Serpentine Hair Anti-sulfate Shampoo Bars and Deep Conditioners

Q: I'm not too familiar with shampoo bars; how do you use these things?
A: Wet your hair, and then wet the shampoo bar. Next, lather up a regular nylon bath puff with your shampoo bar; you'll only need to scrub the bar across the puff 2-3 times to clean a head of fairly thick, medium-to-long hair. Work the product into a lather on the puff with your hands, and then lightly apply the sudsy puff to your hair, making sure to thoroughly rinse out both your hair and the puff afterward. As with all our products, a little goes a very long way, so while it may seem at first like that tiny amount couldn't possibly be enough to clean your whole head, it really is plenty! This method cleans and lightly conditions your hair without the greasy buildup that's a common complaint among shampoo bar users, and it has the added bonus of extending the life of your bar. (Hey, we love cost-effective luxury!) However, if you happen to find excessive residue cropping up after a period of time, just mix up 2 tablespoons or so of lemon juice in a cup of warm water. Rinse the lemon/water mixture through your hair a few times, and the residue should be gone after a quick wash under the showerhead. Voila!

Q: Are Serpentine Hair products color-safe?
A: Serpentine Hair products are usually gentler on hair and colorants than most sulfate-based commercial shampoos. As far as preserving artificial hair color of any shade, no shampoo in the world is going to keep your hair color salon-pristine. While washing in general is going to strip your hair of color eventually, Serpentine Hair products generally are gentle enough to slow the process more than most. We do recommend Vapor --which is completely color-free-- for people with very light hair, whether the color is the result of nature or a bottle. In rare cases, the coloring agents used in our other soaps can leave a subtle cast on light-colored hair (such as lighter blonde shades, gray, or white hair,) after it's rinsed out. (If this happens to you, wash your hair two or three times with a color-free shampoo, and the slight pigment deposit should be gone.) Once again, this is a fairly rare occurence; just something to bear in mind for our fair-haired customers. Thanks!

Q: How can I make my shampoo bars last longer?
A: Natural/handmade shampoo bars and soaps melt more quickly than their synthetic detergent counterparts due to the fact that natural the former have a very high glycerin content. (It's one of the only downsides; while the glycerin is a great moisturizer/conditioner, it makes the bars very, very quick to disappear under a hot tap.) However, a wire soap dish that allows your shampoo bar to properly drain between uses really will extend the life of the bar, and will prevent it getting goopy and squishy on the bottom. (Which we pretty much guarantee will happen if your shampoo bar is allowed to sit on a shower ledge/non-draining soap dish.)

Q: How are these shampoo bars different from regular handmade soaps?
A: Regular handmade soaps tend to incorporate various plant butters (i.e. mango, shea, and cocoa butter) into their formulas to nourish your skin. They do a great job in that respect, (Ask Villainess!) but they don't rinse away as cleanly when they're used on hair. Our products are specifically formulated for haircare, so you can expect a gentle product that avoids the pitfall of excessive residue.

Q: Okay, so you don't use sulfates, surfactants, or detergents. Do you use any other common harsh and wacky ingredients that the bigger companies use, like parabens, ammonia compounds (-amines,) copolymers, petroleum-based ingredients, propylene glycol, etc.?
A: Absolutely not. All of our ingredients are clearly listed underneath the description of each product on our website, and our labels list the ingredients, as well. If you have any questions, please shoot us an e-mail. We'd be glad to answer any questions you might have to the best of our ability!

Q: You say you don't use any funky chemicals, but what's this sodium hydroxide stuff you've got listed on the shampoo bars?
A: Sodium hydroxide is the chemical formula for lye, and you can't make soap without it. However, despite the many ill effects that people of yore faced as the result of prolonged and unprotected exposure to the stuff, sodium hydroxide is a very safe soapmaking agent when used correctly, and in the right proportion to your other ingredients. In fact, if you measure the correct proportion of sodium hydroxide to your soapmaking oils, no trace of lye whatsoever should be found in the finished product. For the record, we scrutinize our measurements extensively to ensure your safety.

Q: Okay, so what about your fragrances and bizarre-sounding coloring agents? What's the story?
A: We've found that many synthetic fragrances tend to hold their scent longer, are safer, and less likely to discolor/decompose than their unadulterated counterparts. They also tend to be cheaper, so we can keep costs down a bit. As for our colorants, the ones we use are also very safe for most people, and none of them have a reputation for being overly harsh. They're merely decorative ways to jazz up our products and tell them apart from one another at a glance. All of our ingredients are safe and gentle for most people, but if you're hyper-sensitive to fragrances and dyes (and many people are,) we recommend our Vapor shampoo bars, which are completely free of any fragrances or artificial colorants whatsoever. (We aim to please!)

Q: Are you ever going to make liquid shampoo?
A: We're working on that as we speak; believe it or not, it's quite a bit harder to make liquid shampoo than a cold-process shampoo bar! We'll be sure to plaster an announcement on the site as soon as we can consistently and successfully make it, though!

Q: I run a salon and would like to use your products, but I can't use the same shampoo bar on different customers' heads for public health reasons. Is there a way to get smaller slivers of your products that would be suitable for just a single use?
A: Yes, absolutely. E-mail us, and we'll be glad to send you a box of 30 single-use samples in up to 3 different scents. (This is the equivalent of 3 regular shampoo bars, and the price is exactly the same; $13.50.) Simply tell us how many boxes you'd like and which scents you'd prefer, and we'll be glad to accommodate you. Also, if you agree to tell customers about our products and request our brochures in order to promote our site, we'll give you a 5% salon discount. Just give us the name and address of your salon in your e-mail, along w/a statement of intent to use and promote Serpentine Hair products, and we'll deduct 5% off your total order price once you've decided which products and scents you'd like. (We'd also be glad to mention your business in our links section for a bit of free advertising!) As a side note, in order to disinfect nylon puffs between uses on different clients' heads, we recommend placing the used puffs in a microwave for 30 seconds.

Q: I'm running a decant circle and was wondering if you could send me boxed
sample-sized bars like you do for the salons?
A: Yes, absolutely. Email us, and we'll be glad to send you boxes of samples as described above. (1 bar=10 sample slices, and 1 box=3 bars of samples.) If you agree to post a link to Serpentine Hair on your Live Journal/MySpace/other venue you use to organize your decant circles, we'll give you the same 5% discount as described above, as well.

Q: When should I expect my order? Do you ship internationally?
A: We ship at least once a week, and we'll notify you via e-mail when your package goes out. Standard shipping typically takes a week or less from the date it goes out, but occasionally that timeframe will be longer during busy mailing seasons like Christmas. International orders are a different ballgame, (yes, we'll be glad to ship anywhere in the world,) and as a result can sometimes take 3 weeks or more to be delivered. This all depends on your distance from the US and the reliability of your country's postal service. Please plan accordingly for gifts, etc. Thanks!

DISCLAIMER: While our products are generally excellent for most people with allergies and chemical sensitivities, anybody can be allergic to almost anything, so we do ask that you read the ingredients list for each individual product closely before you buy anything. We'll be glad to answer any questions you have to the best of our ability. (In addition, for anyone who might be trying out for the Darwin Awards, NONE of our products are meant to be ingested, and if they are, call your local poison control center immediately.) Furthermore, if contact with eyes occurs, flush with cold water. Thanks.