The best way to store shampoo bars

In the quest for plastic free living, one of products gaining traction not only in natural stores but also in supermarkets now are shampoo bars. What is the best way to store shampoo bars to get value for money out of them? Depending on the brand, some are quite robust, but the more expensive and effective they are, the more care needs to be taken with how they are stored so they don't turn to mush, especially those that are made by hand. If you remember what you needed to do a decade ago with goats milk soap, it's not that bad, but they do need a little care and attention.

We have been selling the full range of shampoo bars from Beauty & The Bees since almost the start of our store, through to more recent brands like Shampoo With A Purpose who have an incredibly robust triple milled bar. Even brands like Acure and Dr Organic who are known for their liquid shampoos in a bottle have stepped in to the world of the shampoo bar. Let's make sure you don't let any of it go to waste.

What is the best way to store shampoo bars at home?

My #1 tip is to store them anywhere but in your shower. Whether it's shampoo bars or normal soap bars, the good quality bars made with saponified oils (think a solid castile soap) and will turn to mush if they're left permanently damp in a humid shower. Depending on the household, the shampoo bar may get used twice a week, but 3 people having 2 showers a day will dampen the bar 35 times in a week. You can buy a fancy timber soap tray if you want to, but the best thing we have in store to do this is the Safix Coconut Fibre Scrub Pad.

At just $3.95, it will allow any moisture to drain from the soap without the bottom staying damp. It's also a scourer so you can clean your bathroom with it too. They last for months and can be put in with your compost when you're done as they're made from coconut fibre.

There are plenty of plastic and stainless steel soap drainers on the market as well. The biggest thing is to allow the shampoo bars to dry completely in between uses, so make sure that you're not sitting your used damp bar on something completely flat, otherwise the bottom will never dry and it will just turn to mush and go straight down the drain next time you use it.

What is the best way to store shampoo bars while travelling?

The beauty of both these shampoo bars and standard natural soap bars is that when you're travelling, particularly on an aircraft, but even just in the car, there's no leaking liquid to be concerned about and no liquid allowance to worry about. You still need to keep the soap dry and protected in between destinations. We have two things in the store designed to carry food that are both waterproof and perfect for this job.

Reusable silicone bags are a great choice not only for your soap but for anything that could possibly leak in transit. Depending on how much you're carrying with you, the smaller sizes may be large enough, but you can also put your toothpaste and soap bars in the same bag and anything else you think might squirt out and leak in transit.

This is obviously not a cake of soap, it's half an avocado. What you may not know about beeswax wraps is they are actually a waterproof cocoon when they're sealed up properly. If your soap is still a little damp and you just have to pack up and go, wrapping it in a beeswax wrap will stop it from wetting other things in your luggage until you can get to your next destination and dry it.

Once you have used a beeswax wrap for soap, we don't recommend using it for food again, mainly because the smell of the soap is probably going to linger for you.