It’s time to gather, enjoy the company of those we love, watch football and of course, eat! Unfortunately, along with holiday cheer, Thanksgiving can also bring a lot of plastic waste. Use this simple guide to help you avoid all the extra plastic.
The leaves are changing colors, the air is a little more crisp, and it’s almost time for Fall! With Fall comes spiced desserts, warm drinks, and some extra coziness. Here are some easy swaps to make when diving into Fall.
How many shampoo bottles do you think you use a year? If you’ve made the switch to a plastic-free option, awesome! If you haven’t, I’d estimate that I used to use four bottles of shampoo a year. While four shampoo bottles might not seem like a lot, add in conditioner and body wash and now it’s 12 bottles a year being thrown out. Over a lifetime, that’s nearly 1,000 bottles. Can you imagine what that would look like in your bathroom? The United States has a little over 329 million people. That’s almost 4 billion shower-related bottles thrown out each year…just in the US.
So, what’s the solution? Here are a few options:
Shampoo, Conditioner, and Soap Bars
Refill Stores
Baking Soda and Apple Cider Vinegar
Let’s dive in!
Shampoo, Conditioner, and Soap Bars:
One of the subjects I am asked about the most is shampoo bars. Where do I get them? How do they work? etc.
I get my shampoo bars from LUSH. Luckily, I work close to a LUSH store, so I hop over during my lunch break with my own container.
To use it, I wet my hands and the bar, then rub the bar in my hands. You don’t need to lather too much because the little bit on your hands continues to lather as you rub it in your hair. I don’t rub the bar directly on my head because I feel like this gets too much of it in my hair and is wasteful.
If you switch directly from commercial shampoos, you might need a few washes to get used to the bar. It will leave your hair feeling (and sounding) squeaky clean. You’ll understand after the first wash.
This bar exfoliates and moisturizes and leaves my skin feeling silky smooth. It also smells like heaven or a fancy French dessert.
Refill Stores:
Refill stores like, Fill Good in Berkeley, The Refill Shoppe in Ventura, and the Good Fill in Nashville, have been growing in popularity recently. You bring your own containers, or purchase glass ones there, and fill up on liquids you need. It’s essentially bulk shopping for liquids!
Baking Soda & Apple Cider Vinegar:
I have not tried this but I know people swear by it. Here’s how it works:
Measure two tablespoons of baking soda and dissolve in a pint of water.
Pour over head and rub into hair.
Rinse the mixture out of your hair.
Measure two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar and mix with a pint of water.
When I travel I put my shampoo, conditioner, and soap bars into these LUSH tins. They’re also great for jewelry or other loose items when traveling.
Unintended Benefits:
Something I didn’t expect when I started going plastic-free was the visual aspect of minimizing and reducing waste. The aesthetics of my shower have completely changed. It’s estimated that we see 5,000 ads a day. That’s a lot of noise. After ridding my shower of branded bottles, I realized that I had gotten rid of the brands constantly screaming at my eyes. My shower feels, looks, and dare I say, sounds calm and this has been the best unintended benefit of going plastic-free–a simplified and unbranded environment.
Do you use any of these plastic-free showering options? If not, which one are you considering? If you try any of them out, let me know what you think!
I live a generally plastic-free lifestyle but I’m not 100% plastic-free…yet. So, to see where the last 1% of my trash was coming from, I started keeping track of all of it. At the end of each month, I look to see where I can improve.
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