One of the first swaps I made was to solid shampoo bars. I was going through a bottle of shampoo roughly every 6 weeks. I was recycling the bottles but I was still concious that recycling is really a long term solution.
Now this can seem like a tricky swap as lots of bars talk about needing to use an apple cider vinegar rinse after use or they mention a ‘scary’ sounding transition phase. I have over the years tried a couple of different options.
I started out with bars from Lush. They do a great job and they have a varied selection to choose from. However, I always found I also needed to use a conditioner, which would usually come in a plastic bottle. You can get conditioner bars but they have not really worked for me. So, I began searching for alternatives.
After a few trials, my prayers were answered, I found ‘Zero Waste Path’ 2 in 1 Shampoo and Conditioner Bars. They have 4 available for different needs (oily + fine, dry + curly, normal hair and itchy scalp). I use the oily + fine and my girls use the normal hair one. Our hair is left feeling soft and clean. The bars are easy to use. You can either rub directly onto wet hair or between your hands and then lather up. You can leave on longer if you want more of a condition then rinse well. The shampoo bars have a PH of about 5.5 which means no need for any vinegar rinses and no transition phase.
The only packaging is a cardboard box which can be recycled or composted. The bars are handmade, PH balanced, plastic-free, cruelty-free, vegan and contain no palm oil.