FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

So simple to use. Wet hair. Wet bar and rub evenly over hair to create lather. Rinse. Follow with our conditioner bar.

To prolong bar life, keep dry between uses.

For the conditioner, simply glide the bar over your rinsed hair several times for fine hair. Bear in mind, the more you glide the more you condition. Then rinse it out after use. It should feel extremely soft and silky. Some of our customers use it as a leave-in conditioner on days between washing, which is works well too.

It also doubles up as a shaving bar for the men and the ladies! We have provided a short simple explanatory video on each hair care product page for you to watch to see just how easy it is to use as a hair care bar.

We often get asked this question by customers new to our products and the short (and sweet) answer is YES! They are perfectly safe and will not affect colored hair.

The only difference is the scents. Our scents are all completely natural, with no synthetic fragrances.

Choose from Botanical, Herbal, Orange and Woodland. The Botanical bars have a relaxing Geranium, Lavender and Patchouli scent, the Herbal bars have a refreshing Citrus and Minty scent, the Orange bars have a scent of freshly sliced oranges and are popular with families, whilst the Woodland bars have a scent with the warm, musky notes of natural Cedarwood, Vetiver and Patchouli.

Whatever your hair type, (seriously) they work great for thick, thin, curly straight, frizzy hair. Choose from 'normal/dry' or 'oily hair'.

Although a bar of soap is classed as a surfactant, it is fine for your body (see our soap bars page for those details) but with a pH of 8-10, it is far too alkaline for hair. This means the hair cuticle doesn’t lay down and it can lead to hair abrasion and damage. Therefore, we use mild, creamy, plant-derived biodegradable cleansing agents with a pH of 6-6.5, which is a perfect acidity level for hair.

Our biggest shampoo ingredient, ‘Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate’ (SCI) is one of the gentlest surfactants available, being exceptionally mild with great lather and suitable for all skin and hair types. With that, we use sulfate-free and palm oil-free sodium lauroyl sarcosinate (Easyfoam), extremely foaming in hard water and a very mild, hydrophilic (so excellent rinse ability) with large molecules that don’t penetrate the skin and irritate.

To these, we add other gentle, liquid surfactants for mildness and viscosity, as well as pro-vitamin B5 and hydrolyzed protein.

Generally, yes. Everyone’s skin and physiology are different and will react differently to certain ingredients. Even all-natural ingredients can cause irritations. We always recommend doing a patch test prior to using any product. Place a small amount on the inside of the wrist or inner thigh and watch for a reaction. If you see any redness, discontinue using the product.

Make sure your skin is completely dry then simply glide the bar over your skin, making sure to thoroughly cover all exposed skin areas. Please note that in some environments, depending on the ambient temperature, the repellent bar can become either too hard (in colder climates) in which case the simple remedy is to just pop the bar into the microwave (without the packaging!) for 5-10 seconds maximum, or if it is too soft for your liking (in hotter climates) just pop the bar into the fridge or freezer for a short period. For further in-depth advice, we have a blog article full of advice entitled "How To Properly Apply Bug Repellent" to read here.

Even natural products can cause skin irritations, especially so when someone is allergic. Infants and babies have very sensitive skin and parents are sometimes unaware of an allergy their child hasn’t yet experienced. All our Awesome Bug Bars are recommended from three years upwards. Check with the child’s pediatrician before use if you have any doubts over reaction to any of the natural ingredients.

Firstly, we have researched the ingredients that act as the best natural repellents and have combined twelve active bug-repelling ingredients, including infused catnip and yarrow, to create the strongest, yet safest, product for you. Secondly, most other natural product repellents contain over 85% water; ours have no water so do not evaporate and remain on your skin longer. Thirdly, we tried and tested them thoroughly and at length in some of the most intense mosquito and noseeum-ridden environments to ensure their effectiveness.

Our bug bars are natural oil-based so will not be diluted by wetting your skin. However, when re-applying, it is best to ensure that your skin has been dried thoroughly.

The simple answer is no. Repelling bugs and killing bugs are not the same. We offer an all-natural alternative to DEET insect repellents such as 'Off' or 'Cutter', which don’t kill the bugs either. But don't take our word for it that they work, read about their effectiveness from some of our customer's reviews here!

DEET (N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide) is a highly toxic chemical found in most chemical-based bug repellents. When ingested, it may affect the central nervous system. It can cause skin irritation in sensitive persons. High concentrations applied to the skin can cause blistering, followed by severe scarring. DEET has also been implicated in seizures among children. Our natural ingredients are safe, gentle, and effective and are not harmful to humans, pets, or the environment. Our formula works by deterring insects without harming or killing them.

We recommend, where possible, to avoid being outside at dawn or dusk (the periods of the day when midges, mosquitoes and noseeums are most active), wear long, loose, light colored clothing, avoiding strong perfumes and aftershaves (unless they are scents that repel mosquitoes such as our soap and hair care bars). We also strongly recommend that you remove any standing water from areas near your home. Birdbaths, drain pipes, gutters, even small items such as bottle tops or leaves on plants and shrubs around the home hold water that mosquitoes use to breed - get some more useful information on this here.

