Soap and Shampoo and Deodorant, oh my!
One of the best ways for us to eliminate unnecessary plastic is to eliminate the water. No water = no plastic bottle. The easiest step in that department is to switch from liquid hand soap and bath gels to solid bar soaps. But there are other products that many folks don’t realize come in a solid form, like shampoo, so here’s an update on my experiences with solid soaps, shampoo bars, and even plastic-free deodorant.
SOAPS
Plastic-free soap bars are hard to find in mainstream grocery and drugstores, I will admit. Even Ivory comes packaged in plastic wrap these days. But natural stores like Whole Foods are chock full of Castile soaps wrapped in little to no paper. Dr. Bronner’s is a good choice for many. Right now, I’m enjoying two different solid soaps:
Dessert Essence lemongrass/calendula soaps that I found, believe it or not, on sale at Grocery Outlet for a buck a piece and are packaged with just one strip of paper.
Iyoba Body Essentials handmade soaps that I buy directly from her stall at the Berkeley Flea Market on the weekends. I love the fact that the soaps are handmade right here in the East Bay and that I am supporting my local community. And they smell great. Unfortunately, the kitties think the oatmeal soap is food, so we can’t keep that particular one within reach of little paws.
The thing I have noticed about natural Castile soaps is that they do tend to dissolve fast if you let them sit in water. You need a good soap dish with holes to let the water drain. Or a bowl of little stones, which is what I use. Or a bowl with a strategically shaped and placed seashell, which is what Axelle uses. Or a handmade soap drainer like this one made by The Green Cat (10/2013: The link to her homemade soap drainer is gone. But she has other cool handmade things on her page.)
SOLID SHAMPOOS
I’ve tried three different solid shampoo bars to date:
Lush Re-Incarnate Shampoo Bar comes with zero packaging if you buy it directly from a Lush Store. Through the mail, they wrap it in paper for you. (Correction: Per comments below, sometimes they wrap it up in plastic. Not good. Maybe you have to specify no plastic when you order. *Sigh*) As I’ve explained before in my original post about Lush, when you shop at the store, you buy the product by weight and it’s cut to order from a big block. Lush shampoo bars are great from a packaging standpoint. But the ingredients in the bar itself are questionable. This shampoo contains Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLS), a detergent which can be irritating to some people. According to their web site, Lush has developed some SLS-free shampoo bars, but I haven’t tried them. [07/24/2012 Update: It looks like Lush is using SLS in all of its shampoo bars again. I have sent a message to the company requesting clarification.] My main objection to the Re-Incarnate shampoo was the smell. I just didn’t care for it. And that’s really my main objection to Lush products in general. Most of them are very strong-smelling. In fact, I kind of get a headache when I walk into the store from all the strong fragrances (albeit from natural sources) bumping up against one another. Your mileage may vary.
[05/13/2012: Information about Burt’s Bees shampoo bars removed from this post. The product has been discontinued.]
J.R. Liggett’s Old Fashioned shampoo bar is the one I’m using right now. It has the mildest fragrance of the three. It comes wrapped in paper with a biodegradable corn plastic inner lining. Okay, but here’s the thing. Read the ingredients: Olive oil, coconut oil, castor oil, fresh pure New Hampshire spring water, sodium hydroxide [aka lye], Rosemary-Lavender-Cedarwood and other essential oils for fragrance. My question: how is this any different from the natural soap I’ve been using on my body???
Other shampoo bars that have gotten good reviews are offered by Chagrin Valley, Aquarian Bath, and many other Etsy.com sellers. Search Etsy for “shampoo bar”.
But why am I spending extra money for a bar labeled “shampoo” when perhaps I could just be using the same olive oil-based soaps on my hair that I use on the rest of me? Iyoba’s soaps are made from olive and coconut oils. The main difference I can see is that instead of pure New Hampshire spring water, she probably uses Oakland’s finest. Not a problem.
So, when these shampoo bars are used up, I’m either switching to soap OR baking soda. Colin Beavan, the No Impact Man, cleaned his hair with baking soda for a year. And there are all kinds of instructions online for “no-poo” hair cleaning and a whole no-poo community using baking soda and apple cider vinegar. Life Less Plastic is already doing the cider conditioner portion of the no-poo procedure. We’ll see. I already use baking soda for a lot of other things. Including the next item on this list.
But before that, I just want to mention one more thing. Conditioner. Remember that homemade solid hand lotion I made a few months ago? Well, a tiny bit of that run through my hair after showering, and I’m tangle-free and good to go. Really.
DEODORANT
I’d been using a Lush Aromarant container-free deodorant block since August and for the most part, it worked just fine. But it’s expensive. And after reading that Colin Beavan was also using baking soda as a deodorant, I swore I’d try it when this bar ran out.
