The Detox Shampoo Bar: a clarifying wash for build up

You know the feeling. You washed your hair yesterday, but it already feels heavy. The roots are flat, the lengths feel slightly waxy, and no amount of brushing brings the bounce back. In the salon I see this most in clients who love their styling products: dry shampoo, texture spray, serums, oils, heat protection. Each one is fine on its own. Layered up day after day, they start to sit on the hair.

That is what the Detox Shampoo Bar is for. It is a clarifying wash, a deeper clean you use now and then to lift that build up and reset your hair.

And to be clear about the name: “detox” here means a deep clean for your hair. It is not a medical detox, and it does not draw anything out of your body. It simply clears what has collected on the hair and scalp.

What it is and who it is for

The Detox Shampoo Bar is a 100g soap free solid shampoo, charcoal grey in colour, with a fresh rosemary and peppermint scent. It comes with a shampoo bar bag.

It suits:

• anyone who uses styling products, dry shampoo or hair oils regularly
• hair that feels coated, heavy or limp, even straight after washing
• normal, fine, wavy or thick hair that needs an occasional deeper clean

If your main concern is roots that get oily quickly, reach for the French Green Clay Shampoo Bar for your everyday wash. The Detox bar is for build up, used alongside a regular shampoo rather than instead of it.

What is inside, and why I chose it

Charcoal powder. Charcoal has a very large surface area, which helps it hold on to oil and residue so they rinse away with the lather. It is also what gives the bar its colour.

Kaolin. A soft white clay that helps absorb excess oil at the scalp. Clay and charcoal work well together in a clarifying wash.

Sodium cocoyl isethionate (SCI), sodium lauryl sulfoacetate (SLSa) and cocamidopropyl betaine. Three mild cleansers that give a thorough clean with a rich lather. None of them is soap, and none is SLS or SLES. SCI is made from plant fatty acids, and betaine is partly plant derived.

BTMS (behentrimonium methosulfate). A clarifying shampoo should clean deeply, but it should not leave your lengths feeling like straw. BTMS is a conditioning ingredient that helps the hair detangle as you rinse, so the clean feeling does not come with knots.

Shea butter, mango butter and jojoba oil. Small amounts of plant butters and jojoba keep the lengths feeling soft. It is a balance: enough to stop the hair feeling stripped, not so much that it undoes the clean.

Panthenol (provitamin B5). Helps hair hold on to moisture, so it feels softer after washing and looks shinier.

Rosemary and peppermint essential oils. These give the bar its clean, herbal scent, and peppermint brings a cool, tingling feel on the scalp that makes the wash feel properly fresh.

Apple cider vinegar powder and aloe vera powder. A small amount of each. Apple cider vinegar is a traditional ingredient in clarifying hair rinses, and aloe adds a soft, conditioning feel.

Cetyl alcohol, stearic acid and a preservative. Cetyl alcohol and stearic acid give the bar its creamy texture and shape. A gentle preservative system (gluconolactone and sodium benzoate) keeps the bar safe, as it gets wet every time you use it.

What makes it different

Many clarifying shampoos rely on strong cleansers to strip everything off the hair. They work, but hair often feels rough afterwards, and colour can look duller.

I wanted a clarifying wash I would be happy to use on my clients’ hair. So the deep clean comes from charcoal and clay doing the work at the scalp, with mild cleansers around them, and the conditioning ingredients keep the lengths comfortable. The result should feel clean and light, not squeaky and tight.

How to use it

1. Wet your hair thoroughly with lukewarm water.
2. Glide the bar over your hair two or three times, or lather it between your hands.
3. Massage the lather into your scalp, especially around the roots and hairline, where product and dry shampoo collect.
4. If you use a lot of product, rinse and lather a second time.
5. Rinse thoroughly and condition the mid lengths and ends.
6. Store the bar in its bag so it can dry, and keep the minty lather away from your eyes.

Use it once a week, or whenever your hair feels coated, and use a gentler bar such as the Rice or Coconut Shampoo Bar on the other days.

My tip from the chair: clarify a few days before a colour appointment. Build up from products can sit between the hair and the colour, so a clean starting point helps colour and toner take evenly. Just do not do it on the day itself, as I prefer the scalp to have its natural oils when we colour. And if you have a cool blonde, use the Detox bar a little less often and follow it with Blue Vibes now and then. Any deep clean can soften toner faster than a gentle wash.

What it is free from, and why

This bar contains no SLS or SLES, no soap and no silicones.

Silicones are part of the reason many people need a clarifying wash in the first place. They are not harmful, but they can collect on the hair over time. Leaving them out of every ECBEAUTYLAB product means less to build up, and a clarifying wash that does not have to work as hard.

Looking after your bar

Keep it dry between washes, in its bag or in the aluminium Shampoo Bar Box, and never in standing water. A dry bar lasts much longer.

Try it

If your hair feels heavy, flat or coated however often you wash it, the Detox Shampoo Bar is a good reset. Use it alongside your everyday bar and let your hair feel light again.

You will find the full ingredients list on the Detox Shampoo Bar product page. If you are not sure how often to use it with your routine, message me.

Eliz, colourist and founder of ECBEAUTYLAB