Clarifying Shampoo - Love. This tends to be stripping but I love how it stays true to its name, it clarifies. My hair can be crazy oily. I don't really sweat a lot, but my hair tends to be oily after a long day, even in a temperature-controlled environment. So I use this shampoo at least 5 days a week. It does not dry my hair even when it strips it clean. It leaves my hair feeling fresh and light.
Professional Salon Care Shampoo - This is from their premium line. It's more expensive and I tend to have biases for more expensive products. I force myself to like stuff just because they're expensive lol. I mean, I am a scrooge and when something costs more, I convince myself it's worth every cent just to get rid of the guilt. This is more moisturizing than the clarifying shampoo. It's also recommended for salon treated hair. I just don't order this as often because... I'm a cheapskate. Also because I need thorough hair goop cleansing every day.
Strengthening Plus Shampoo - Okay. I can't exactly vouch for the strengthening bit. I tend to lose a lot of hair for reasons I am yet to understand. So, I can't really say much about strengthening properties. This is an okay shampoo, nothing remarkable, but still overall better than regular supermarket brand shampoos.
Moisturizing Plus Shampoo - Like the Strengthening Shampoo, this does not foam so much. It takes a while to get used to shampooing without the suds. Nonetheless, this is overall better than sulfate-laden shampoos. This is more moisturizing than the Clarifying variant but you'll still need a separate product for conditioning.
Anti Dandruff Shampoo for Men - My usual supplier had no other shampoo but this and I was in a hurry so bought this and then regretted it. This can be drying, heck what do I expect from a dandruff shampoo? I guess I was expecting this would work somewhat like the Clarifying shampoo. But no, this leaves residue and does not clean as nicely. As for dandruff, I discovered mine is triggered by product build up, which thank goodness, the Clarifying Shampoo solves perfectly. So this isn't something I recommend.
Treatment Products & Conditioners - I still go for supermarket brands. My hair can be unruly and Human Nature conditioners still lack the right balance of smoothness and lightness. I use their sunflower oil, which makes my hair smooth, but it can be too heavy. Actual conditioners in all variants tend to not get absorbed, they don't coat the hair so they're pretty ineffective. The mask and the daily treatment products work fine, almost at par with popular brands, BUT they can get expensive for hair as thick and long as mine. So. I'm still waiting for HHN to release something awesome for their hair conditioning line.
Now that I've outed myself as an HHN hair care addict, let's finally review the Shampoo Bar.
I've been meaning to switch to eco-friendly shampoos. And while Human Nature is already doing an amazing job with its environment advocacies, I was still bothered by the thought of all the plastic bottles I've thrown away the past years.
I had the chance to use a shampoo bar from some fancy brand that my sister uses. (Forgot the brand, sorry.) And it was life changing. My hair didn't need conditioners, nor major combing efforts. My hair was tame and smooth right after shower, which was honestly strange. It was a little scary, to be honest because I've never seen my hair behave that way. I was expecting all my hair will fall off in one go. It was too good to be true. I was convinced to finally switch to shampoo bars, but I decided I'd try other *cheaper* brands before I made a commitment.
I ordered from a local brand which claimed to sell handmade soaps and shampoo bars. I checked the reviews and most of them were singing praises. Except for one which said the shampoo bars were actually soap and warned people not to order. Long story short, the shampoo bar I ordered turned out to be just soap. I now use my second bar as a hand soap. The couple of times I tried them on my hair, I'm reminded of that one time in my childhood when my nanny used body soap on my hair and I ended up crying because I couldn't brush it after showering.
Fair warning: don't buy from nondescript brands with no labels. Shampoo bars are formulated differently from soap bars.
I then ordered from a trustworthy looking store on Shopee. The shampoo bar turned out to be a real shampoo bar, thankfully. Foamed nicely, cleaned my hair, and didn't feel like detergent. The problem was, it melted too quickly. The P50 bar only lasted for a week. That's P200+ for a month. Compared to my go-to Clarifying Shampoo in a bottle worth P320 that lasts for 2-3 months.
After trying several other cheap brands, I finally gave up and checked the recommendations from snooty beauty enthusiasts. They were recommending shampoo bars worth 4 digits and were said to last at least half a year for their shoulder-length hair. There was no way they'd get me to buy their shampoos.
I don't now how I missed Human Nature. They of course, of all brands, would carry shampoo bars. Affordable shampoo bars that last a decent amount of time and are not detergent pretending to be shampoos. So I ordered.
I just got out of the shower and I'm a happy customer. The end.
Human Nature Natural Shampoo Bar clarifies as nicely as their bottled shampoo. I was lowering my expectations and was thinking it could at least be like the poorly foaming variants, but no, this bar foams up thickly. There's a technique though. What I do is wet the bar a bit, bubble it up on my hands and then apply the suds on my scalp. It takes more time than using liquid shampoo from a bottle. And I don't recommend it for people who are always in a rush.
My hair is not as tame and nice as it was when I used the shampoo bar from the fancy brand. But it's also nowhere near the broom-like mess that it was after using fake shampoo bars that are in reality just soap. It feels and looks clean. No overpowering smell. No heavy residue. No sticky after-feel.
I'm definitely going to commit to this product. After the pandemic though, if or when schedules no longer feel like a never ending Sunday morning (am I the only one who actually enjoys the no-rush-ness of this extended quarantine?) I'll probably go back to the bottled Clarifying shampoo. Or stock up on both and use the bar for lazy days and the bottle for crazy days.
10/10 recommend. Price: P250 for a 70 g bar. They only have 1 variant at the moment, Zesty Vanilla Delight. Oh, they also have an anti-dandruff shampoo bar for men, I'm not trying that though.
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