A Deep Dive into the Energising Range: Peppermint, Orange & Seaweed

Last week, we took a closer look at Balancing. This week, we’re moving on to Energising — the range for those mornings when you’d quite like your shower to wake you up before the rest of the day begins.

Energising includes a shampoo bar, conditioner bar and body wash bar. Peppermint and orange bring the fresh scent, while seaweed, jojoba oil and kokum butter each have a different job in the formulas. And there’s a detail you might not notice from looking at the bars: the shampoo and body wash contain seaweed powder, while the conditioner uses seaweed extract.

So, what does all of that actually mean when you use them?

Peppermint and orange: the fresh bit

Peppermint gives Energising its crisp, cool character. Orange softens that sharpness with something sweeter and brighter. Together, they smell fresh without taking us all the way into candy cane territory.

I love this combination because scent changes the experience of a shower. If I’ve been in the workshop, at the stables, or trying to get moving on a slow morning, this is the one that feels like a little reset.

You’ll sometimes see big claims about peppermint essential oil stimulating hair growth, or orange essential oil making hair shiny. I don’t think it’s fair to promise either of those things from a shampoo bar. In this range, I chose the essential oils for the fresh, uplifting scent they bring to the routine. How your hair looks and feels depends on the whole formula, including how it cleanses and how you condition afterwards.

Seaweed powder: in the shampoo and body wash

The Energising Shampoo Bar and Body Wash Bar both contain seaweed powder. It gives the bars a little texture, but you’ll notice it in different ways depending on where you use them.

In the shampoo, the powder creates a gentle exfoliating feel as you work the lather over your scalp. I don’t mean an aggressive scrub — just a little extra texture while you massage the bar through. In the body wash, it gives that same lightly exfoliating feel against your skin.

But seaweed is more interesting than its texture alone. It naturally contains minerals, amino acids and compounds called polysaccharides. Polysaccharides are long chains of sugar molecules; some are valued in skin care for the way they interact with water and contribute to a moisturised feel. The exact mix depends on the type of seaweed, which is why “seaweed” isn’t one single ingredient with one single set of properties.

Seaweed also has a long history of use in skin care. I like bringing an ingredient with that history into a modern bar, where you can appreciate it in a straightforward way: the gentle scrub feel on your scalp and skin, and the knowledge that it’s more than just a bit of grit added for texture.

That combination is what makes it special to me. The powder gives you something you can feel immediately, while its naturally varied composition is part of why seaweed continues to be studied and used in cosmetics.

Seaweed extract: why the conditioner is different

The Energising Conditioner Bar contains seaweed extract instead of powder. That choice is about the job the product needs to do. A bit of texture can be lovely in a shampoo or body wash; when you’re conditioning your hair, you want the bar to feel smooth.

And yes, a solid conditioner really does condition. The chemistry doesn’t change just because the product comes in a bar.

Hair tends to carry a negative surface charge, particularly when it has been damaged or chemically treated. Conditioning ingredients with a positive charge are attracted to the hair surface. They deposit there, helping reduce friction between strands so hair feels smoother and is easier to comb. That’s the basic principle behind conditioning, whether you’re using a liquid from a bottle or a solid bar.

I think that’s much more helpful than asking you to take my word for it because the conditioner should work. It has a job to do, and there’s actual chemistry behind that job. The seaweed extract lets us include seaweed in this part of the range while keeping the smooth feel you want from a conditioner.

Jojoba oil: technically a liquid wax

Jojoba oil has a slightly misleading name. Chemically, it’s made up mostly of wax esters, rather than the triglycerides that make up many familiar plant oils. A wax ester is formed when a fatty acid joins with a fatty alcohol. That structure is why jojoba feels different from some richer oils.

In a cosmetic formula, jojoba is valued as an emollient: an ingredient that helps give a softer, smoother feel. That’s the reason I find it interesting for hair and skin products. It contributes to how the finished bar feels in use.

You may see jojoba described online as being full of minerals that ‘feed’ the hair. That isn’t really the point of it here. Its wax ester chemistry and the feel it brings to a formula are far more relevant than a list of supposed nutrients. Hair fibre isn’t alive and can’t be fed in the way our bodies can. What we can do is cleanse it well, reduce roughness and help it feel pleasant to handle.

Kokum butter: structure and richness

Kokum butter comes from the seeds of the kokum tree. Unlike liquid jojoba, it’s a firm butter. Its fatty acids include a high proportion of stearic acid, alongside oleic acid. That makeup helps explain why kokum butter is solid at room temperature and useful when you’re making bars.

It brings richness to a formula, but it also helps with the physical structure of a solid product. That matters: a bar has to feel good while you use it and hold up between washes. The butter is one part of getting that balance right.

Again, there’s no need to pretend one butter performs miracles by itself. It’s the combination of ingredients, and the way they’re formulated, that determines whether you enjoy using the finished product.

Which Energising bar should you try?

If you want that fresh peppermint and orange feeling in your hair wash, start with the Shampoo Bar. You’ll also get the gentle texture of the seaweed powder as you massage your scalp.

If you’re looking for the next step after shampooing, choose the Conditioner Bar. It uses seaweed extract instead of powder and is made to give your hair that smoother, easier-to-comb feel.

And if you’d like a fresh body wash with a little exfoliating texture, try the Body Wash Bar. That’s where the seaweed powder makes itself especially noticeable.

Use whichever bar suits your routine, or bring all three into the shower. Energising is fresh and lively, but there’s thought behind that nice scent: from the texture of the seaweed powder to the way a conditioner works on the hair surface.

Because a bar can be lovely to look at and smell, but first and foremost, it has to do its job.

Beauty without Bottles. Go Solid. Stay Glossy.