Product Review: Blue House Soaps Tea Tree and Lemon Shampoo Bar

Although I'm normally enthusiastic about natural and homemade products, I purchased a Tea Tree and Lemon Shampoo Bar from Blue House Soaps with some misgivings. I had previously tried a shampoo bar from Burt's Bees, which I didn't really like. As I mentioned, I like natural products, and I've often heard good things about shampoo bars from other people, but the Burt's Bees bar was really just like trying use a bar of hand soap on my head. It felt slimy, and I never felt like my hair was getting clean.

The bar from Blue House Soaps was a pleasant surprise. The bar melts easily, and lathers well either in the hair or on the skin for shaving. The lather in my hair is comparable to that of a liquid shampoo.

The shampoo bar also leaves my hair feeling squeaky clean, probably because of the lemon oil in it. It has a pleasant, but not overpowering, lemon scent, with just a hint of tea tree.

The soap ingredients are all natural, and the scents come from pure essential oils. The combination of tea tree oil and lemon oil is intended to help prevent dandruff, and it appears to be working for me. Blue House Soaps does offer shampoo bars and soaps in a variety of other scents, like Cinnamon-Vanilla and Oatmeal-Honey, as well as a variety of natural body care and home care products.

Blue House's soap products are hand made using the cold process method. Basic soap ingredients include olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil, distilled water, and sodium hydroxide (lye). Artificial dyes are never used in any of the products. Most of the soaps are made exclusively from vegetable-based ingredients (with the exception of goats-milk soaps).

The bars are hand cut and hand wrapped in brightly colored fabric wrapping, suitable for gift-giving. It is attractive, but the wrapping was also glued so tightly that it was difficult to remove.

The shampoo bar was reasonably priced at $4.79 per 3.5 ounce bar (the Burt's Bees bars run $5-6 for 3.5 ounces). Blue House Soaps sells through their website (www.bluehousesoaps.com); ordering was easy, and shipping is only $4.05 or less for any size order. My order arrived promptly, and I even got a freebie for ordering $25 worth of products.

I've tried it, and I'm a believer now. I highly recommend the Tea Tree and Lemon Shampoo Bar from Blue House Soaps, and I plan to try their other shampoo bars and soaps soon!