Low-waste hair care

I crossed the no return road of solid shampoo around 3 years ago and have not looked back. Although I’m undoubtedly an advocate of solid shampoo, I won’t pretend that it’s been the simplest of journeys. The waxy build up rumours around weeks 2-4 are true. And if you’re planning to use an apple cider vinegar rinse, be prepared to spend a little time figuring out the ratio thats right for your own locks. But once you come out of the other side, you’ll be left with softer hair that requires less frequent washing, and ultimately less daily reliance on plastic. Winner.

What I’m working with

My hair is long(ish), wavy and fine. Before switching I had to wash my hair everyday, and I couldn’t leave it to dry naturally without a halo of frizz. Even when using products or straightening my hair, the frizz halo was always inevitable. Although (largely due to my genes) I’ll never have the perfect glossy, tumbling locks, I can now let my hair dry naturally with a gentle wave - something I could never do before.

My weapon(s) of choice

Over the years I’ve tried many a soap bar. There are lots of ‘shampoo’ bars on the market but a normal soap bar can still do the trick if it has the right properties. I look to avoid palm oil, parabens and fragrance. As I have a skin contact allergy to the latter, many of the options on offer are not suitable for me but one shampoo bar that I’ve returned to has been by Timmys who make a lovely cold pressed shampoo bar here in the UK. Another I’ve been using for the last three months and really enjoying, is the nettle and rosemary shampoo bar from Honest Skincare, made in the UK with organic ingredients. Of all the options I have tried, these two result in the least build up.

I also have a conditioner bar but in all honesty I find this too heavy for my fine hair. Instead, every so often, I’ll follow my shampoo with an apple cider vinegar rinse as the acidity of the solution resets the balance of my hair, following the alkaline of the soap.

My routine

I now wash my hair every 2-3 days.

When it comes to application, generally I’ve found with solid shampoo that it’s good to get out of the habit of thinking that more = cleaner. With some of the bars I had to lather the bar in my hands and then add the lather to my hair. Otherwise, if I applied the bar straight to my hair it would become waxy once dry. But with Timmy's and Honest I’ve found that I can rub them straight over my hair and from there I’ll build up a lather as you usually would do. I make sure it gets a thorough rinse and that’s that.

I used to use an apple cider rinse every few days after shampooing. For whatever reason I’ve not felt it necessary to do this often with the Honest bar. If you’re in need of some conditioning, I highly recommend taking a little time to try out different ratios over a period of time. A lot of the recipes suggest 1 part vinegar to 1 part water. But I required so little vinegar comparatively - the recommended amount again left my hair waxy.

What I have found works for me is to keep a glass tumbler in the bathroom, fill it up with water from the shower, top it up with about a teaspoon of vinegar, and then pour the mixture over my hair. I let it do it’s magic for the remainder of my shower and then rinse my hair clean at the end. If my friends and family are to be believed (!) there is honestly no smell of vinegar once your barnet has dried. Rather than reaching for my hair dryer and straighteners, I now prefer to brush my hair through wet and let it dry naturally.

Over time, and only when the need for replacement arose, I’ve chosen more considered products for stying etc. Along the way I’ve picked up a few wooden brushes and a comb, I also use organic cotton & natural rubber hair ties from KOOSHOO and a linen scrunchie from Arkitaip.

I hope this was useful for anyone thinking of making the switch or still finding their way on the road to plastic free hair care.

I’d love to hear from you if you’ve made the change or if you’re thinking of doing so, and let me know if you have any recommendations from your own experience.

Lauren

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Low Waste Washing Up

Our low waste dish washing set up

As part of Plastic Free July last year, one of the things I shared was our low waste dish washing set up and this little collection of tools that my partner and I gradually built up over the years. When taking steps to live more consciously, whilst it can be tempting to replace existing plastic items with more sustainable ones, I’m very much an advocate of first using up what we have. When the time does come to replace any items, we can be sure that we have gotten the most out of them and can feel good about our choice to replace them with something less environmentally impactful.

Whilst these tools all have their uses, the one I reach for most is the coconut scrubbing brush (top left). It’s the perfect size for cups and mugs but it makes cleaning bowls super simple too. Replacement brush heads are available for the wooden handled brush on the right so when the heads reach the end of their life they can go straight into the compost. We also have a large bottle brush that’s great for our reusable water bottles and a less than appealing, old, slightly abrasive cloth that’s useful for the surfaces etc.

One of the more recent additions to our little collection, and the biggest step away from a daily reliance on plastic, was this block of olive soap from Savon de Marseille. As I have a skin contact allergy to fragrance, before I found this, I sourced fragrance free washing up liquid in a plastic bottle. So, to find this fragrance free bar of soap suitable for washing dishes made me very happy. When I posted about this in July 2018 it was still early days but, eight months on and this block of soap has very much become part of our daily habit. Given how well it’s lasted, I expect to get at least 3 more months out of it before we’ll need to replace it. When the time comes, we’ll be looking for another block of soap - we’re definitely converted. For anyone who can’t part with liquid soap, Elsa Lindholm has written a helpful blog post about making your own plastic free dish soap.

Being a natural avoider of dish washing responsibility (!) I do find that using these tactile tools that use natural materials such as wood and coconut fibre make tasks like doing the dishes a little less painful, and a little more mindful.

A few things I’ve learnt along the way:

• to help prolong the life of wooden brushes, it’s worth taking a little time to oil them before first use, and to let them air and dry out throughly after each use - we repurposed a cracked class tumbler to keep them in by the sink but something that would allow them to drain better would be more sensible!

• if you want to give the brushes a good clean, you can do so by soaking them in a little organic white vinegar

• keep the block of soap on a soap dish - we found that it quickly stuck quite firmly to our wooden soap dish (pictured), making it more solid and preventing it from sliding around

• to use the block of soap - rub your brush on it and swish it in the water or apply straight to the dishes. Or, to get the water really soapy for a good soak, hold the block under the tap and run the water over it straight into the basin

• watch out for block soap that has been made using palm oil - there are palm oil free versions available like this one

If you have any tips or recommendations for low waste washing up I’d love to hear them.

Happy dish washing!

Lauren

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