Eco Friday: Good-bye shampoo bottles

Today I’m starting a new series of posts that will focus on environmental issues, news and how to live a more eco-friendly life. My plan is to post on Fridays, although I can’t promise it will be every single week.

The next few posts will be about simple tips to reduce plastic waste. With the amount of plastic pollution in the world being like it is, we all have a responsibility to do our best to reduce the use of unnecessary plastic in our lives.

This week, I want to share one of my favourite zero waste tips: shampoo bars.

What’s a shampoo bar? It’s basically like a bar of soap but for your hair instead of your skin. You just rub it in your wet hair, let it sit for a minute like regular shampoo and then you wash it off. Simple as.

But here’s what I love about it (behind not being packaged in unnecessary plastic bottles): it lasts so much longer! To give you an idea, here are two photos. The first is a newly opened shampoo bar and the other is one I’ve used at least 50-60 times.

Now, truth be told, I don’t have a lot of hair left on my head. I do have a descent amount of facial hair that I use the shampoo bar on too, so I think it evens out. And if you have longer hair, it will of course lasts fewer showers/baths. But this will save you a lot of money. Which might be why shampoo bars are so rarely sold in regular grocery stores, who would make a lot less profit on shampoo if everyone used it in bar form 🤔

Bar shampoo can be found in most well-stocked eco stores and also at many Lush stores. Of course there exists also conditioner in bar form. Being a very stereotypical single man in my thirties, I don’t use conditioner so I can’t say how it differs if at all in quality compared to the kind that comes in bottles. But there are plenty of reviews online if you want to learn more about conditioner bars and how to use them.

Next week I’ll tell you about my favourite cleaning appliance and how it helps me both to save money and do my tiny little part in taking care of the earth.

Have a blessed Freya’s day!