Well, the bar is almost gone, but not quite. I was scared to switch to baking soda without having some deodorant bar left as a backup. Just in case. Because I can get pretty funky sometimes, and I was just not at all sure that plain baking soda was going to do the trick.
But a few days ago, I had an idea: what if I added a few drops of tea tree oil to the baking soda, just for insurance? Tea tree oil is an antibacterial. And bacteria are what cause body odor. So here’s my recipe: Add few drops of tea tree oil to a jar (in my case, a tea tin) of baking soda. Shake well. Apply with a fuzzy powder puff (which I already had.) And guess what:
No odor!
And guess what else:
No wetness either!
Huh? How can that be? I don’t know, but my pits are not only odor-free; they’re also dry. I’ve never used antiperspirants because of the nasty ingredients in them. So I just live with sweat-stains under my arms occasionally. Maybe this is a fluke and the sweat will return. Or maybe I’m not drinking enough water. Any ideas?
P.S. You should see me secretly sniffing my pits all day when I think no one’s looking, just to make sure. Am I paranoid about B.O. or what? Another victim of advertising perhaps?
Re: baking soda deodorant
Over a longer period your may “burn” or as some people say “react” to the baking soda. What happens is that the skin’s pH becomes too high which is like using lye on it. I do not know what to suggest for that, but possibly alternate between baking soda and something else. Vinegar?
I’ve been using a deodorant stone for years. No aluminum or chemicals, just mineral salts. Works great!!
Martha, have you found one that doesn’t come packaged in plastic? That’s what is holding me back from the stone.
A bit late to the discussion here, but I use a “Le Crystal Naturel – Big Rock” which does come with a storage pouch made of plastic. I have just contacted the company to see if I could order some without the pouch and a waiting on a response.
For now though, I’m happy to keep using them anyway, as the rock lasts SO long (like I can’t actually remember how long I’ve had my current one, and am only looking to get another for convenience so I have one for my travel bag). And it works SO WELL.
Thanks. Please let us know if they are willing to ship it to you without plastic.
Does this rock contains harsh chemicals? Is it possible to list the ingredients this rock contains, I am pretty desperate to find something that works but without containing bad chemicals. Thanks in advance for your input.
A friend of mine uses half a fresh cut lime for underarm deodorant no smell all day!! However she doesn’t shave I would be careful after shaving if using lime! but it really works!!
Just wanted to say that I love this post! I love baking soda so if anyone read this and was skeptical about it don’t worry! I use baking soda all the time and I go hiking a LOT. I don’t sweat. I keep it in a little tin with some tea tree and put it right on whenever I need it. Trust me. Save your pennies and just use this without worrying about what nasty chemicals go in or on your body.
I’ve been so hesitant to use any of these natural deodorants because I NEED an antiperspirant, too. I routinely pit0out my clothes – and forget wearing anything white…it’s yellow after 1-2 wearings. This has me very interested in the baking soda/tree tea oil. How do you keep the powder from getting all over your clothes, especially darker colors? White pits during a business training would not be very professional. 🙂
Tried the baking soda and vinegar for my hair, and just didn’t like the way my hair felt. I am using a solid bar now, pretty good, but not my favorite. Do you know if anyone makes a more conventional shampoo, in terms of it being gel-like (for example I used to use the more natural ones you could get at Trader Joes or Whole Foods), but packaged in a metal or glass container? Seems you could just scoop it out as you need it if it were thick enough.
The baking soda as deodorant works better than any deodorant I have ever used! My underarms were itchy at first, but I switched to washing them with water only (no soap) and using the baking soda. I works great, and no itch now!
Thanks for being the guinea pig and sharing your findings! Will be trying these out myself.
Let us know how it goes. And FYI: I am no longer using shampoo bars but the “No Poo” regimen mentioned above. Here is my procedure: http://myplasticfreelife.com/2008/06/no-more-poo/
I have been doing some research on natural soap bars and shampoo bars and have started making my own body car products as well. The only difference in the natural soap bars and shampoo bars are the types of oils and butters you use to get a different effect of pH balance (if you have this you wont need a conditionar), cleanseing, moisturinzing, volumizing and whatever other special things you want done for your hair. Other than that the process is the same (cold process). And for the past year I have been on again and off again sometimes two months at a time with the baking soda and vinager, I still haven’t mastered it. I have long hair and I think that is why it is so difficult for me.
oops…that was supposed to say “baking soda puts out fires…”
axelle,
OF COURSE baking puts out fires! That’s what you’re supposed to dump on a pan fire in the kitchen….didn’t you learn than in Home Ec? ; )
Nadinada,
NO! Using baking soda as a deodorant will NOT raise BP by “osmotic action” or any other action! These silly ideas are the reason why nutters like you all stress so much about your soap and shampoo. Worrying about putting baking soda in your armpits may raise you BP, however, so, in your case, it would probably be contraindicated.
