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Even the best shampoo bar suffers from a bit of a branding problem. We get it: the idea feels weird. A little wrong. The hygiene equivalent of drinking wine from a coffee mug. Shampoo in bar form is not what you’re used to, and on first blush, it seems somewhere between odd and unnecessary when your very liquid, very bottled shampoo works just fine.
To be clear, we’re not saying liquid shampoos are dead to us. Still love and endorse them, and have plenty of them on our list of the best shampoos for men. Nor are we pitching shampoo bars as something to use just for the fun of it. Unlike drinking wine from a coffee mug, there are genuine, tangible benefits to choosing a shampoo bar over liquid shampoo. Both will get your hair equally clean, but one does a better job protecting Mother Nature, avoiding the TSA’s deathstare, and treating your hair more gently.
Allow us to quickly explain all the ways shampoo bars are worth some real estate on your shower shelf, and then we’ll get to some of the best shampoo bars you can buy.
The Best Shampoo Bars, at a Glance
- The Best Shampoo Bar Overall: Church California shampoo bar, $28
- The Best Shampoo Bar for Different Hair Types: Superzero shampoo bar, $28
- The Best Value-Buy Shampoo Bar: Garnier whole blends shampoo bar, $8
- The Best Multitasking Shampoo Bar: Briogeo shampoo, face, and body bar, $25
- The Best Shampoo Bar for the Dandruff-Prone: Dermaharmony shampoo bar, $12
- The Best Shampoo Bar for Co-Washing: Modern Mammals light shampoo bar, $24
The Benefits of Shampoo Bars
No offense to liquid shampoo, but you’re about to see how well the deck is stacked in the shampoo bar’s favor. Even if you don’t ditch the liquids completely, you’ll learn that a bar excels in certain circumstances. Those benefits:
- Shampoo bars use less plastic, water, and fuel: Swapping out a bottle and cap for, at most, a cardboard box and light plastic wrapper (and some bars don’t even have that) means much less waste. Meanwhile, a bar requires less water to make, and less space (and weight) when shipping. Switching won’t erase the Pacific trash gyre, but it’s not nothing.
- Shampoo bars are TSA-friendly: A bar means never having to messily refill some cheap plastic TSA-approved bottles—or worse, clean out your Dopp kit after one explodes. That leaves more room for all your hair stylers and skincare products.
- Shampoo bars are less harsh on hair: Solid shampoo bars lack the moisture-stripping surfactants—a.k.a., the stuff that makes shampoo foamy—found in many liquid shampoos. If you wash your hair frequently, bar shampoo offers a gentler wash with less concern about frizz and hair strand breakage. (There is one trade-off to consider: Right now, it’s hard to find shampoo bars tailored to specific hair conditions, like thinning hair, curly hair, dyed hair, and so forth.)
- Shampoo bars are more natural: It’s easier to find a shampoo bar with a natural formula, in case you’re keen to avoid massaging unnecessary ingredients and preservatives into your scalp and hair. (Most synthetic stuff has been proven safe, but if you can avoid it, why not?)
- Many shampoo bars last longer than liquid options: Your mileage may vary here, but many solid-shampoo brands boast that their product lasts two-to-three times as many washes as the alternative. If you’re washing a couple times per week (as is our advice), a single shampoo bar could last 3-to-6 months, maybe. Just store the bar out of the shower stream’s path so it doesn’t get worn away while you’re rinsing and/or singing.
How to Use a Shampoo Bar
Get your hair wet in the shower. Then, take the shampoo bar in your wet palms and build a lather just as you would with a bar of body soap. Some people like to massage the bar onto their hair directly, but we only suggest doing this if you have really short hair, to avoid any pulling and unnecessary friction (especially since hair is most fragile when wet).
Once you have the lather forming in your hands, it should transfer easily to your hair, which is then the opportune time to multiply it, as you massage the scalp and evenly distribute the product throughout all of your strands.
Rinse cleanly, follow with a conditioner, and repeat use every 2-3 days or as needed.
The Best Shampoo Bar Overall
Our top pick goes to the newest kid on the block: Church recently launched this shampoo bar (and a companion conditioner bar), its first foray into hair care after launching a trio of fantastic hair stylers. It's got 20 active ingredients, including shea butter, argan, olive oil, and Vitamin E. With its San Franciscan state of mind, Church continues its example as an eco-friendly, natural- and organic-based hair care brand that rarely misses.
The Best Shampoo Bar for Different Hair Types
Superzero gets the gold for its assortment of targeted shampoo bars, like this one for thin and fine hair. (It uses keratin to boost hair strength and smoothness, and to build bonds that prevent breakage.) They've also got options for blonde/platinum hair, scalp stimulation, dry/damaged strands, and oily scalps.
The Best Value-Buy Shampoo Bar
Garnier also has an assortment for different hair types at drugstore prices. That includes this bar for dry, damaged hair, as well as options for weak hair, normal hair, and fine hair. They're vegan formulas, free of preservatives and detergents, and use ingredients like oat milk, almond oil, aloe vera, and coconut oil, depending on the bar you choose.
The Best Multitasking Shampoo Bar
Hair, body, face—this shampoo bar covers 'em all. It goes against our usual advice of never mixing your body wash and your shampoo, but for Briogeo, the rules are meant to be broken. The colloidal oatmeal, aloe, shea butter, and panthenol give this bar a soothing and softening essence, so it gets our green light for universal use.
The Best Shampoo Bar for the Dandruff-Prone
Pyrithione zinc is one of the best defenses against dandruff, thanks to its ability to neutralize fungus and itching. This 2% formulation builds a formidable defense, and is especially great for individuals who only need dandruff defense every few months or less; you can store it away between uses, rather than letting a liquid option separate itself in the corner of your shower.
The Best Shampoo Bar for Co-Washing
Modern Mammals already makes one of our favorite liquid co-washes, and this is their solid-bar alternative. It's a vegan recipe, with cocoa seed butter, argan oil, jojoba oil, and tapioca starch, to promote nourishment and strand strength throughout the cleansing process. This one is the best full hair care consolidation, away from liquids and standalone shampoos/conditioners.
Plus 3 More Shampoo Bars We Love
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