Ethique Shampoo Bar Review

Have you heard of Ethique? I wanted to write this Ethique shampoo bar review because I’ve seen a lot of people in the sustainable community talking about this brand and with good reason too.

I tried the Ethique Sweet & Spicy shampoo bar and I’ll let you know my thoughts below.

I think that finding a decent zero waste shampoo bar can sometimes be quite difficult. I know that some shampoo bars I’ve tried in the past have irritated my scalp quite a bit and can leave a build up as well.

Due to this I do tend to stay away from homemade style shampoo bars, particularly because I live in a hard water area as well.

Table of Contents

About Ethique

Ethique was first started in New Zealand by Brianne who wanted to reduce the waste that normally comes along with liquid shampoos and conditioners.

“I started Ethique out of frustration for the abhorrent amount of waste created by the cosmetics industry, and in particular, the amount of plastic and waste created by our bathroom essentials. I figured out that up to 95% of your bottle of conditioner is made up of water – which is just ridiculous considering you have water in your bathroom!“
Brianne – Founder of Ethique

Originally the brand was called Sorbet, in 2015 Brianne set up a crowdfunding page and raised an impressive $200,000.

After the rebrand in 2016 where the name was changed to Ethique, there was a further crowdfund in 2017 where they raised half a million in less than 90 minutes.

Ethique products are completely plastic free packaging which is also compostable. The deliveries are all plastic free as well.

On their website they have a product recommendation form that you can fill out to get their recommendation for the best product for you. This would be particularly helpful if you have sensitive skin or you’re unsure which of their shampoo bars you should try.

Product Form

They don’t use palm oil in any of their products and instead they use coconut oil, olive oil, rice bran oil and sugarcane.

They’re a living wage employer and they advocate for Direct trading which is similar to Fair Trade.

If you want to learn more about why should we choose Fairtrade, you can read more in this full guide to Fairtrade brands.

Ethique are also a B Corporation brand, they donate 2% of profits to Charities, Certified palm oil free, compostable packaging, Living Wage employer and Direct Trading.

What I Like About Them

Ethique are a really good brand, I loved reading the story of how the brand was born and the passion behind it. #giveupthebottle

“We believe that by supporting farmers & producers directly and paying them a fair price, you not only get a better product, but their own environment is better protected as a result.”
Brianne – Founder of Ethique

Plastic free compostable packaging
1 bar is the equivelent of x3 350ml liquid shampoo
All range is vegan and cruelty free
They offset carbon emissions through Offset Earth
Certified B Corporation brand
2% of sales to charity
Living wage employer
Direct Trading (equivelent of Fair Trade)

How does Ethique compare to other shampoo brands:

Name	Size	Price
Beauty Kitchen	50g	£7.50
Eco Living	85g	£9.50
Eco Warrior	100g	£4.50
Ethique	110g	£12
Faith In Nature	85g	£7
Lush	55g	£9

As you can see from the above table, Ethique is the largest size of the main brands of shampoo bars available. It’s not the most expensive bar available. Lush is one of the most expensive because it’s a smaller bar.

The cheapest overall is the Eco Warrior bar as it’s only £4.50 for 100g size.

If you’re looking for more sustainable brands, you might want to check this post next. I wrote a Natur Cosmetics product review, this brand sells sustainable skincare and makeup at affordable prices.

The shampoo bar that I tried from their range is the Sweet & Spicy volumising solid shampoo bar. Currently priced at £12 for 110g.

Overall I think that this shampoo bar is good, it lathers up really well. I know this is important to some people as it does make it easier when you’re washing your hair.

With some shampoo bars that I’ve tried previously, I’ve had to wash twice as they don’t clean the hair very well. I didn’t have this issue with this bar, it works great!

I love how well it cleans my hair, it has a gentle scent but not overpowering and it leaves my hair shiny after use.

However, this particular bar does make my head a bit itchy. This is quite normal for me as most of the bars that I’ve tried seem to irritate my scalp.

I wish that I’d researched a bit more before I decided to buy one of their shampoo bars because I’ve since seen that they do a few different shampoo bars which would be better for sensitive scalps. This is definitely my fault so don’t let it put you off this brand.

Ingredients:

Sodium coco-sulfate, sodium cocyl isethionate, stearic acid, decyl glucoside, aqua (water), theobroma cacoa (cocoa) seed butter, glycerin, brassica alchohol, cocos nucifera (coconut) oil, lactic acid, caprylic/capric triglyceride, citrus aurantium dulsis (orange) peel oil, sodium isethionate, limonene, behentrimonium methosulfate, zingiber officinale (ginger) root powder, magnesium sulfate, cinnamomum zeylanicum (cinnamon) bark powder.

The PH of this bar is 4.5 and it is a soap free product.

Buy Here

I do hope that this Ethique shampoo bar review as been useful, I know that Ethique also have a few sets that you can sample different bars from their range. They also stock their travel sized bars if you just wanted to try a smaller version.

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