In my ongoing quest to use less plastic (and subconsciously drive the boys mad) I re-directed my attention to shampoos. Always in unavoidable plastic bottles (… I get it, glass in the shower could be hazardous… eye roll) and always needed. I understand there are people out there that advocated never to wash their hair… but I’m not convinced, even if I knew somebody who did just that and had gorgeous hair (and didn’t smell, I knew you’re wondering about that, I did). You can read an article here and follow various links from it.
My reason was not ‘I hate chemicals’… which a sentence I find ridiculous… let’s face it, everything is made out of chemicals, right? Water H2O… isn’t that a chemical?? I know, we all know, what people mean by that, but I am a tad inclined to trust ‘man made’ substances that are subject to rigorous testing and regulations. Obviously there’s a limit to all this, but my bug bear at this precise moment is unnecessary packaging so I’m focusing on that.
Enter the ‘shampoo bar’. Interesting concept, if you think about it it makes sense and at the same time if feels weird because we’re so used to fluids coming out of a bottle. A bit like deodorant or toothpaste in a jar… why not? We’re so stuck in our ways that it’s sometimes hard to even try thinking outside the box. It sounds a little tree hugging… but really, why? It makes sense… and when it’s gone.. it’s gone, nothing to recycle, nothing to throw away…
So anyway, there are hundreds of different shampoo bars out there. Just take your pick. Like with shampoos you might need to try a few before finding what suits your hair, by all accounts the biggest criticism I found is that they leave the hair quite dry… I guess it depends on your hair type and the bar you use…
The one I tried is this one. It’s called Living naturally soapnut shampoo bar and it’s main ingredients are soap nuts (which don’t contain soap at all but are actually berries from a plant in the lychee family, go figure)… totally organics and blah blah. Also, the plants produce the berries for 9 months of the year and they live up to 90 years…. that’s a lot of berries and not an intensive/soil destroying cultivation)
It works. It works like a soap (funny that), you wet it and rub it onto your hair, it lathers nicely and rinses off with hot water. And it works; my hair is clean and stays clean for a few days like when I use a regular shampoo. Once a week I use a tiny tiny amount of conditioner on the ends, when they feel dry. At the moment I’m still using up old stuff, but I’ve just ordered a conditioner in a glass jar… and once I tried it I’ll let you know.
The verdict? I’m very pleased and I’m not tempted to go back to plastic bottled shampoo anytime soon. Definitively worth a try!
while you're ahead... 
I’ve used a few of the Lush shampoo bars and found them to be very efficient. They are great for travelling – especially if you are hand luggage only – and double as body wash too. Plus they weigh much less than liquid shampoo and will never spill all over your suitcase. Lush sell little reusable metal tins for the shampoo bars too.
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