I got this solid shower/shampoo bar in a Notino beauty box, and I have to say that it was one of the most pleasant discoveries lately. Alfaparf Milano is a professional hair care and coloring brand that can often be found in hair salons, but now it’s also available in beauty stores and online shops. With an experience of more than 30 years in the Italian market, they are now available in Europe and Asia as well.

The Benvoleo line is a sustainable vegan hair care line. I had never used a solid shampoo before, but I guess there’s a first time for everything.

Packaging:

This looks just like a soap and it comes in a colorful cardboard packaging. My only complaint is that’s a bit small since it weighs only 80 grams.

Texture:

It makes a lot of foam and you don’t need much when you wash your hair (I haven’t used it on the body because it’s too expensive for that) and it has tiny brown particles in it from one of the ingredients in the formula, the oak bark. The scent is very delicate and pleasant and it also makes the hair smell nice.

Ingredients:

SODIUM COCOYL ISETHIONATE, HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL, AQUA (WATER), POLYGLYCERYL-4 LAURATE, PARFUM (FRAGRANCE), GLYCERIN, TETRASODIUM GLUTAMATE DIACETATE, QUERCUS ROBUR BARK EXTRACT, SACCHAROMYCES FERMENT FILTRATE, LACTOBACILLUS FERMENT, CITRIC ACID, SODIUM BENZOATE, POTASSIUM SORBATE, LINALOOL

The key ingredient is the hyperfermented oak bark, which is supposed to have color-protective properties.

Price and accessibility:

Alfaparf Milano products are available in Romania through the brand’s online shop, in several other online shops and in certain pharmacies. Since I did get my shampoo from Notino, I’ll be using the price they give for this, about 14.5 euros. It’s not cheap and it’s a small bar, like I said, but the good thing is you really don’t need much to wash your hair.

My overall opinion:

Since this is the first time I’ve been using a solid shampoo and a product from Alfaparf Milano at the same time, all I can say is that I fell in love with both. For one, I think a solid shampoo makes more sense, because you don’t tend to use as much product and you also don’t have yet another plastic bottle to get rid of.

The hair feels so silky and it looks shiny and I have volume, which is always a problem for my fine hair. I like it very much, so much so that I plan to purchase it on my own when I’ll finish this bar (if I don’t find something better until then).

This is supposed to be a shower/shampoo bar, but honestly, it’s smaller than regular soap bars and it’s on the more expensive side, so I don’t plan to use it in the shower. I don’t know how it is as a shower bar, but since it’s nice as a shampoo bar, I don’t think that it would be a problem. Either way, Alfaparf Milano is one of the hair care brands that I’ll be keeping on my radar.