How to Get The Most Out of Your Shampoo Bar

Something we’re asked often is “How long do your bars last?” The answer we usually provide is “Each bar will replace roughly 2-3 bottles of liquid shampoo or conditioner.” We recognize that’s not the most clear-cut answer. We pride ourselves on being totally honest, so what gives?

We’re not being intentionally secretive, we promise. The answer just happens to be a little more complicated than throwing out a single number. There are a lot of factors that affect the longevity of your bars, and the same size bar might last one person much longer than the next person. So what can you do to get the most out of your bars?

One of the biggest factors is a pretty obvious one: if you have long hair, you probably use more shampoo at a time than somebody with short hair. And while it can be neat to take a dry shampoo bar and turn it over in your hands until you’ve worked up a ton of rich, foamy lather, we’d advise against it. Only work up as much lather as it takes to clean your hair.

Another tip: try to focus your shampooing efforts on the roots of your hair, as that’s the part that accumulates dirt fastest. Save the conditioner for the ends of your hair and leave the roots alone for that stage. Not only will your bars last you a bit longer that if you use them on your entire head, it’s actually better for your hair in the long run!

If you still don’t feel you’re getting your money’s worth, improper storage of the bars might be why. So let’s go over some storage tips to take your bars the extra mile!
It’s very important to keep your bars as dry as possible when you aren’t using them. If your bar sits in water after your shower, the bottom of the bar is likely to turn a bit sticky and gummy. The easiest way to prevent this is to turn them on their side when you’re finished; this reduces the surface area of the bar touching the wet surface and makes it less likely to degrade over time.

Something else I have personally found that prolongs the life of our bars is to keep them on the opposite end of the shower as the shower head. Even though the water doesn’t hit the side of the shower directly, I’ve certainly noticed that my shampoo bar on that end of the shower did not last as long as my sister's shampoo bar that’s stored at the other end of the shower!

Another option is to take the bars right off the wet surface altogether. You can do this by storing your bars in a soap dish, as long as the dish has drainage. If you don’t have room to add a soap dish to your shower, a loofah slice is the perfect size to keep your bars on! A loofah is a type of tropical vine in the cucumber family. A slice of one looks like this:
Because the loofah is so porous, it keeps the shampoo bars off the shower surface and provides air flow under the bar so that it may dry properly. You can purchase a loofah slice to go with your shampoo or conditioner bar on the Upfront Cosmetics website for only 4.50$

Something else you may have noticed is that your shampoo bar might need to be replaced sooner than your conditioner bar, or vice versa. This is quite normal. The main reason for this is that since the conditioner doesn’t lather in the same way as the shampoo (another blog post on that later!) most people do tend to use less conditioner than shampoo. This isn’t true in every case, as maybe you have thicker or dryer hair, and go through your conditioner faster. Both are normal! It just comes down to your own personal use.