Chop it Off

I cut my hair again.

I Cut

My hair!

wet here

Skincare Saturday: Chagrin Valley Soap & Salve Shampoo Bar Selection Reviews

In preparation for my month abroad, I decided I needed some shampoo bars. I didn't want to pay Lush prices, especially since their bars contain SLS, and a quick Google search led me to Chagrin Valley, purveyors of shampoo and soap bars, among many other bath and body products. I ordered a few generously-sized samples, decided on the shampoo bar I wanted to bring with me, and then evidently never hit the order button, leading to a frantic search for shampoo bars in Eugene. Fortunately, it's a hippie town, so I was able to find one without issue (Camanu Rosemary Nettle, if you're curious), but I really liked the Chagrin Valley stuff in general and thought I should review it! Starting with the shampoo bars today and the soaps I've tried next week.

Solid shampoo is a great choice when traveling, as it's not subject to the TSA's ridiculous 3 oz limit on liquids. It's also nice for hair that doesn't fare well with traditional shampoo ingredients like SLS (sodium laureth/lauryl sulfate) and coco betaine. I have fine, curly hair that I dye, so I try to steer clear of ingredients that strip my hair––there are a number of liquid shampoos/cleansing conditioners that I find work well for me (I can talk about those later if anyone's interested?), but I like shampoo bars for their ease of transport.

One thing to note about solid shampoos, and SLS-free shampoos in general, is that it takes some time for your hair to adjust to them. I started with As I Am Coconut Cleansing Conditioner, a cream from Sally Beauty, which was a nice in-between step, so my shift to shampoo bars was pretty painless, but if you're going straight from traditional shampoos to natural shampoo bars, it could take a couple of weeks before your hair stops being grouchy.

As with normal shampoo, you have to concentrate it at the roots of your hair; I like to rub it around my hairline (face and neck) and up the top of my head, then thoroughly massage it over my scalp, gently spreading it down to the ends of my hair, then thoroughly rinsing. It takes 2-3 minutes for the whole process, as I try to make really sure I've gotten it all out, and if you live in a place with very hard water, shampoo bars might not be the right thing for you, as such water can be ineffective at rinsing it out, leading to limp, coated hair (gross). I luckily live in an area with very soft water (PNW ftw!), but you can check yours here; see also Ida's (Chagrin Valley's founder) discussion and suggestions here. Even in areas with soft water, she suggests doing a baking soda/ACV rinse every month or so, but I'm too lazy for that; instead, I just use a shampoo with SLS every few weeks to get rid of any and all buildup.

Good lord, that's a lot of background. Now, to the reviews!

Chop Chop

I got my hair cut!

I now have bangs. And rather short hair. I like it! I've had short hair on-and-off since I was in middle school, but it's been awhile since the last time and I really like it. The bangs necessitate more effort than I'm used to putting into my hair; I have to blow dry them, then pull them back to apply my makeup, then straighten them (using a tiny Revlon travel straightener, since my hairdresser said the mini ones are better for bangs since you can get up close to the roots; she was, as always, right). But it's only 5 minutes or so, and up to this point it hasn't been too annoying! I am, however, looking for something that I can put in my bangs to keep them from getting static-y. It's not too bad, but I imagine once it gets rainy again I'll need some nice anti-frizz, anti-static stuff. Any suggestions? I think a spray would work best for my hair, since it's very fine and easily weighted-down, but I'm willing to try pretty much anything!

Do you ever change up your hair? What's your current hairstyle?