Shampoo bars have struggled to gain mainstream adoption in the beauty market, facing the classic problem of consumers often believing they are being compromised when sustainability is central to marketing.
But Cassandra Morales Thurswell, founder and CEO of hair care and beauty brand Kitsch, is leading with results, not sustainability. While many early shampoo bar products asked consumers to switch to shampoo bars for environmental reasons such as eliminating plastic, Thurswell said his company is positioning its shampoo bars as an upgrade rather than a replacement. Kitsch’s bar shampoo was developed in pursuit of the “softness,” “ease of handling,” and “curl definition,” which customers focus on when choosing hair care items.
“There’s no denying that they’re very effective,” Thurswell told CNBC senior media and technology correspondent Julia Boorstin on the latest episode of the podcast “CNBC Changemakers and Power Players.”
Thurswell was named to the 2025 CNBC Changemakers list.
Kitsch has enjoyed great success in the hair care market for over a decade prior to the introduction of shampoo and conditioner bars, and its track record of consumer acceptance has helped it launch additional products. Thurswell started Kitsch in 2010 at the age of 25 with $30,000 in savings and has grown the company to become a staple in the beauty aisles of retail stores across the country. The company earned women’s trust over the years through hair accessories, including the original elastic bands, pillow cases, shower caps, towels, etc., and then launched shampoo bars and conditioner bars.
“We were already in the shower with them,” Thurswell said.
The founder of kitsch tends to think ahead. In fact, Thurswell told CNBC that she continues a habit she calls “future journaling.” This is a written form of visualizing success, presenting key goals as if they had already been achieved.
Shampoo bars require a change in habits, but many consumers still believe they are not as effective as liquid milk. Eliminating plastic bottles and reducing packaging is great, she says, but it doesn’t have to be a sacrifice. Thurswell said that once customers see results, the switch tends to stick, but some in the market may not understand the concept. Among those who remain skeptical, based on the feedback she receives, is her own mother. “She was like, ‘I don’t really understand bars,'” Thurswell said.
In fact, just last month, Kitsch launched its first line of liquid shampoos (in fully recyclable packaging and made from post-consumer recycled materials).
Thurswell says that throughout Kitsch’s history, customer feedback has been a priority, starting with the original elastic headband. “When I was making hair ties, visiting stores and selling them, I asked a lot of questions: ‘What’s working? What’s not working? How can I change it?’ And every day I made all the improvements to that particular product, and the next day I went back to the store with their suggestions,” she said. “That’s what made kitsch successful.”
“I can tell you now, 16 years later, that we were able to grow to the size we are today not only because of reorders, but also because of feedback and being very customer-centric,” she said. “This is a very undervalued characteristic that many brands don’t realize. If you really listen to your customers, they’ll tell you what your next product should be. They’ll tell you what you need to change to make it easier for your customers. They’ll tell you what the price should be. And I really liked it from the beginning…and no one told me the feedback they gave me was wrong.”
Thurswell still collects customer feedback through trade shows, retail stores, online reviews, social media, including a recent TikTok live shopping event, and all other ways to connect. So was the shampoo bar. Customers have been candid about what held them back and what led them to buy the bar, she said.
Kitsch also tightly controls its product manufacturing and supplier relationships (an aspect of the business that many retailers outsource) and handles its own warehouse fulfillment, “which is an incredible piece of information,” Thurswell said. “If you’ve never packed and shipped your own items before, I highly recommend it. You’ll learn a lot from the experience,” she said.
This experience has kept Kitsch’s leadership close to the waste issue created by traditional packaging, and sustainability has been a key motivator for the company to develop its shampoo and conditioner bars. “You can’t see every box or every tape,” Thurswell said.
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