26.5.19

Leaping aboard the plastic-free bandwagon

Unless you live on the moon or a very remote volcano I'm guessing you will be aware of the recent sudden surge of activity to save our planet from ourselves.

In human history, much like other animal history we pottered along for years and years, using things, replacing things, recycling things and just generally being fairly neutral in planetary terms. But then suddenly we had a leap into the new, we started inventing things, and we went crazy.

Over only a very, very short space of time (in planet terms) we started filling the place with junk. Using things, tossing them aside, making new things...like children let loose with new toys we just ran amok and suddenly we seem to have sat back and realised we need to take some responsibility.

People are all looking at ways to do that and actions range from nothing ("governments and big business should do that - it's not up to us, what can we do?"), through going vegan, going vegetarian, not buying new clothes (slow fashion is very much en mode), using cotton bags in place of plastic (the jury is still out on that) to not using single use plastics.

I have decided to do a small thing. There is nothing wrong with small things, and we can all do something. I am no longer buying any bathroom stuff, toiletries or make up, that is wrapped in, or uses plastic as its container.

images to show bathroom products. text is 'plastic free - bathroom products to save the planet'

At first this seemed really simple. Years ago I moved back to bars of soap. I love that a bar of soap in the bathroom makes the room smell good, you can store the spare bars in your wardrobe or clothes drawers and get the same lovely effect there too. Choosing only soap packed in paper was simple. There are so many choices, from Lush products and Funky Soap to small businesses on Etsy.

Next I looked at shampoo. Again a nice easy one, I already buy shampoo bars for when I go camping (no danger of spilling the shampoo) so I would just stop buying bottles at all, and use bars at home too
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gorgeous black woman with glowing skin looks at a flower

I use conditioner but more importantly I use a glosser or hair serum, so I was pleased to find a few of these in glass. I usually use one that is packed in plastic, I haven't tried these new ones yet, but I have high hopes.

I'm not a huge makeup user so this wasn't difficult. I only really use facial moisturiser and lip balm. I found a few posh face creams that are packed in glass,and Funky Soap has some in glass or metal tins, and some on Etsy too (Etsy is fast becoming my go to place). Plenty of companies make little tins of lip balm. Some make little tins of hand balm too.

Of course there will be no facial wipes, nothing that is use once and bin is good for that planet. I currently use a flannel, but I am also looking at some cute washable face wipes.

I shower more than I bath, so soap and shower bars are the new go to. And for the odd bath if I really want it scented there are bath salts, bath bombs or glass bottles of bath oil or foam.

a womans white legs in a bathtub with rose petals, her toenails are painted red

Shaving .... I am not binning everything plastic I own already, that would be silly, so I have an electric razor, but the cheap plastic disposables will have to go, I will either have to buy a new safety razor and change the blades, or stop wet shaving. (Tip on blade disposal, place used blades in a small tin until the tin is full, then pop into the metal recycling) Shaving soap is available in blocks.

Deodorant. Back to Lush again for a block of this, although Primal Suds make some too. There are several companies that make deodorant packed in cardboard . My main gripe with them is the price, often nearly 10 times the price of a cheap plastic pack, and the lack of a good antiperspirant , but I'm still hunting.
a pile of solid soap bars

Teeth. You will all know about bamboo tooth brushes and there are lots on the market. However I do love my electric brush and I think that's something that companies need to look at. I have quite a few spare heads for the electric brush at the moment so I'll be crossing that bridge later. But what about toothpaste? Almost all toothpaste is packed in plastic. Euthymol still uses old fashioned metal tubes but it doesn't contain fluoride (that may or may not be important to you) Most organic and eco toothpastes, powders and tablets don't contain fluoride, which I was pretty annoyed about as fluoride helps protect your tooth enamel. Then I stumbled onto tooth tablets with fluoride from KickPlastic and I have immediately ordered some. What a find the website was! Lots of great plastic free options for home and bathroom.
a white man in a pink dressing gown brushing his teeth

So that's me sorted. Wood, glass and metal where once there was plastic. I'll let you know if I find any more little gems. And please comment with your own finds, especially makeup - that's not really my thing so I didn't really look for plastic free options there.

No one paid me to post this, or even sent me anything for review, more's the pity ;-)


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