With so many shampoo bars now available I am still very much in my “discovery phase” for identifying what might be my all time favourite.
After trying a few shampoo bars from brands I would consider to be “eco-beauty disrupters”, I wanted to try some offerings from some of the more established brands in the market. This led me to checking out Klorane’s shampoo bar offering.
Klorane describes their brand as having a “botanical soul”, based on three key premises, or values;
- We are botanists
- We are pharmacists
- We are committed.
So what do these values mean to Klorane?
Klorane highlights the plant world as their main inspiration. They are passionate about not only uncovering the benefits that can be realised from the natural world, but in also protecting it for generations to come.
And while the plant world provides the inspiration, Klorane base their product development around stringent scientific process and standards, making sure to create products that are effective and safe.
Their commitment to preserving the natural world is further demonstrated by the alignment with both the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
Klorane develop all of their “wash off” products in alignment with the OECD 301B test, which is the test for ready biodegradability, which is the measure of products being completed removed from the environment.
They also manufacture their products in an extraction site certified to ISO 14001, which is the internationally recognized framework for balancing both environmental and socio-economic needs. And as someone who has been through an unrelated ISO assessment in their working life, I am fully aware how stringent these assessments are. Consider me impressed!
Before trying the shampoo bar, I had previously tried Klorane’s dry shampoo, which I had found to be effective, so I was hopeful of finding another shining star in the shampoo bar category.
A reminder of my hair type before we dive in to the product and how I felt it performed – I colour my hair with semi-permanent colour every 6-8 weeks at the salon, and the texture is very thick. I find it has a tendency to get oily pretty quickly and the ends can get a little dry.
The Klorane softening shampoo bar is promoted as being suitable for all hair types and providing a gentle clean.
The shampoo bar cost £11 for 80g of product, which doesn’t compare with some of the bigger and cheaper bars on the market, but if it cleans like a dream, I may be able to look past that….
First Impressions…
As expected, when the shampoo bar arrived it was packaged in recyclable packaging with no unnecessary single use plastic. You could tell it was a smaller bar than some others I have tried, and so some of my first thoughts were about how long the bar would last.
Scent-wise, the bar had a clean and slightly sweet scent, a little stronger than other bars that I’d tried, but not in an overly strong, and certainly not in a cloyingly sweet way. It was pleasant, and I noticed that I could still smell the scent after blow-drying my hair, which I really liked.
Now, onto my number one test… how did the bar lather? This bar, quite honestly, floored me. The lather was the most rich and intense lather I have tried of any shampoo bar. Even more so than the Gruum Har shampoo bar, and I was beginning to think that nothing could supersede Gruum’s valiant efforts!
A few swipes across the top of my head and the sides of my hair and I was able to generate very creamy and thick suds that left my hair feeling cleansed, but not stripped. It was a pretty luxurious experience as far as washing hair goes…
Finals thoughts…
In short, the Klorane Softening Solid Shampoo bar with Oat Milk was a big hit for me.
At first, I wasn’t so sure I’d be keen on the amount of product for the price point, as I had used a number of other bars that either cost less for a similar amount of product, or cost less and provided a much larger shampoo bar. So having to spend more for less didn’t leave me with a warm fuzzy feeling. But once I used the bar, any misgivings about price and bar size soon left my mind. It all comes down to the incredible lather. Utter perfection! I think I am so taken aback by the bars lathering abilities because I just didn’t expect it. After trialing some bars which I felt performed a little poorly in this area, I wasn’t expecting to find a little superstar in Klorane’s lineup, but I am sure glad that I did!
At the time of writing this review, I am still using the Klorane shampoo bar, although I am about two thirds of the way through. I estimate this bar would provide a month and a half’s worth or use at a frequency of washing hair around three times per week. With this in mind, this bar may work out slightly more expensive to replenish than other options, but… it’s all about that lather… so I’ve made my peace with the price!
If you think Klorane’s Softening Solid Shampoo bar with Oat Milk sounds like it might work for your hair type, they provide a store locator on their website that can help to find your nearest stockist. In the interest of transparency, I purchased my bar from Look Fantastic.
Now, if anybody needs me, I’ll be ordering Klorane’s Nourishing Shampoo bar with mango… What?? A girl like’s options!