Solid, sulphate-free Shampoo; is it worth the bother?

natural cosy cottage shampoo bars in a metal bowl with handles

With so many commercial producers relying heavily on artificial additives, palm oil, plastics, detergents and preservatives, what’s different about our Cosy Cottage products and how do they work?

Welcome to the next in our series of blogs going into more detail about why our Cosy Cottage products are different and how they work.

What’s different about Cosy Cottage solid shampoo bars?

Our Cosy Cottage shampoo bars are different to the vast majority of liquid shampoos and many solid shampoos on the market too. The reason: we don’t use any artificial additives, including synthetic surfactants. Synthetic surfactants include sulphates, SLS, SLES, polyethylene glycols (PEGs) and also some of the popular pseudo-natural surfactants like SCS (sodium cocoyl sulphate) and the cunningly named SCI (Sodium cocoyl isethionate). Read more about the unwanted effects of SLS surfactants and detergents here.  After using our detergent free shampoos for a few weeks, our customers tell us:

  • The condition of their hair improves
  • They don’t need to wash so frequently
  • They no longer need conditioner every time
  • Their hair does not break so frequently and hence grows longer

There’s sometimes a ‘transition’ period, while hair adjusts from years of being washed with detergents and coated in 'shiny' silicones. This period can be challenging, although frequently it’s very short lived and there are many hints and tips in our blogs to help.

Many commercial producers of solid shampoos have opted to add synthetic surfactants, detergents or chelating agents to their products to avoid the transition period. In the longer term though, we are confident that natural, solid, detergent free haircare is best for our environment and our hair and it’s the choice we want to offer our Cosy Cottage customers.

The Frothy Hair Myth

Our detergent free shampoos will not produce as much foam as detergent based products. Despite popular belief, bubbles are neither involved in nor necessary for the cleaning process itself!

Our shampoos remove dirt from hair by gently breaking it down and creating microscopic spherical structures which are then washed away by thorough rinsing with water. Bacteria, excess grease and other microbes are gently washed away within the little spherical structures too. The little spherical structures will not block your drain, interfere with natural decomposition (e.g. for non-mains drainage) nor kill aquatic life. 

No Plastic Bottles

Our solid shampoos are wrapped in paper. Fully compostable or recyclable and we're helping to reduce the many millions of plastic shampoo bottles which build up every year in landfill or our oceans. 

So the outlook is good with natural, detergent-free shampoo; for your hair, for the environment and for your pocket. If you need to wean your hair off the long term effects of detergent first, it’ll be well worth it in the end. Don't take our word for it! Take a look at some of the reviews in the product description on our website


1 comment


  • Dorothy Fowler

    Found the blog on solid shampoo very interesting, as I found initially my hair felt very greasy so I used less but it probably was this transient period . It does take time to get used not having lots of bubbles but will persevere.
    Finding the deodorant brilliant and just love it, am getting my husband on to it when he has used his spray up.
    Just to let you know he uses your soap( or should I say he pinched mine) as he had treatments for skin cancer on his head ( he’s bald due to sun damage) he spent all night for months scratching, but using your soap has eliminated this , although he did use various creams. Well done. So looking forward to the f/ creams .


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