Skip to main content

Plastic Free - Personal care, toiletries and other euphamisms

I often forget how much plastic is in a "normal" bathroom.  Bottles, tubes and tubs of shampoo, conditioner, bodywash, deodorant, hairspray, hair gel, hair dye,  moisturiser, cleanser, toner, eye wrinkle cream, make up remover, make up containers x a million, toothpaste, tooth brush, toilet paper packaging, razors, shaving cream etc.... more on that in a minute....


This July Pete and I are taking up the challenge once again to reduce and analyse our single use plastic consumption with Plastic Free July.

What's plastic-free in my bathroom?
Homemade soap (details here and here)
Homemade deodorant (recipe here)
Homemade skin salve (recipe here)
Damadi moisturiser (made in Australia, packaged in glass jars that I reuse for the above)
Shaving stick and brush

homemade salve
What's still plastic?
Toothpaste (Miessence organic, in a plastic tube, something I should make, any suggestions?)
Toothbrushes (just the normal supermarket version, I tried the bamboo ones and I just wasn't happy with it)
Disposable razors for me and Pete, but he does use a brush and shaving stick instead of a can of foam (again, any suggestions)

What's missing?
I don't wash my hair, so I don't use any products in it either, and I don't colour my hair.
I don't wear makeup

Too much information? *Women Only Zone*
One last source of plastic waste in the bathroom is the copious amount generated by by menstrual products, both the packaging and the products themselves.  I used to hate throwing away all that plastic, until I got a reusable cup and reusable fabric pads.  Here's the whole story for those who want to find out more.  And if you want to buy some, please use the affiliate link to Rad Pads on my webpage so I get a small contribution.





How do you reduce plastic in your bathroom?





Labels:

Comments

  1. LindaJuly 18, 2014 at 9:45 PM

    Yay! Will love these. I just told Hubby and he said, "Good, coz we NEED them!". I have a couple of bags for buying veggies but when he goes to get them, more often than not, I've put a knitting project in them. Thank you. I'll email you soon.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Learning.to.be.greenJuly 19, 2014 at 8:33 PM

    Thank you! I've emailed my details for the fregie sacks. Check out operators will be happy they don't have to grab all the single fruits and vegetables anymore.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fiona from Arbordale FarmJuly 27, 2014 at 8:09 PM

    I have not made soap with anything other than olive oil but I might give this a go if we ever get our cow killed.

    ReplyDelete
  4. IshyJuly 28, 2014 at 2:43 PM

    A friend of mine gave me a mini pot of her toothpaste as a "stating to DIY" gift. Simply it is coconut oil and bicarb soda (also seen baking soda used). Tiny bit goes long way and I prefer non-flavoured.

    She started making because she is allergic to a lot of additives.

    You could add food grad essential oils/flavours of choice but I don't mind it plain. Seen people add honey and stivia too but again, I don't think it is needed.

    I do recommend using a new brush for and rinse sink/brush with hot water (at least every few days).

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks, I appreciate all your comments, suggestions and questions, but I don't always get time to reply right away. If you need me to reply personally to a question, please leave your email address in the comment or in your profile, or email me directly on eight.acres.liz at gmail.com

Popular posts from this blog

Farm update - August 2017

Its been cold this month, and very nice to have the fire going every night.  Here's a photo of my boy in his cape, great for late night woofing at things.  Most of July we were either preparing for the butcher to come or putting meat away.  Its always a big job, but its only once a year, and its all done now.  My lovely neighbour came over to help, so it was fun to have the company and work together.  Taz was a champion once again as she helped us to move cattle in the yards ready to load for the market.  Gus is not at that level yet and had to stay home (he cries when he gets left behind, but he just gets in the way and scatters the cattle).  We have had a few sprinkles of rain here and there, but also plenty of cold nights, so the grass is mostly dead and dry, waiting for the warmer weather to revive our summer-active pasture. Gus in his cape Taz after she helped to move cattle Food and cooking It was all about beef in July and we are v...
2 comments
Read more

Cooking and eating beans

When I was growing up, my family never ate many dried beans, they just weren't something that was used much in NZ cuisine.  If I did eat beans, it was always from a can (and most likely baked beans).  And until recently I was still using beans from a can, but it can be difficult to get organic beans, and to find cans not lined with BPA.  Then I had an opportunity to buy some organic dry goods in bulk, so I bought 5kg of kidney beans, 5kg of adzuki beans and 5kg of chickpea (garbanzo beans).  I know, that is a lot of beans.  And then I didn't really know what to do with them!  Not just what dishes to put them in, but how to prepare them, I just didn't know what method to use. So I decided it was time to learn how to use all these beans that I bought, here's what I found out. I started with an excellent ebook called The Everything Beans Book , from Katie at Kitchen Stewardship, which has lots of bean recipes, but more importantly, an explanation of h...
12 comments
Read more

Guest post: Is there a place for power tools in the garden?

One of my regular readers and commenters offered to write a guest post about a horticulture course, its quite a funny read, with some serious insights into our technology obsession.  If you'd like to submit a guest post, email me at eight.acres.liz {at} gmail.com.  While I am always happy to share links back to your blog or website, this contributor preferred to remain anonymous.  I hope you enjoy their story.... -**-  -**-  -**-  -**-  -**-  -**-  -**-  -**-  -**-  -**-  -**-  -**-  -**-  -**- Just a few days ago our daily horticulture classes were interrupted by an invitation to review some new gardening gadgets. The idea was to open half a dozen of electric hand trimmers , test them and fill in some review about their goods and bads. As nothing is more dear to a student – even a “hort “ one - to escape routine and mess around till lunchtime, we opened the boxes and got down to business. What did we...
8 comments
Read more