked the squeaky-clean feel that New left. Combine it with a conditioner as normal, and hair feels great when dry and styles well. Finer-haired ladies were still looking for a little more volume – and that’s where Seanik comes in!

Seanik Shampoo Bar

LUSH says: LUSH describes this bar as softening tangles, and adding shine and volume. The name plays off of the key ingredients of Irish moss seaweed and Japanese nori seaweed.

Usability: The process with this bar got rave reviews. One of our testers noted that she lathered the bar in her hands first like soap, and then worked the product into her hair from there, and because of that she swears her hands felt softer after using Seanik!

Scent: Top marks for scent on this one – it even earned one women some unsolicited compliments on how great her hair smelled.

Results: Well, consider this a home run. Our testers who used the Seanik bar consistently for several weeks credited it with making hair more hydrated for a curly-haired tester, and more voluminous for a tester with fine hair. One woman even had a friend ask if she’d had her hair done! This one’s out of the park, folks.

Final Verdict

Every one of our testers agreed that solid shampoo was a great option for traveling, cabin trips, sending kids to camp… any situation where convenience reigns supreme. Several of them plan to try out the formulas they didn’t get to try for this testing before settling on a favourite for regular use. The process was totally stress-free and very appealing for women who travel frequently or are particularly continuous of plastics use.

Based on the feedback, we’d recommend trying a few kinds in order to hit on the formula that works best for your hair. New and Seanik seem to lather best if you really like to get sudsy, and Seanik gets top points for silkiness and detangling, making it a better choice for fine hair. Godiva is a great choice if you like 2-in-1 formulas.

The final verdict from our recruits is that solid shampoo bars are 100% worth trying, great for reducing your plastic waste, and an absolute no-brainer for traveling. If you try one out, let us know what you think! For more product-testing fun, check out our face mask investigation here, and browse all of our beauty tutorials right here.

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