Early on in my blogging days, I tried really hard to go shampoo and conditioner free and did lots of different experiments. I wish I had known about Friendly soap back then, as it would have made things a whole lot easier! But I didn’t and I had a lot of adventures attempting to go shampoo and conditioner free. I also experimented with different alternatives to shower gel.

Please note: I received soap to review and this blog post contains affiliate links. Opinions are all my own and I was a customer of Friendly before getting in touch with them to ask for some soap to review.

Ways that I tried to go shampoo and conditioner free

I tried:

• Using bicarbonate of soda and vinegar. But vinegar can be quite a harsh substance and I read that both can damage your hair over time. I didn’t want to risk it, so I gave up.
• Using a boar bristle brush. The idea is that it brushes the grease out, or at least distributes it. After one or two go’s with it, I had a brush and a hair full of grease
• Using water only. It was alright for a bit, but my hair got progressively greasier
• Using plain olive oil soap. Again OK for a bit, but it was hard to wash out after a while.
• Using cornflour as a dry shampoo – the only effect that had was to make me look like I had white tinged witchy hair and then I had to wash it out!
• Egg wash – you have to be really careful not to use hot water on it, otherwise you end up with scrambled eggs in your hair. I’m not really a fan of cold showers and let’s just say it didn’t work for me.
• Persisting for ages – my hair didn’t cave and say OK then I will survive without shampoo, it just said no!

Back then I gave up after what I felt was a really good try at it and everyone breathed a sigh of relief that they wouldn’t have to look at my greasy hair any more.

Fast forward a few years and shampoo, conditioner and shaver bars are now widely available. I decided to give some a try. I found that they either didn’t work for me, were too expensive or both. But then I discovered Friendly Soap Bars.

Friendly soap review

Before we get started with this review, I am sad to report that their shampoo bars don’t work for me. This is because I live in a hard water area and they don’t work with hard water. I think that is why I had so much trouble in general with going shampoo free. Apparently soft water makes all the difference.

However I love all their other soap bars.

Reasons I love Friendly soap

1. The soap bars work. I use the Friendly conditioner bar instead of liquid conditioner and the Friendly shaver bar instead of shower gel. They both do the job really well and I don’t miss the liquid alternatives at all.
2. They are very reasonably priced compared to other similar alternatives. To save even more money you can buy them in bulk like I do e.g. bulk packs of 6 Friendly Conditioner Bars and Friendly Shaving Soap.
3. They smell good. Some of the other soap bars I tried from other places smelled OK, but then after using them, they weren’t so nice. These bars are really nice and have a gentle scent, that isn’t overpowering.
4. I love the ethics of the company. The packaging is made from recycled cardboard and it is recyclable. The soap is vegan and free from sulphates. They pay a living wage and Friendly soap is handmade in Yorkshire using traditional methods with no by products. They donate 10p from every website order made to charity and they also give staff paid days off to go and help plant trees and hedgerows locally!

All in all, they seem to be a company that are getting it right in so many ways and I’m not the only one who thinks so. They have won an award for their Lavender and Geranium Conditioner Bar, voted for by the readers of Your Healthy Living Magazine.

Are there any downsides?

As I said earlier, the shampoo bars don’t work in hard water areas. I bought my first bars of Friendly soap in a local health food shop. Although Friendly are very open about the shampoo bars not working in hard water areas on their website, it doesn’t say anything on the bars, or on their Amazon listings. I think they need to be clearly labelled as not being suitable everywhere, to stop them being sold/ people buying them in hard water areas. I used my shampoo bar that I bought originally that didn’t work as a shower bar to use it up and that was fine.

Another point, which isn’t specific to this company, but is about using soap bars in the shower. You need to get soap dishes to put the soaps in. I would recommend trying them to start with though, to make sure you like them before you invest in soap dishes.

Would I buy Friendly soap in future?

Yes definitely! As I said earlier I love them so much I have bought them in bulk.

As I haven’t found a shampoo bar yet, that is affordable and works for me, I still buy liquid shampoo. I buy Faith and Nature shampoo in bulk and top up a bottle as needed. If you are thinking that’s too much to buy at once, you could top up a bottle at your local Zero Waste Shop. You will probably find Friendly soap for sale there too.

Have you tried Friendly shampoo, conditioner and shaver bars or other varieties? Which are your favourites?