Shampoo and conditioner bars aren’t new, but for some reason I’ve been avoiding them. Maybe it’s because they seem like they’ll dry out my hair, in the same way some bars of soap can make your skin feel scaly. Or maybe it’s because I’ve been sold a fantasy of shiny, bouncy locks from salon-approved brands, from adverts that promise I’ll feel like a goddess emerging from a freshwater pool in the mountains.

Whatever the reason, I’ve put hair bars in the too-hard basket for too long without actually trying them. So when Broadsheet was offered samples from the new brand Good Time – launched by the same company behind ethical toilet paper brand Who Gives a Crap – I thought it was (ahem) a good time to give them a go.

Opening the cardboard packaging, the first thing that hits me is the fragrance. But the heady mix of bergamot, tangerine, juniper berry, orange peel, eucalyptus and pine needles isn’t coming from the shampoo or conditioner bars. The scent is from Good Time’s three cleansing bars ($12 each or $32 for a bundle of three).

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Each one has a different colour and mood. There’s the citrusy Good Time Morning Light Body Bar, which is the equivalent of a glass of cold orange juice for breakfast – refreshing, awakening, colourful. Good Time’s Big Sky Body Bar has an earth scent – infused with charcoal and sea kelp – which seems like the most stereotypically masculine of the unisex fragrances. Then there’s the jade-green Summer’s Here, which has that just-out-of-the-ocean smell. It’s slightly exfoliating too, thanks to its luffa strands and parsley seed ingredients.

Good Time’s Shampoo Bar ($19), by comparison, is a lot less pungent. It’s a smooth cream pebble of coconut, birrea seed, jojoba and shea butter. It’s soap-free and safe for colour-treated hair. (My hair isn’t coloured, but it’s reassuring to know it’s designed for most hair types.) It lathers really quickly; on first use it foamed up in my hands and it was easy to tell if I had enough to start massaging it through my roots.

I was pleasantly surprised at how little I needed in the first wash to cover my mid-length hair. Though I was nervous about dragging the soap, or pulling at my hair in a way that might break it, there was no drag or pull. The lather was enough to produce the same reassuring mass of bubbles to know something was happening. When I shampooed for a second time, my hair made that squeaky clean sound. “Rinse well and dramatically,” the instructions advise. I did my best to throw my wet hair back like I was emerging from a waterfall. It did the trick.

“With the shampoo, it is obvious that it’s working,” Good Time’s general manager, Hannah Kamran, tells me. “The conditioner is the one that takes some getting used to. It depends on hair length and texture.”

Good Time Summer’s Here Conditioner Bar ($20) is about two thirds of the size of the shampoo bar. This time it’s a square shape and has a delicate aroma. It’s an oil and wax-based bar, made with shea butter, coconut oil and vitamin E – to add shine and softness, says the packaging.

I run it over my hands and it’s not immediately clear how much product is on my palms. After a couple of bar-to-hand-to-hair applications, I glide the bar directly over the area I want to moisturise. It’s not intuitive, but I can feel that “slip” sensation Kamran told me about in our interview. After a thorough rinse, my fingers run through my hair without breaking any strands. It feels like a success.

“We want this to be a product that people love and go ‘Oh by the way, it’s eco’,” says Kamran. She adds that Good Time’s bars are the equivalent of using three standard plastic bottles of shampoo or conditioner. “I don’t think there’s any sacrifice in quality either.”

Good Time’s bars don’t contain any parabens, sulphates or preservatives. Their shipping is carbon neutral too. It also donates 50 per cent of its profits to the same WASH initiatives as Who Gives a Crap.

“We came up with our own brand name and brand identity as people probably don’t want ‘crap’ in their shampoo name,” says Kamran, who is based in Los Angeles. She tells us it’s taken two years to research and create the five new products, which have now launched in Australia and the US. The brand hopes to launch in the UK before 2023.

“Right now we’re taking baby steps,” says Kamran. And I feel the same way. After blow-drying my hair, it’s a little unruly and fluffier than when I use my usual brand of shampoo, but it’s nothing a little spray or serum won’t fix. Am I convinced? I can see the advantages of using a bar – especially for travel, and I can see myself using the shampoo along with the body bars for the next few months. I might stick with a liquid conditioner a little longer though – my flyaway hair needs a little more moisture to keep it in place.

goodtime.org
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