Do shampoo bars cause hair loss?

When it comes to shampoo bars, or trying any new hair product, the question around hair loss and whether shampoo bars cause hair loss, comes up a lot. In fact, it’s one of the most common questions that our team of Miracle Workers are asked.

Anyone who has experienced hair loss or thinning hair knows just how stressful and concerning this can be. It’s actually very common and we all go through stages of it. Temporary or sudden hair loss can be the result of many underlying factors with no clear, quick fix.

When it comes to shampoo bars, like with any other topical hair products, it is very rare that will cause hair loss.

What can cause hair loss?

Abnormal or short-term hair loss can be caused by a huge number of reasons such as stress, allergies, nutritional deficiencies, hormonal changes, medication, health conditions and more. Genetics also play a big role when it comes to hair loss and genetic hair loss can’t be reversed.

What can help?

Good scalp care and hygiene can help to slow down hair loss by maintaining a healthy balance of natural oils.

Did you know?

• Hair grows and regenerates in 3 cycles - growth (anagen), regeneration or shedding (catagen) and resting phase (telogen)
• The life span of a single hair is between 2 and 7 years
• Hair is dead, the only living part of a strand of hair is the follicle growing underneath the scalp
• During a single lifetime, your hair may completely regenerate up to 20 times
• How much hair we have is determined by genetics
• The human scalp has approximately 100 000 hair follicles. This number may vary depending on your natural hair colour
• Hair grows approximately 1 cm every month
• On average, we lose 50 - 100 hairs from our head every day - mostly during washing and brushing. So, you can expect to lose a bit more on the days you wash your hair if you don’t wash your hair every day.

Do shampoo bars cause hair loss? Or is it breakage?

Breakage and hair loss are common hair events but are really two different things.

Hair loss, or hair shedding, happens at the root follicle and is caused by internal factors such as diet, hereditary and lifestyle factors. Breakage is an external event that happens to your hair and can be caused by factors such as chemical, physical or mechanical damage which cause the hair to break off at a point on the hair shaft.

Topical hair products such as shampoo bars and liquid shampoo can cause hair loss, but again, it is very rare. Our bars and their ingredients have been well tested to not cause breakage or hair loss.

If you’ve made the switch to a shampoo bar, you may notice some changes in your hair as your hair adjusts to a solid shampoo product. This may be caused by the lack of silicone in our products or simply using the bars a little too enthusiastically.

Many liquid shampoos are silicone heavy. Silicone coats the hair strand and masks damage. Because our shampoo bars are silicone-free, they do not replace the silicone deposits. As build-up of this washes away, pre-existing hair damage may be revealed. If the damage was severe, this can mean that the hair shaft breaks at these weak points.

How do you prevent breakage?

Unfortunately, hair that is already damaged cannot heal or repair itself, as the material in the hair shaft is not living tissue. This is why your hairdresser will trim off damaged split ends for healthy-looking hair.

The best way to prevent breakage is keeping the hair shaft healthy and nourished. Preventing dryness is key, and a good, nourishing shampoo and conditioner combination that suits your hair type will help maintain good elasticity and a healthy cuticle.

Keen to try a shampoo bar, but still nervous about hair loss? Here are our top recommendations to help promote a happy scalp.

If you have a dry, itchy or touchy scalp, try our SCALP HEALTH Shampoo Bar. It contains soothing ingredients like oatmeal, neem oil & karanja oil which are nourishing and gentle on your scalp and hair.

The Gentle Range of shampoo and conditioner bars contains no essential oils which is perfect if you prefer a scent-free option or are sensitive to essential oils.

Need a super nourishing shampoo and conditioner? Here are our top picks.

Shampoo bars

Professor Curl is a gentle, sulfate-free solid shampoo for that will cleanse your scalp without drying your hair out. It was specially formulated for curly hair but can be enjoyed by all hair types and textures! Like all our shampoo bars, it is 100% soap-free and pH balanced, giving you soft and manageable hair.

Frizz Wrangler shampoo bar is specially designed to smooth frizzy hair (which can happen to any hair type) without weighing it down.

Conditioner bars

Too Delicious is one of our most intensive conditioner bars. Made with hemp, pink grapefruit and the goodness of shea butter, it’s perfect for dry or damaged hair.

Curliosity is our solid conditioner that we specially formulated for curly, coily, and wavy hair as it contains no silicones, waxes or drying alcohols. It’s our most nourishing conditioner bar and unlike our other conditioner bars which are equivalent to five plastic bottles, Curliosity is equal to nine!

Making the switch to solid hair care

If you’re new to solid hair care products, we’d highly recommend trying out our range of minis or Discovery Packs which are a great way to try out the products we make, before committing to anything full size. Check out our generous Ethique guarantee to see how this can help you try all of our products worry-free.

Of course, switching to a solid bar does mean you’ve got to work on your #Ethiqueshelfie so that they don’t turn to mush. The great news is that this is super easy - you can store your solid shampoo and conditioner bars in your bathroom or shower with our neat storage tray solutions. They help keep your bars dry between uses and make your bars last longer.

Thinking ahead and worried about what to do with the bits of your bars that are left over? You can use every sliver with our shampoo saver bags that also double up as an exfoliator.

Not keen on a shampoo bar? We totally get it, shampoo and conditioner bars aren’t for everyone. This is why we created our solid-to-liquid Concentrates.