Chagrin Valley Soap & Shampoo Bars

My shipment from Chagrin Valley finally arrived! I haven't tried all of them, so I will add the reviews as I use them.

Here was what I bought:

Shampoo bars:
Herb Garden
Neem & Tea Tree
Nettle
Chamomile Citrus
Babassu and Marsh Mallow
Olive Babassu
Summer Sunshine

Soap bars:
Dead Sea Spa
Shea Rose Clay

Others:
Squalane Face & Eye Mousse

Reviews

Nettle Shampoo Bar
After reading all the rave reviews about this bar, I decided to start with this bar from my CV stash. It lathered very well, and did not dry out my hair. I lathered and rinsed three times in total. None of the squeakiness I got from my previous bars. My hair was easy to comb through when wet, when dry it did not feel rough, just a tad dry but that's because of the chemical damage. I did not use an acid rinse, but I don't think there is a need to at all with this bar. Very gentle cleansing. Only problem is that my hair is starting to feel a little oily, and it has been less than two days.

Olive Babassu
I love this bar even more than I do the Nettle bar; this bar is even gentler than Nettle in terms of cleansing capability, which makes for softer hair but also hair that gets oilier quicker. It has a very, very faint scent that goes away minutes after washing,

Neem & Tea Tree Body and Hair Shampoo
I bought this to use on my face and not on my hair. It gives off a very strong smell that I initially found off-putting, but I have gotten used to it. It has worked wonders for my complexion and I am very happy with this bar. It can be a little drying though, so combat the dryness with a good moisturiser.

Dead Sea Spa Soap
It is a dark grey colour which is a little scary but it doesn't have a strong smell at all. Didn't lather very well even after I softened my water. I guess it is an okay bar but I will not repurchase.

Squalane Face & Eye Mousse
It has the texture of whipped cream, it melts easily upon contact with the skin and gets absorbed very quickly. I have been using this as an eye cream and night face cream and I love it. It keeps my skin super moisturised. The only drawback is that this product has a shelf life of only two months so constant repurchase is necessary.

Shampoo bars and water hardness

I had a really astonishing experience today that I really want to share. I've always suspected that my water was moderately hard, and many shampoo bar users note that water hardness does affect the efficacy of shampoo bar use, though they have been working pretty okay for me. So anyway. I was washing my hair today, and after rinsing off the shampoo, I used the lemon juice rinse on it, but as I began to rinse the juice rinse out of my hair, I felt a lock of hair that was still a little oily so I stopped rinsing. The lock of hair was still coated in the lemon juice rinse when I ran my shampoo bar down the length of the lock, and IT GLIDED. Following this, it lathered amazingly quickly. I was seriously astounded but then I realised that lemon juice contains both citric and ascorbic acid (though probably in teeny amounts) that maybe "converted" my hard water into soft water. I never thought water hardness would make such a big difference but it did! I've got an order of citric acid and ascorbic acid on its way to me from Lotion Crafter, and hopefully it'll help turn my water "soft" and make my shampoo bar experience even better! I'll post any updates here, so keep your fingers crossed for me!