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Plastic-Free: Untangle Your Hair Care from Waste

Woman in front of the ocean flinging her hair

The booming $500 billion a year global personal care industry relies heavily on plastic. That shampoo? Housed in a plastic bottle—often fully or partly unrecyclable.1 Just think about that one isle alone in your grocery store or Target…

Plus, shampoo and conditioner in liquid form is, umm, mostly water! “So we’re really just shipping tons of water around the world in plastic containers, which is bad for the carbon footprint, the water footprint, and also the plastic footprint,” says Rhoda Trimingham, an expert in sustainable design based at the University of Loughborough, in Leicestershire. 1

And why are we paying for that?

For our shop, we work hard to source products to help you highly reduce plastic and plastic packaging. We focus on more on biodegradables and recycling-friendly alternatives, like glass and metal which can be largely be recycled in perpetuity—unlike plastic, which even WHEN recycled typically needs to be mixed with new plastic (more on our research here).

Take a look at your hair care routine and consider swaps like these to untangle yourself from all that plastic and work towards package free and zero waste hair care:

  1. Solid shampoo & conditioner bars: we promise, these are SO easy to get a big lather by simply rubbing into your hair when wet. Plus, they last a LOT longer than your liquid shampoo! Our Founder has used these bars for 4-6 months.

2. BYO container sets: skip the plastic (where you can, TSA rules and all) and single-use travel size bottles by bringing recycling-friendly aluminum alternatives. We wanted better than the cheap drug store options, so we created our own quality, carry-on and pack-it reusable container kit sets with lightweight aluminum and recycled plastic containers.

3. Go refillable: Plaine Products has created natural, vegan hair and body care in refillable aluminum containers. Like what you use? Send your container back to them for a refill.

4. Bamboo combs & brushes: bamboo is a fast-growing, sustainable alternative to plastics, so here’s one way to cut back while keeping you hair calm.

5. Plastic-free hair ties & headbands: most hair ties are made from plastic-based materials, but these organic cotton and rubber alternatives from Kooshoo are fully biodegradable. Plus, skip the cheap polyesters fabrics and elastics for these more earth-friendly organic cotton headbands.

6. Dry shampoo in cardboard: for those who agree dry shampoo was the greatest invention since sliced bread, now you can skip the hard-to-recycle aerosals or plastics and simple sprinkle some magic into your hair with these mostly-cardboard shakers (note: tops are still plastic).

7. Reduced plastic styling products: cut back on plastic with more recycling-friendly glass and aluminum containers you can refill and reuse again and the unique natural styling power inside!

Source: (1) https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/04/beauty-personal-care-industry-plastic/