I've never used a solid shampoo or conditioner before, even though I've looked at them, and I think that's because I just could never get my head around the idea of using a "soap" in my hair, I couldn't figure out how that would work, or even the overall appeal of doing that. But, continuing my quest to find products containing natural ingredients, or at least not containing silicone etc, I decided to give this a whirl.
Smell: I find it interesting that the sticker on the packaging states that the product features "tropical fruits", because despite the jungle name, it might smell a tad tropical, but I wouldn't say it was fruity. I actually find it hard to describe the smell. It's not a bad one, as such, but it's not what I expected at all and you certainly wouldn't purchase it for the scent.
I guess, it sort of smells like fresh grass, but even that description doesn't quite fit.
Appearance: As you can see, Jungle looks expectedly like a bar of soap that you'd wash your hands with, except with jungle-like leaves on the top. The leaves are slightly pointless, because as soon as you use it, they disappear into oblivion, so I assume that they're really only there to look pretty and encourage you to buy the product.
It felt really weird buying a solid conditioner, I think for the same reason that it feels weird buying SLS-free shampoo that doesn't foam. I'm just so used to using liquid hair products that foam A LOT, and using anything else is just woah!
How to use the Solid Conditioner: The instructions on the sticker say to "shampoo as normal, massage on and work through..." which makes it sound so easy, but it also makes it sound like the product is in liquid form, which it isn't, so the idea of just massaging it on doesn't seem entirely right, because it's not quite so simple to massage something that's solid, like you would in your hands.
I didn't really know what I was supposed to do with you. Was I supposed to rub it into my hands and then massage into my hair with my hands like a normal conditioner, or was I supposed to...erm, rub it into hair? When I rubbed it against my hair, it never felt like it was doing anything, and I didn't know if I'd got any into my hair, until I noticed that the leaves have gone. But, then I was convinced that it was all over my hands :)
Results: I don't know if it's because I have naturally oily hair, and maybe this is more suited to dry hair types (despite saying that it's suitable for all hair types!), but it didn't really leave my hair feeling any different to any other conditioner. It didn't leave it soft, but considering how long my hair is, I'm just glad that it didn't leave my hair knotty which is always a bonus for a conditioner, because not many can do that!
One thing I do have to say for this conditioner, nevertheless, is that after I used it last week, I went out during that really windy weather and every time the wind blew my hair into my face, I could smell the conditioner and it actually smelt really nice. I think it was the fact that it smells so different and less "unnatural" to other conditioners, so that was pretty refreshing.
Would I buy this again? I'm in two minds about this. I've not had a good experience so far with it, but I think that's down to the fact that I don't know how to use it, and it's a completely different type of product to what I'm used to. That's not to say it's a bad product, it'll just take some getting used to.
Price: £2.95
Buy: Online or In-Store
What are you impressions and thoughts on solid shampoo bars? A great idea, or an annoying gimmick?
