Finding the right beauty and skincare products can be challenging. I know, for myself, I want something that not only works well, but is easy to use. I’m also always looking for ways to make my lifestyle a bit more sustainable, which includes my beauty and skincare routines as well. I do love a good, all-natural beauty product, but something I’ve never tried is a solid beauty product. To be quite honest, I’ve never really thought about using products like shampoo bars and moisturiser bars before.
Solid beauty bars are a more sustainable type of beauty product. They are made from organic ingredients, are low waste, and tend to come in plastic free packaging. All of this combined makes them way better for the planet than your commercial beauty products. But, do they work?
I’ve been trying out some solid beauty products that a brand called Zerolla sent me about a month or so ago. I’ve definitely been more curious lately about these bars, and was really interested to learn all about them and their benefits (and use them, obviously!). Zerolla’s products are ethically made from pure ingredients, and they are fully transparent about what goes into their products. We should all know what we’re putting on/in our bodies. Their solid bars come in cardboard boxes, eliminating the “need” for bottles or dispensers. Did you know the average person in the UK disposes of 117 plastic bottles? That’s 20kg of plastic waste – from ONE person! Absolutely crazy to think about!
The products that I’ve introduced into my daily routine have been the:
Geranium Face Moisturiser Bar
Geranium and Rosemary Body Moisturiser Bars
Lemon Hair Conditioner
Each one is a solid bar that you apply directly to the skin or hair. At first glance, I’m definitely impressed with the pretty packaging! They’ve definitely nailed that, in my opinion. I was also really impressed with how GOOD they smell. I could honestly smell them before even opening the box they were all packaged in.
I started off using the Geranium Face Moisturiser Bar. The instructions for the face moisturisers say to rub the bar onto the palm of your hand to create a layer of lotion and apply to your face. Your skin should immediately start to absorb it. While doing so did create a layer of lotion like it said, I felt like it wasn’t quite enough for me and didn’t transfer from my hands to my face quite like I thought it might. I found it much easier to rub the bar directly on my face and rub in. Not entirely sure if you’re supposed to do that, if I’m honest but I got better results that way! Of course this is entirely personal preference, so you may find that rubbing it onto your hands and applying it that way will be enough. It took a few days to find the right balance of how much to use. I don’t have overly dry skin, so using too much made it feel a bit greasy. But again, that was entirely down to user error. Once I found out how much my skin needed, it worked really well!
I was given two of the body moisturiser bars to use – the Geranium and Rosemary. Both smell absolutely wonderful. The instructions are pretty much the same, but you apply this directly to your body instead of your hands. I personally didn’t feel as though my skin was properly hydrated using it that way. And it did take a little bit of time to apply to my whole body. I have a crazy toddler, so it’s not really practical for me. I do think it’s a great spot treatment for those really rough patches, though!
The last product that I tried was the Lemon Hair Conditioner bar. I’m going to be completely honest about this one – other than the delicious lemon scent, I was NOT expecting to like it. I just didn’t think it would leave my hair feeling very soft. I was wrong. My hair felt AMAZING after using it. It was very easy to use – apply to the ends of your wet hair (NOT the roots. I only just learned that you shouldn’t apply conditioner to your roots. Who knew?!), leave for five minutes and rinse. I’m really surprised at how much I like it, but I guess that just goes to show how great of a product it is. I must try the shampoo next!
So is it worth switching? In my very personal opinion, yes and no. I am glad that I tried these products and I will definitely switch to more sustainable beauty and skincare products, but there are some things that I likely won’t change (like my liquid body moisturiser). I do think that it is definitely worth trying solid beauty products! Everyone is different, so just because I didn’t find all of these products practical for myself, doesn’t mean someone else won’t! Beauty and skincare is very much a personal decision, but we all can look for ways to be ecologically smarter with our choices.
xx Lauren