Yes, they are 100% vegan. They are also non-dairy, SLS-free, paraben-free, palm oil-free, and synthetic fragrance-free - as are all our products!

Yes, you'd better believe they do! Each of our Castile soap bars is typically cured for 4-6 weeks to produce a moisturizing bar that lathers easily in your hands.

They are scented using only natural essential oils, except for our Chamomile and Oatmeal bar which is unscented.

Most of the body care bars have instructions on them or on the website product page.

In most cases, you simply glide the bar, over or rub the balm into, your dry skin, preferably after bathing, and the moisturizing ingredients will sink into your skin whilst enveloping your skin in rich, natural scents.

If you need any further advice then do not hesitate to contact us by email via the contact page here.

Recommended for sleep; the Sleep Easy Balm with infused Hops, Lavender and Chamomile. Suitable for everyone. Only available from our UK store at this time

As little as possible - we call our packaging style minimalistic! Of course we are also 100% no plastic and are continually striving to remain zero-waste. Any packaging that we do use is either biodegradable, recycled, or recyclable. 

Appearances can be deceptive - our tamper-free closure stickers, and on some bars the inner bar protective cover, which at first glance you may think is plastic is in fact a fully biodegradable and compostable material which we specifically source locally in the UK and is definitely not a plastic product from China that so many other manufacturers use.

They are more expensive for us to purchase than plastic bags but, as you will be aware, our whole ethos is 'planet friendly' so worth the extra cost to us! So what you might think is typical plastic is either biodegradable cellophane made from corn and produced in the UK or glassine paper which is made from pulp and is made from 100% sustainability-managed forests, 100% recyclable and biodegradable.

The bags have been accredited biodegradable and compostable to 'BS EN 13432' and 'OK Compost'. They are also approved for Anaerobic digestion (ISO 15985) and Marine biodegradation ASTM D6691-09. The film has also been tested to ensure that once composted there are no adverse effects on the plant growth.

Appearances can be deceptive - our tamper-free closure stickers, and on some bars the inner bar protective cover, which at first glance you may think is plastic is in fact a fully biodegradable and compostable material which we specifically source locally in the UK and is definitely not a plastic product from China that so many other manufacturers use.

They are more expensive for us to purchase than plastic bags but, as you will be aware, our whole ethos is 'planet friendly' so worth the extra cost to us! So what you might think is typical plastic is either biodegradable cellophane made from corn and produced in the UK or glassine paper which is made from pulp and is made from 100% sustainability-managed forests, 100% recyclable and biodegradable.

The bags have been accredited biodegradable and compostable to 'BS EN 13432' and 'OK Compost'. They are also approved for Anaerobic digestion (ISO 15985) and Marine biodegradation ASTM D6691-09. The film has also been tested to ensure that once composted there are no adverse effects on the plant growth.

We would like to think that you will! The product packages are both biodegradable and recyclable and the tins are recyclable. We ask that you always recycle wherever possible as we purposely use recyclable and biodegradable materials as part of our ‘Green Earth’ ethic.

Once again, wherever possible we source the finest available ingredients from small sustainable growers, producers, and wholesalers within the UK. If for some reason this is not possible, we obtain from as close to home as possible to keep our carbon footprint to the absolute minimum.

We do not conduct product or ingredient tests of any kind on animals and we ensure that none of the suppliers do either!

You can find full and complete information these Policies here.

No. Absolutely not. Your credit card details are not stored on our servers. The information goes directly from your computer to our payment service provider. We do not have sight of that detail at ANY time.

Absolutely! We work with Shopify Payments, which is powered by Stripe Payments a highly reputable and long-time established internet payment company, based in San Francisco which supports 100,000+ businesses in 100+ countries and across nearly every industry, and guarantees your safety and security. 

Yes, they all are. Along with all the other great bonuses our products bring, such as being eco-friendly, super effective, luxurious quality, economical in both value and use, we have ensured in their creation that they comply with the British Airport Authority and Transport Security Administration's liquid's rules and remain carry-on approved! For further information please read the UK Hand luggage Restrictions Advice For UK Airports Here and/or the relevant USA Transportation Security Administration FAQ page here. 

Of course, you can; we give free surprise gift samples of other line items, to all our customers, along with their product purchases! You can read what others have to say about our products in their reviews on our website pages. We do, very occasionally, give out free samples from time to time without a purchase.

All our products have been stability-tested for a shelf-life of up to two years.

Stop use immediately. 

Contact your local physician. 

If in eyes – rinse gently with water for 15-20 minutes. If swallowed – check with the National Poisons Information Service here. 

On the skin, in very rare cases, if irritation has occurred; rinse the skin with water for 15-20 minutes. If you're worried about an urgent medical concern, call 111 and speak to a fully trained adviser.

For less urgent health needs, contact your GP/MD or local pharmacist.

Of course - you can read more here!

Our brand values are paramount and form the basis for everything we do at The Solid Bar Company - you can read more here.