Ethique’s Kiwi Shampoo Bar Brought Sweet Relief to My Itchy Scalp

Photo credit: Ethique
Photo credit: Ethique


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More often than not, some of our favorite buys are small, how-didn’t-I-know-about-this products that solve an everyday problem. That’s what we’re highlighting in our Little Lifesavers series: cheap, simple purchases that you’ll use on the daily. Hit “Add to Cart” and thank us later!


Photo credit: Hearst Owned
Photo credit: Hearst Owned

Problem: Most shampoo makes my scalp feel itchy and my strands dried out. I'd always yearned to be an Herbal Essence teen, but I'm ended up more more of a Johnson's Baby Shampoo kinda girl. While I've resorted to the gentlest of gentle baby shampoos, I craved a product a bit more my age. Plus, no matter how great of a recycler I am, I'm guilty of consuming way too much plastic.

Solution: Ethique's Shampoo Bar has made me a believer in solid shampoo. The concentrated bar packs three shampoo bottles’ worth of product in a 2.5-inch square. The Heali Kiwi bar's oatmeal, karanja oil (also a key ingredient in Prose hair products), and neem oil ease dry scalps suffering from dandruff and itchiness. All of Ethique's products boast cruelty-free, vegan, and palm oil-free ingredients.

Photo credit: Ethique
Photo credit: Ethique

It was a seamless eco-friendly swap to make in my shower routine. Instead of reaching for the bottle, I ran the bar over wet hair for the recommended four times from root to tip, then parted my hair and made sure the middle and back sections of my scalp got a little attention, too. I've used natural shampoos that have left my roots greasy and I didn't want to make that mistake here. Then I just massaged my head and hair as I normally would while washing.

It shocked and delighted me that the lather and suds are the same as liquid shampoo. This is thanks to sodium coco sulfate — a coconut oil-derived surfactant, aka suds-maker. Without the lather, it would have been harder for me to rinse and repeat with this shampoo bar. The light lime scent is refreshing without being overpowering, and my strands were left feeling smooth even before conditioner.

After using the bar for a week and noticing how soft it was getting, I did need to rethink my storage or else I was at risk of having it fall apart. The advice from Ethique and in customer reviews is to keep the bar in a container where it can stay relatively dry between uses. The shower caddy hanging off my faucet had decent drainage, but it was exposed to too much water up there. Since moving the bar to a soap dish on the side of my tub, it's been sturdier and will no doubt extend the life of the product. Ethique offers a $15 compostable bamboo soap dish for just this purpose.

After three weeks of shampooing with the Heali Kiwi bar, my scalp hasn't felt itchy once. There’s been no product buildup, and my color-treated strands are smooth and shiny. While $15 doesn’t feel like a total steal at first glance, the cost per use goes way down when you consider that it’s replacing three shampoo bottles’ worth of product.

One final perk is its portability: Since I won't have to worry about the liquids rule, it's going in my toiletry bag when I travel next month. I plan on putting it in a Stasher bag for safekeeping.

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