Soaps

Why Your Curls and Soap Don't Get Along

We know — soap feels wholesome and natural. But when it comes to your hair, it's kind of a nightmare. Here's why:

The pH problem. Your hair and scalp sit at a mildly acidic pH (around 4.5–5.5), and shampoos are formulated to stay in that sweet spot (roughly 6–7). Soap? It's way up at 9–10 on the alkaline scale. That mismatch can rough up your hair cuticle and leave everything feeling dry and tangled.

The soap scum situation. Got hard water? (Most of us in Australia do.) Soap reacts with the minerals in hard water to create soap scum — arguably the worst kind of buildup. It coats your strands, dulls your shine, and is incredibly stubborn to remove. Shampoos, on the other hand, are designed to play nice with hard water.

It's actually harsher than sulfates. Plot twist — soap as a cleanser is often more stripping than the sulfates that the curly community warns about. "Natural" doesn't automatically mean "gentle."

Good News: Curl-Friendly Shampoo Bars Exist

If you love the zero-waste vibe of a bar but want to spare your curls, look for syndet bars (short for "synthetic detergent" — sounds scary, but it just means they're made with gentle shampoo-grade surfactants instead of soap).

A few worth trying:

• HiBAR – Maintain Solid Shampoo Bar
• Aspen Kay Naturals – Solid Shampoo Bar
• Refig Lemongrass Solid Shampoo Bar
• Vida Soothe Solid Shampoo Bar for Curly Hair