Innovation, ethos and evolving consumer preferences are moving the beauty industry into a promising and purposeful future. One of the seemingly small changes making a big impact is bar shampoo and conditioner. Here’s why formulators, brands and consumers alike are ditching bottles for bars when it comes to hair washing.
1. Sustainability
As much as 70% of plastic waste generated by consumer product packaging ends up in landfills, much of it attributable to cosmetics. Empty shampoo bottles alone could fill 1,164 football fields each year laid flat. The beauty industry is making strides to improve, but its decades-long reliance on composite plastic makes the road to recyclability long and winding.
Shampoos and conditioners in bar form dramatically reduce plastic packaging. Many even eliminate it altogether. “More and more, brands are releasing plastic-free alternatives that are as eco-friendly as they are effective at giving us shiny and smooth hair,” The Good Trade writes.
Water conservation is a factor as well, when you consider the difference between a compact, concentrated bar vs. a bottle filled with liquid. Lush—“the OG shampoo-bar maker,” according to Elle Magazine—has made water conservation a part of its brand mission, crediting its naked products such as naked shampoo bars for saving more than 450,000 liters or 118,800 gallons of water per year compared to making bottled liquid.
2. Great Ingredients
“There [are] plenty of ‘environmentally friendly shampoos’ that still have unsustainable palm oil, SLSs, and other sulfates in them,” Sustainable Jungle writes. “The plastic bottle isn’t the only thing that matters.”
Sensient formulates its shampoo and conditioner bars with a focus on botanical ingredients and ethical supply chains. Our Orange Shine Shampoo Bar, for example, is made with cocoa butter, essential oil, and Natpure Feel-M Eco, a natural, multifunctional, non-volatile ingredient that feels like silicone and adds shine to hair. Our Anti-Brassy Conditioner Bar also Natpure Feel-M Eco along with Unicert Violet K7017-J Dye to keep blonde color looking bright and shiny.
Waterless shampoos and conditioners are benefiting the environment alike. National Geographic explains:
“Many brands that produce shampoo bars are striving to protect the oceans, wildlife, and ecosystems that are being affected by the mass production of chemical-laden products in the beauty industry … Another plus? Many shampoo bars are free of palm oil, an ingredient linked to deforestation and habitat degradation.”
3. Control
The lingering question surrounding bar shampoo and conditioner, in a consumer’s mind, is usually, “Will it work as well as my liquid products?” The answer is yes, and possibly better! Many consumers notice increased volume, more shine, less shedding, longer-lasting color and many other benefits from using a shampoo bar. Sensient’s Orange Shine Shampoo and Anti-Brassy Conditioner bars are loaded with a host of hair rescuers to soothe, smooth and rejuvenate hair.
All of the above amount to complete, collective control across the board—from environmental impact to styling, and also cost savings when consumers use powerful products that last longer.
