My First Shampoo Bar Experience

A couple months ago I finally made the decision to ditch liquid shampoos and try a shampoo bar. For those who don't know, shampoo bars are essentially natural soap bars (made with oils and waxes), which are specially designed for washing your hair. They're really popular in the green beauty community and I've been wanting to try one for a while. So - when my favourite soap brand Coutiver released one (pictured above) - I took the plunge. This post was originally going to be an in-depth review of said shampoo bar but I've now come to the conclusion that shampoo bars might not be for me.

Shampoo bars HATE hard water. Hard water has a high mineral content - usually magnesium and calcium. This makes the scales of your hair stand up, making the texture rough and making it a lot harder to efficiently rinse out soap that tends to react with the higher levels of minerals. This results in hair that feels weighed down and almost coated.

Truth is, Coutiver's Chestnut Beer Shampoo Bar is all kinds of wonderful. I cannot fault the formula whatsoever. I would list you the beautiful ingredients but unfortunately I no longer have the wrapper and the product is currently out of stock in Coutiver's Etsy shop. It leaves my hair lovely and clean and there's no denying that an actual bar of shampoo feels a lot more natural than even a sulfate-free liquid shampoo. Unfortunately, here in Essex, we have extremely hard water. This can be remedied by following your shampoo with an apple cider vinegar rinse but even with a 50/50 ACV to water split (which also works out quite expensive), I'm still experiencing side effects such as lint-like soap scum on my hairbrush and hair after brushing and a distinct reduction in hair volume, especially at the scalp. Don't get me wrong, I ADORE the idea of a shampoo bar but I'm starting to think that they're quite the hassle when you have thick hair and hard water. I've also noticed that the bars dissolve down quite quickly and when it becomes thin, it also becomes a lot harder to use. Therefore, I've decided to go back to my old faithful Acure shampoo for now.

Despite all this, if you're lucky enough to be blessed with lovely soft water, I really suggest that you give a shampoo bar a try as they are far superior in ingredients to your average natural liquid shampoo. I would highly suggest a palm-free shampoo bar and if Coutiver restocks the Chestnut Beer soap, grab it! Finally, if you have any tips about making the most of shampoo bars with hard water - leave them below!

Intro to: PHB Ethical Beauty

A couple months ago, I made my first ever order with PHB Ethical Beauty. They've been on my radar for a while but I finally took the plunge when they had 20% off one weekend. I really wanted to try their mascara as a possible replacement for my previous HG, the Lily Lolo Mascara. If you want to find out why I'm no longer using Lily Lolo, check out my review here.

PHB Ethical Beauty is a wonderfully ethical company. All their products are vegan-friendly, halal, and natural. They're a family-run business and they were founded by Rose Brown, who is a vegan herself. They are certified cruelty-free and are also certified by the Vegan Society.

I ordered myself the eye gel, mascara, and lip pencil during their deal but PHB were super lovely and sent me the Hydrating Toner as a small gift. Today I'd like to share with you just my first thoughts and impressions of the products. Then in a few weeks I plan on doing a full review of at least the mascara.

Hydrating Facial Tonic

This toner is just so simple and that is exactly why I love it. It has a light scent of ylang-ylang (my favourite) and feels so dang soothing when sprayed on to the skin. The spray function is really effective (a massive plus), and I love using this to dampen my face before applying any facial oils. It's alcohol and oil-free and at £12.50 for 100ml, it is really good value for a high quality floral water.

Brightening Eye Treatment

I haven't been able to test this too much yet but I can report that it feels lovely and cooling on the eyes. It's a very light clear gel and you only need the smallest amount to bust those dark circles. I have noticed however that this isn't something that you can just slap on at the last moment. It really needs to go under your facial oil/moisturiser otherwise you can be left with slightly dry eyes after waking the next day. When I remember to use it, I really am rather impressed. I've never got on with heavier eye creams (due to being milia-prone), so I really can appreciate this lighter gel formula.

Black All-In-One Mascara

PHB's mascara had been on my radar pretty much ever since I first started looking for a natural and vegan mascara. I first came across them on the European beauty site, Ecco Verde. Only one thing had held me back from trying it and that was the fact that it does contain phenoxyethanol, a preservative which has been known to irritate dermatitis. This is an ingredient that I usually try to avoid but after being disappointed by Lily Lolo I thought that I would just bite the bullet and give it a go. After all, I don't tend to smear mascara all over my hands... I don't actually wear mascara that often but when I have used it, I've been really impressed. The effect is very similar to the Lily Lolo, the only difference being that the PHB mascara has a slightly wetter formula and can smudge during application. Luckily after drying, it doesn't seem to budge. I'm excited to give this a more in-depth test and will report back.

Organic Lip Liner in Dusky Pink

Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed with this lip liner. The formula feels lovely and lasts well however, the colour just really isn't for me. The name evokes thoughts of a YLBB shade but it seems to be more of a metallic red which is something that just really doesn't work with my skin tone or any of my other lip products. I also think that the website swatches are a little misleading in this case. I really hope that they bring out some more shades as I really like the formula! 

Have you tried PHB Ethical Beauty before?