4 Plastic Free Swaps for the Bathroom
The bathroom is a great place to start with getting rid of single use plastics. So much of our bathroom routine is typically based on plastic. This is the room I personally started in when beginning the transition! I feel like it's an easy place to start because most of the plastic that we use in our bathroom doesn't stick around for a very long time.
1. Shampoo & Conditioner
Shampoo and conditioner is a great product to start with. We go through this probably the quickest that of most of what's in our bathroom. Most shampoo and conditioner bottles are recyclable, but how many Of us actually recycle them? Switching your shampoo and conditioner out for shampoo bars and conditioner bars is a great way to get started. I personally have found that switching to a shampoo bar doesn't really make that much of a difference in my routine. It doesn't take more time, it actually costs less money, and a just switches around your routine a little bit. I'm also a really big fan of the fact that the ingredient list is much easier to read, at it's also much easier to avoid things like sulfates.
2. Toothbrush
Typical plastic toothbrushes found in your bathroom are supposed to be replaced every 3 to 6 months. I'm not saying you should go and throw out your toothbrush right now if it still has some life in it. This would be silly and will just increase the amount of plastic waste. If it is time for you to replace your old tooth brush though, perhaps going with something like a bamboo toothbrush could be an easy choice. I just switched my entire family over to bamboo toothbrushes, and I found that it's actually significantly cheaper than using the plastic ones that we previously had. The cool thing about the bamboo toothbrushes as that they're also good for up to 6 months so for my family of 4 I only need to buy 8 toothbrushes per year. I found a set on Amazon of 8 toothbrushes and it only ran me $13.
3. Hand soap
Hand soaps another great one to replace when that bottle that you have sitting on your counter finally runs out. Consider replacing your liquid hand soap with a bar of soap. There are anti bacterial versions out there, although most people now recommend that antibacterial hand soap is thought the best way to go when washing your hand on just a regular daily basis. It is shown to reduce the strength of your immune system and make you more likely to get sick. That being said find yourself a bar of soap that smells fantastic and looks beautiful and stick it on your sink.
4. Body wash
Liquid body wash and shower gel can easily be replaced with bar soap. This should save you money in the long run as well, since most body wash and liquid soap is made of mainly water and does not last as long as a bar of soap. Switching over to handcrafted small batch bar soap was one of the best decisions I've ever made. I find that my skin is in better condition and there is so much less plastic leaving from my bathroom. The bar soaps last longer, and end up saving my family money because of this. Plus you can take them on an airplane which is amazing.
Updated 1.26.20