Review: Ethique Shampoo, Conditioner and Lotion Bars

Earlier this year I declared that my favorite nomad hack was my discovery of concentrated beauty bars, specifically conditioner bars, that work for my type of curly hair. I was looking for a solution to carrying around liquids since I board airplanes semi-often.

Enter: Ethique’s “Too Delicious” Intensive Solid Conditioner Bar. You can read my full review below, but in summary I was very impressed with how well this bar worked and had no idea that a vast and inclusive beauty bar industry existed that even had products for my hair and skin type.

• My Favorite Nomad Hack Of 2023: A Conditioner Bar

I promised that if I tried other products I would let y’all know what worked, what didn’t and any caveats I learned along the way so that’s what I’m here to do today! After loving their conditioner bar and learning about the ethical practices of the Ethique, I decided to try more of their products. They have everything under the sun, things that I had no idea existed, such as deodorant bars and even lotion bars.

I bought several items to test out that I’ll go through below, specifically:

1. Fresh Body Care Trio Discovery Pack
2. Matcha, Lime, & Lemongrass Soap Bar
3. Frizz Wrangler Shampoo Bar
4. Jasmine & Ylang Ylang Butter Block

Fresh Body Care Trio Discovery Pack

Something else I didn’t know before exploring Ethique’s website is that they have several different Discovery Packs. These are pre-made packs of 3 miniatures of their products that they think go together and allows you to test them out before committing to buying a full sized item. They include a small discount code on the back of these packs for the full sized item in case you want to purchase it and they advertise mini versions of one item for short travels. Smart!

I tried the Fresh Body Care Trio Discovery Pack, which includes:

• Lime & Lemongrass Solid Cream Body Cleanser
• Exfoliating Lime & Ginger Solid Body Scrub Bar
• Rustic Citrus & Earthy Deodorant Stick

Lime & Lemongrass Solid Cream Body Cleanser

This was my first time using a body cleanser instead of a soap so of course, I first had to do some research 🙂 . It seems that cleansers are similar to soap in that they still wash away dirt, but they are more gentle than soap and don’t usually strip away your natural oils.

So I took to the shower to check out this cleanser bar. I have dry skin and found that this bar worked really well just as the heart-shaped bar against my skin or in a wash cloth. It got rid of odors well, even after I exercised, and didn’t have that strange soap smell I often notice with standard soap bars I try in hotels for example.

Exfoliating Lime & Ginger Solid Body Scrub Bar

This was an interesting addition to the sampler box because I’ve never used a body scrub or body polish at home before and I was curious what it would be like. I found that when I used it in the shower, either in a wash cloth or directly on my skin after I had wet it, is that it was a little too harsh for my regular skin (I’m sensitive), but it was lovely on my feet! I really enjoyed that and found that the bottom of my feet were noticeably softer after using it. I guess they’re getting harder because of all the walking and running I’m doing. It felt like a mini-pedicure 🙂 .

Rustic Citrus & Earthy Deodorant Stick

So it was time to try my new discovery pack! First I tried the Rustic Citrus & Earthy Deodorant Stick since I was very curious how it would perform. I used the deodorant in the mini heart form above instead of the large, solid stick below that it usually comes in and I found that at least the heart version left behind a lot of residue after I used it.

It smelled great, but left clumps of deodorant behind. I’m not sure if that’s normal for natural deodorants, but the almost white color on my darker skin was particularly obvious. I was also curious if this natural deodorant could prevent smells to the same extent as my usual Secret deodorant and found that it didn’t.

I sweat a lot and need to fight that, especially when I’ve been working out, so I sadly don’t think this deodorant is for me. I’d like to investigate other types of deodorant bars to see if one exists that fits my needs better. I’m also curious if the full size bar would get rid of the clumping problem I had. I’m not sure if the mini is doing this product justice and I might try the full sized one in the future just to confirm.

Matcha, Lime, & Lemongrass Soap Bar

So after the success of trying one of Ethique’s Discovery Packs, I decided to dive in and buy a few full sized items. At the time I bought these, Ethique didn’t yet offer the individual minis, but that would have been an even better next step. Oh well 🙂 .

I was curious how the cleanser mini I tried would stack up next to an actual soap bar, so I got the Matcha, Lime, & Lemongrass Soap Bar. It’s $6 and Ethique claims it’s good for up to 40 uses. I used this soap a few times over the course of a month to see how I liked it.

It smells nice and it worked well for a quick wash of my skin. However, it is soap and does have that strange soap-smell I don’t love. I also found that it doesn’t work well for my dry skin over time. It dried me out a bit and became a little tacky on my skin instead of smooth. However, I checked and Ethique doesn’t offer a specific soap for dry skin so it looks like finding a soap I like in this line isn’t happening for the moment. No worries 🙂 .

Frizz Wrangler Smoothing Shampoo Bar

Next I wanted to try a shampoo that seemed to fit my hair needs since the Conditioner Bar was such a smashing success so I picked up the Frizz Wrangler Shampoo Bar for dry hair. It costs $16 and works for up to 80 uses.

