One of the biggest, greenest trends ready to sweep across haircare this year? The conditioner bar, a solid formulation that can soften, smooth, and add shine to hair strands.
“Conditioner bars aren’t necessarily new (wellness-minded folks have been fans for years), but they are certainly becoming more popular with more brands and options entering the market. And with more options come more diverse offerings, better able to tend to all hair types—from straight to curly, from color-treated to sensitive scalps,” explains Alexandra Engler.
Driven by a consumer demand for less plastic packaging, more concentrated formulations, and natural ingredients, conditioner bars are teed up to become the must-have haircare product for eco-conscious consumers.
What’s a conditioner bar?
A conditioner bar is a solid formulation designed to condition and detangle the hair, just like a traditional liquid or cream conditioner. Additionally, conditioner bars often contains ingredients designed to impart gloss and shine.
To use a conditioner bar, the bar is run under hot or warm water. Once the bar is softened, the solid conditioner is rubbed into hair strands. After a few minutes of absorbing into the hair shaft, the conditioner is rinsed out, just like a liquid or cream product. Afterwards, hair is softer and shinier.
Recently, green consumers have boosted demand for conditioner bars, due to their eco-friendliness, versatility, and wide variety of natural ingredients.
Less packaging
First and foremost, green consumers love conditioner bars because of the lack of packaging.
Unlike a traditional conditioner, conditioner bars are solid and do not require additional packaging. But, if the bars do come in packaging, that package is often sustainable, compostable, or even biodegradable. For consumers concerned about their environmental impact, a conditioner bar is an easy and convenient way to reduce their plastic consumption.
“As the beauty industry moves increasingly in the direction of sustainability, brands are getting pretty innovative in the ways they formulate, package, and provide us with our essentials and favorite products. One way you see this in the hair care space is with bars. This is great because switching to bars means less packaging—no plastic tubes, tricky pumps, or so on,” explains MindBodyGreen.
Consumers are demanding eco-friendly products and packaging like never before, and conditioner bars can deliver on those demands.
Economical haircare
Another factor behind the recent popularity of conditioner bars? The relative affordability of the bars and the amount of uses a single bar can offer.
In order to maintain a compact, solid form conditioner bars must be highly concentrated formulations. Thanks to this potent nature, conditioner bars allow consumers to use less product, but still achieve smooth, detangled hair. Additionally, many conditioner bars can be used up to 50-80 times.
For consumers with an eye on their wallets, this cost-to-usage ratio makes solid conditioner bars an attractive and economical option for haircare.
Natural ingredients shine
Finally, a third factor behind the recent popularity of conditioner bars is the focus on natural ingredients in the formulations.
“Various natural ingredients — from botanical extracts to fruit oils and nut butters — are not only common, they’re just as effective in solid form,” writes Karina Hoshikawa in Refinery29.
Now, more than ever before, consumers want natural ingredients in their haircare products, and conditioner bars encourage testing and trying out a plethora of natural extracts, oils, and more.
“The changing fashion trends and rise in awareness of the availability of new, more effective, and safer hair care products have led to a significant increase in the use of these products, which in turn boosting the hair care market globally. Furthermore, the growing demand for organic/natural products for personal grooming has become one of the primary concerns for individuals,” explains an industry report by Mordor Intelligence.
For green, clean, and naturally inclined consumers, conditioner bars offer up a fun and easy way to incorporate more natural ingredients into a haircare routine.
“Conditioner bars aren’t necessarily new (wellness-minded folks have been fans for years), but they are certainly becoming more popular with more brands and options entering the market.”
MindBodyGreen
Raising the bar
Conditioner bars are environmentally friendly, economical, and highlight the powers of natural ingredients. Even better for eco-conscious consumers? Thanks to modern innovation and forward-thinking brands, conditioner bars can help create shinier, glossier locks. Now considered as effective and elegant as their liquid counterparts, solid conditioner bars are ready for a moment in the green spotlight.
