Oh my goodness. Shampoo aisles are teeming with plastic bottles. Their life span is too short (~6 months) and their fragments, once discarded, last for centuries:
“Can it really be true that half the plastic ever made was produced in the past 15 years? That a trillion plastic bags are used worldwide each year, with an average “working life” of just 15 minutes? That some nine million tons of plastic waste go into the oceans every year? And that estimates for how long plastic endures range from 450 years to forever?
The answer, unfortunately, is yes— those grim facts, and more, are all true.”
There’s another way: shampoo bars!
Not all of these are created equal. I’ve tried two so far:
Pros:
- Great sample sizes
- Excellent bamboo container for your bars that protects and enables them to air dry easily so you can avoid the “soap slime” blues
- Assortment of scents and bars for hair types
- Cons:
- Left my colored hair dull and lifeless
- Not easy to lather
- Samples disappeared quickly
Lush:
Pros:
- Amazing scent!!
- Tin recyclable containers
- Easy to lather
- Cons:
- Unbreathable containers increase the “soap slime” factor
- Heavily scented…hazardous to health?
Miss shampoo?
When you’re done with your bottles, rinse them out and take them to your local PCC, Recology store or bulk grocer (I love Central Co-Op on Capital Hill in Seattle). Fill it up with a bulk brand shampoo or other useful bulk soap product, like dish soap! Castille soap is a cool option as you can customize the scent by adding drops of essential oil. I’m down to my last shampoo bottle and will be reusing it – with its handy pump – for dish soap when it’s empty! The way I see it, I can toss it and hope it gets recycled, but there’s a very real chance it won’t (over 40% of plastic is used just once), so I think I’ll let my bottle hang out for awhile and work for me. 💪
Grateful for the Ride 