Happy Wednesday! So, if you know me, you know I'm always trying to find ways to cut down on our household waste, especially plastic. I've done pretty good with stuff, but one thing that's always nagged at me is the plastic containers that all the beauty/grooming stuff comes in. Yes, I recycle everything I can, but I also know that the rate of recycling is pretty low, so I would rather just avoid the packaging to begin with. Plus, I don't want to support the making of the plastic in general. I mean, imagine all the shampoo bottles that get used by one person in a year. Now imagine how many years that is in a lifetime. Then imagine that multiplied by the billions of people in the world. UG. SO, now that I've depressed you, I'm going to tell you the solution for that! Shampoo BARS! No plastic bottles, PLUS, there are awesome options out there. This isn't just for Birkenstock-wearing, patchouli-smelling, dreadlocked hippies! Not that I have a problem with them, because in fact, if my husband still had thick hair he would be exactly that! :)
So, where can you get shampoo bars? Well, they're actually not hard to find. One company I found is Lush, which lot of people have heard of, and they have stores at shopping malls. See below for pictures of their shampoo bars:
So, as you can see, there is an awesome variety of shampoo bars from Lush. The ingredients look pretty good to, and they seem like a decently ethical company (yay!). See below:
But the Lush bars contain sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS). Almost every shampoo has this, so if it doesn't bother you, then you're all set. BUT, SLS can be a skin irritant, and a possible environmental toxin. I found this awesome website, https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/, that you can check out the toxicity of different ingredients just by typing in the ingredient.
Anyway, so after some more digging, I found some shampoo bars that are SLS-free. The website SLSfree.net has a good article about SLS-free shampoo bars and the ones they think are best. I'm totally going to try one out! Anyway, here's a link to their article if you're interested, and here are the bars they listed as best. See below.
Maple Hills Naturals Honest for Men Shampoo Bar - it says for Men, but it's really fine for everyone, and they also have Honest for Women
Okay, so that's your tip for the day, and I really hope you use it! And in case you're thinking all this was just an excuse to advertise for any of these brands, you would be wrong (though I wish you weren't!). I'm just sharing my thoughts and findings. And, you're welcome!
Until next time!