To use the bar I wet my hair and then run the bar down my hair from the roots to the tips. While I did that, the bar foamed up a lot and I was able to use that foam to cover all of my hair. I then washed out the shampoo and unlike a lot of shampoos I’ve used, it didn’t feel like the shampoo had sapped all the moisture out of my hair.

I then used the Too Delicious Conditioner Bar and after my hair had dried, I noticed that it was a lot silkier than if I had only used the Conditioner Bar. Sweet! I’ve found another winner for my hair type 🙂 .

Jasmine & Ylang Ylang Body Butter Block

And finally, we arrive at my new favorite discovery: butter blocks. They’re just solid lotions and I had no idea they existed. I have dry skin as I mentioned and I use a lot of lotion. It’s a necessity for my skin to feel comfortable so I’ve been looking for an easy solution for a long time and was so happy I stumbled on this one.

I picked up the Jasmine & Ylang Ylang Butter Block and learned that it’s $13 and equivalent to 2 bottles of lotion. I tried it for the first time aaand I’m in love 🙂 . I used it after I had showered like they recommended and it was super easy to use.

I just pushed the bar up from the bottom of the packaging and then ran it over my skin. I was surprised that it felt super moisturizing, but didn’t leave a residue or need to be rubbed into my skin. In my head I was comparing it to my usual go-to (Lubriderm Advanced Therapy for Dry Skin) and found that this Butter Block easily won.

While using that lotion makes it look like I just applied sunscreen that needs to be rigorously worked in, this Butter Block felt the same without all that work 🙂 . That lotion also at times feels greasy on my skin after I rub it in, which isn’t pleasant if I’m going out into the heat.

However, this Butter Block didn’t have that problem. It didn’t feel greasy at all and I would go out into the US summer without an issue. And to top it all off, this Butter Block smells lovely 🙂 . I didn’t get the Jasmine & Ylang Ylang option just because it was purple 😉 . It smells amazing and I found myself sniffing my forearm for the first 5 minutes after I tried it on my arms until my partner told me to stop being weird 🙂 .

So Ethique recommends using this Butter Block when you’re fresh from the shower, but I’ve actually been using it at random times when I haven’t showered as well. It doesn’t roll on as easily, but I still find it perfect for my uses. Rolling it on completely dry skin still gives me the moisture I need without any fuss.

I’m 3 months into using this Butter Block exclusively and I’m reaching the bottom of it so I’ll need to re-up soon and I’m excited to do so 🙂 . Just a heads up that I haven’t encountered this, but in case you try a Butter Block as well: Ethique mentioned on their website that these Butter Blocks can soften in transit over hot months, but if you pop them into the fridge for 2-3 hours when you arrive, they harden back up. That hasn’t been an issue yet, but it’s good to know what to do in case it does!

Too Delicious Conditioner Bar

And finally, my beloved Conditioner Bar. I obviously wrote a whole post about it, but I wanted to give y’all an update now that I’ve been using it for several months. I’ve been using it so much in fact that I need to buy another one soon 🙂 .

In summary, the Too Delicious Conditioner Bar is still amazing. My hair is noticeably softer than before I started using it and it helps shape my curls when I use it as a leave in. I used to use a liquid leave in and gel to get that effect, but now I just need this bar that doubles as my conditioner. Sensational.

It looks like it’s going to last less than 120 washes for me, but that’s not surprising since I have a lot of thick hair and I’ve been having it do double duty as a conditioner and leave in. I’ve also at times used it as a hair mask, which Ethique also recommends.

Deceptive Email Marketing

So those are my thoughts on the products I tried, but now I want to discuss another aspect of this company that I discovered. As background, I worked in Marketing my whole career and at times was involved in Email Marketing. As a result, one of my biggest pet peeves is deceptive marketing practices.

Ethique has a pop up on their website that says you can give them your email address to receive 20% off your next order so I signed up since I was planning to try more of their products. After signing up, I received a barrage of emails almost daily at times. That in and of itself isn’t a problem. I would usually just unsubscribe.

However before I did, I noticed that they use the same annoying and misleading strategy that Hello Fresh uses, which led me to not sign up for their service: They lie to create false scarcity. It might even be the same marketing company with these same two clients – I have no idea 🙂 . But based on my experience, Ethique the company would have to approve these emails before they’re sent to customers, which is disappointing.

The emails would repeatedly say I only have 24 hours left to use my 20% discount…multiple times. They tried to scare me into purchasing something more quickly and were not being truthful about why. So that’s the first negative I’ve found about this company.

It’s great they’re trying to save the planet and create less waste, but lying to create false scarcity isn’t cool. I would suggest proceeding with caution if you sign up for their email list. It might not be worth it until you’re buying directly from them, use the discount and then unsubscribe immediately. Also ignore what they say about your 20% discount code expiring – mine hasn’t yet.

Conclusion

So that was my experience trying a bunch of Ethique products after the random win of discovering their lovely Conditioner Bar. Some products worked for me and some didn’t, but overall I’m happy I tried them and am excited to continue using the Frizz Shampoo and Butter Block along with my Conditioner Bar. My nomad travels just got even easier 🙂 . If you’d like to try out Ethique feel free to use this link to get 20% off your order.

What’s a new product you love lately?