Hi Lisa,
Thank you so much for taking the time to share your feedback for our Bar Minimum Shampoo Bar, though I'm sorry to hear that you felt this one stripped your colour!
For a little bit of context, please know that our shampoo and conditioners have been specially formulated to be safe for colour-treated hair (both permanent and semi-permanent), and shouldn't fade colour any quicker than conventional liquid shampoo or conditioners would.
The products included in our hair care range are all 100% soap-free and pH balanced to help keep the hair cuticle smooth so colour pigments don't escape from strands. Our shampoos contain only gentle, plant-based surfactants to cleanse hair without stripping, and our nourishing conditioners hydrate to help leave locks smooth and shiny, even without the use of silicones.
We have actually made an Instagram post about what makes a product colour-safe, and another Instagram post with some more info on how to prolong colour. We also have a blog on our website about shampoo for colour treated hair.
Can I ask how you were using the shampoo & conditioner bars? I've copied some details below in case you wanted to give these another go (although apologies if you were already using them this way!):
Our bars are very concentrated and only a small amount of product is needed. We recommend thoroughly wetting your hair (and wetting the bar too), gently swiping it just a few times from root to tip (4-5 times), then placing the bar down and building up a lather with your fingers. As tempting as it is to, there's no need to keep swiping the bar to hair until a lather begins to build; by this stage, it's likely that too much product has already been deposited to strands. If you have oily hair, we recommend washing twice - the second time, you should get a deeper cleanse and more lather with only a tiny amount of product. Another common issue is that customers will lather the bar in their hands like soap - however, this doesn't give you enough product at all, and you'll essentially be cleaning your hands instead!
Similarly, only a few swipes of our conditioner bars are needed (4-5) - hair won't feel slippery on application the way it will with liquid conditioners, but the silky magic happens when the conditioner is rinsed out.
If you don't find the above to be helpful, please do just flick us an email at hello@ethique.com - we'd be happy to arrange a replacement of other products of your choosing, or alternatively we can refund these ones for you.
~ Georgia