All of LUSH’s plastic bags are biodegradable plastic bags and plastic bottles are made from recycled materials. I realize you wrote this a while back, but I think they may have changed the other bowls as well.
Also, you can exchange 5 empty black pots to receive a new product. They are then reused.
I looked through some of your older posts, and I hope this one fits best for commenting…
I’ve always needed some kind of body lotions because my skin gets too dry if I don’t cream it twice a week or so. Body lotions always, always! come in plastic bottles. Before reading your blog that didn’t bother me too much, but now it does. I found a great replacement! Olive oil. Even the organic one is not too expensive, it comes in glass bottles, and it works wonders! Just rub it into your skin right after showering when your skin is still damp. Wait until putting on clothes for two or three minutes, and you’re fine to go.
Now i’ve got two olive oils bottles, one in the kitchen and one in the bath. And people have complimented me on my smooth skin in the middle of a very harsh winter!
(also: Nivea cream comes in tin containers and is good, but too thick for using it on your whole body)
Alan, check out this post. It has more details about the deodorant recipes:
http://myplasticfreelife.com/2009/11/baking-soda-so-many-uses-so-little-money-and-plastic/
I tried no-poo for a while, and then I quit, and recently I tried it again for about 6 months.. and it just doesn’t work for me. I am now a total convert to high-quality-soap as shampoo, with an ACV rinse. Here is a good post I found about ingredients in soap as shampoo: http://stonl.inspirehandmade.org/shampoo-bar-reviews/2008/12/deep-dive-2-pros-and-cons-of-different-oils-in-shampoo-bar-formulations/
Just found this website today. Very Informative. About vinegar. Back in the 50’s when I was a child we ALWAYS used vinegar to rinse our hair after shampooing. The shampoos were more like soap then and you HAD to use it. Later on I used wine vinegar on my reddish brown hair gave it a lovely shine. Now that I’m 61, i use white vinegar on my silver hair. Don’t need any special “gray hair” shampoos to keep it from yellowing Gets all the soap out, even hand soap. So use all your bar shampoos to your hearts content just rinse with vinegar to get all the soap out and the shine in. As for the smell. rinse really well and there’ll be not smell.
I wanted the deodorant recipe!
Alice — I really don’t know why you are getting razor burn. I always found deodorant to be very irritating after shaving. I do have to confess that I don’t shave as regularly as I would like to… mostly because I’m always running late.
Tea tree oil — you don’t need it. I just used it for insurance when I first started, but after the first batch was gone, I didn’t add tea tree oil anymore, and it works fine. If you do want it, you can get it at Whole Foods or any other store that sells essential oils.
Hi Nollij. Actually, the powder puff that I use is probably synthetic. It came with some sparkly powder that I bought a long time ago and finally gave away. I thought of you and your comment today when I was in a thrift store — they had a fluffy powder puff for sale and it didn’t look like it had ever been used. It was probably synthetic too.
But check it out: Body Time has natural unbleached wool powder puffs (pricey at $15) and cotton ones (about $2). http://bodytimeproducts.com/alduspow.html I don’t know if there is any packaging involved. There’s a shop in San Anselmo. You could go see. Or there’s a shop within walking distance of my house. If I think of it, I’ll go in and find out.
See what I am willing to do for people I like?
🙂
Screw it. I’m just gonna start taking baths in vodka. How ’bout that?
Re: Lush. I am sooooo dis-recommending them! In fact, as soon as I finish this comment, I’m going to post an update at the top of my original Lush post so people who stumble upon it will be warned about the packaging through the mail. That just does not make any sense, does it? Why would a company sell naked product in the store and then package it in a ton of plastic to mail it?
Organicneedle: Yes, I have been spying on you in the shower. Sorry. Does it bother you? But regarding bubble bath… isn’t that supposed to be bad for kids to begin with? I don’t have kids and I don’t take bubble baths, so I don’t know. But I thought I remembered something about bubble bath being bad for kids.
Jenn, I have short hair but have been letting it grow out lately. I’m going to have to edit my little avatar soon! Either that or get a haircut.
Har Mar: I’ve read about that soap but never had the chance to try it. Bring me some. Also, I will try the baking soda/vinegar thing if you do it with me. 🙂
Sweating Russian Nadinada: would baking soda raise blood pressure by osmotic action? I have no idea what this means. I know I could look it up but have no time. Please enlighten.
SootsandArya: Bad kitties! Are you on my computer again? What has mommy told you about that?
Mamabird: Oh good lord! The tea tree oil thing sucks! I just looked that one up on the NIH web site, and they even warn that repeated exposure might be bad for women at risk of estrogenic breast cancer. I wonder if it’s true. Well, okay. So maybe I should just use plain baking soda and see what happens. Unless that osmotic blood pressure head falling off thing that the sweaty Russian mentioned is true.
Opinions, anyone else???