Swap Update: Hair Care Routine

***Disclaimer: My hair is on the thinner side but I have A LOT of it. It is straight/wavy but doesn’t really hold a curl. My scalp is on the oily side while my ends tend to be a bit dryer with some breakage. So, all of my reviews are based off of my hair type. But between these two brands, I definitely think that they have a great, sustainable solution for most, if not all, hair types.***

I’ve never been a big hair care routine person, but as the pandemic minimized my interactions with people, I thought it would be a good time to experiment. As many of you know, I started with the ‘no shampoo’ experiment and that didn’t end too well for my scalp. As I tried to figure out what my next sustainable shampoo swap would be, I stumbled upon HiBAR. I was hesitant at first because I tried a few shampoo bars in the past and was not impressed. I like a sudsy soap I can lather my hair and scalp with, and I hadn’t been able to find that in the past. But wow, HiBAR exceeded my expectations in so so so many ways. Here are the top 5:

• It is SO ERGONOMIC. It is designed to fit perfectly in the palm of you hand so that it doesn’t slip out as you lather your hair with it. While many shampoo bars are disks, the teardrop shape is truly a highlight.
• It lathers! Like full on soapy suds that you can use to make fun hairdos with.
• It is LIGHT. I use the maintain shampoo and was a little apprehensive when I saw that the first two ingredients were coconut oil and shea butter as my hair tends to be pretty oily but WOW. After each shampoo, my hair feels clarified and light. It cleanses the hair without stripping it of the natural oils or adding excess oil. It leaves your hair with a moisturized, clean feeling.
• It doesn’t turn into a squishy mess. You all know that feeling when you reach for your bar of soap and it feels more like silly putty than actual solid soap. Well this is NOT the case for HiBAR. I leave it on my shower caddy (it hangs over my shower head, is made of metal, and has holes on the bottoms of the shelves) and it is still as solid as the day I took it out of the compostable packaging.
• It lasts! Each bar was designed to last at least as long as a 16oz bottle of shampoo. I have been using it for a couple of weeks and have barely noticed anything change in size or shape. Ill let y’all know when this one is getting to its final days however, I can guarantee it won’t be any time soon.

I’ve never been a huge conditioner person but sometimes my ends need a little extra attention. To help my hair get a boost of moisture, I use DOHM Matcha Moisturizing Oil. It combines jojoba oil and matcha powder for a super light but ultra effective hair, face, and body moisturizer. After I shower and wash my hair with my HiBAR Maintenance Shampoo Bar, I brush my hair out and put about 6 drops of the oil onto my fingers. I then finger comb my hair and voila! a super easy 2 step hair care routine that leaves your hair happy and moisturized without being weighed down and oily. 10/10 love the combination of these products. An added bonus is that I feel like I have my life together by saying I have a ‘hair care routine’. Rest assured that life is very much not together, but, as they say, “fake it ’till you make it.”