Product tames frizzies without synthetic chems or much plastic

So, you know I switched to the no 'poo method of hair cleansing a couple of months ago, and it's been working fine. But I do have the ocassional frizzy hair day. I still have over half a (plastic) container of TRESemme styling putty that I purchased long before I stopped buying new plastic, but I quit using it months ago. First, because it contains 25 ingredients, many of which I cannot pronounce, and second, because once I started "no poo" I was worried it wouldn't wash out properly.

So I was happy to receive an email from Rachel Whitman of the company The Name Is Product asking me to try out her... um... product. It's a hair styling aide that claims to defrizz, texturize, soften, condition, and glisten using only 5 ingredients: "organic shea butter, pure aloe vera, natural source vitamin E (tocopherol), organic beeswax, and natural fragrance [which turns out to be tangerine oil]."

Now, I'm sure the DIY folks in this group (hey Tracey!) could figure out how to make this themselves. But I'm happy to have it already made up... in a glass jar, albeit with a plastic lid. The company shipped it to me in a padded paper mailer (the kind without plastic on the inside) and wrapped in brown paper. See? Another example that glass doesn't need to be shipped with plastic or styrofoam to remain intact.


I was a little concerned that Product might leave some residue on my hair that wouldn't wash out easily with baking soda, but so far it has not. It's a bit solid in the jar. You scoop out an amount smaller than a pea (well, I do... you long hairs might need more) and rub it in your hands to soften it up. Then run it through your hair. And it really does create a nice, non-frizzy shine.

I don't use this stuff every day. Usually, I'm in such a hurry, I stick a hair band around my wet hair as I'm running out the door. But on days when I have some extra time and want my hair to look nice, I'll dry it a bit and then run Product through it to give it a little something extra.

I asked Rachel about the beeswax, since my beekeeper friend has told me terrible stories about the ways some bees are kept. Rachel said her beeswax comes from a company called Stakich, Inc in Michigan, which has been in business for 83 years. The bees come from unsprayed and unfertilized fields of wildflowers, and according to Stakich's Steven Dushan in a response to me, there is absolutely no "killing the bees. We take the utmost care of them so that they can continue their diligent work of collecting nectar and bee pollen and producing beeswax, honey and royal jelly. If we killed the bees we would be out of business the very next day."

I also asked about the plastic lids on the jars. Why not recyclable metal? She said that they have not yet found a dark glass jar with a metal lid that would work for them. Anyone have ideas for her?

I also asked Rachel why the label simply lists "fragrance" as one of the ingredients rather than tangerine oil, which is what she herself told me the fragrance was. Here's her response:

"I totally hear you with that - my husband/business partner liked the mystery of referring to the tangerine scent as simply 'fragrance' (people could tell it was citrus, but not what kind). I think with the next run of labels we will change that ingredient to read "natural fragrance." People ask about it often, so we want to clarify and reassure."

And finally, you know I like the personal stories behind folks with green businesses, so I asked her to tell me the story about how Product was developed. Here is Rachel's response. Enjoy.

My husband/business partner, Michael Hacker, actually came up with the original formula (quite similar to the current one) for PRODUCT. Before I even knew him, he developed PRODUCT out of a personal need for something that could give him the styling and frizz-taming he wanted without going flakey or being too slick or too gooey, etc - basically most things he tried left a lot to be desired. So he began looking at ingredients in other hair styling formulas, and was taken aback by how many chemicals were in most.

Not being a chemist, he knew if he was going to make something on his own it would have to be natural ingredients. He started trying combinations of shea butter, aloe vera oil and vitamin E - and found one that worked and began using it. When I was getting to know him, he gave me some to try and I loved it - used it all up and asked him if I could get some more.

He had thought about trying to put it on the market, and we started working together to refine the formula, line up ingredients suppliers, design and produce labeling and packaging, create our website with online store, etc...In our first year out, we received some wonderful magazine press, we had a great response from highly talented editorial fashion/celebrity hair stylists, and we have built a list of salon and beauty store retailers.

We would love to be able to grow PRODUCT into a (small) line - shampoo, conditioner, styling spray, possibly a couple other items - but aren't able to put the money into R&D yet. Any new products we develop, though, will be organic & natural, high quality ingredients, free of synthetics and irritants. What we enjoy about PRODUCT is that it is pure, and clean, and natural. It's simple - nothing unnecessary is in there, nothing excess in the carefully balanced formula. And it works so well and feels really great to use.

Only 5 all-natural ingredients, comes in a glass jar, and works. I like it. Now what should I do with the remaining TRESemme hair putty? Ideas?
 

No more poo

No Impact Man did it.

Life Less Plastic did it.

Wait... didn't I just write this post two days ago?

No, because this one my friend Axelle is doing. And a few days ago, I started to do it too. No, we're not constipated. (Although that is the tagline for the No 'poo forum.) We're all just attempting to give up shampoo. And conditioner. And most hair products in general.

I've written about solid bar shampoos and how they can help us save plastic bottle packaging waste. But giving up shampoo altogether saves not only packaging but excess ingredients and a ton of money. And according to believers, it's a lot better for our scalps and hair.

Inspired by Life Less Plastic once again, I asked Jeanne to write a few pointers on her experience going shampoo-free. This is what she had to say:

I know you're probably feeling extremely skeptical right now. I was the same way. When I started my no 'poo experiment, I kept thinking to myself, How could this possibly work? My hair is going to be so disgusting. I'm going to be hideous.

And to be honest, I was sort of right.

When I initially stopped shampooing, my scalp wasn't used to my new routine, so my long hair got really oily. It was bad. Real bad. But in about two weeks, my scalp started to figure out that I'd made a change, and it stopped producing so much oil. That's when things started to get good again.

Of course, that's also when I started to feel completely deceived. All my life, I've thought that I needed to buy expensive shampoos and conditioners that generate mounds of plastic waste to have good hair, and it's not true. I mean, I don't even need ANY shampoo or conditioner. All I need to do is use a little baking soda and a vinegar solution now and again. Insane!

(My routine, by the way, is to shower as usual, and rub about a teaspoon or two of baking soda into my hair on Wednesdays and Sundays. You can also pre-mix a baking soda and water mixture, but I'm to lazy. Then I do a vinegar solution rinse on Sundays to condition.)

Anyways, now it's been over a month since I stopped 'pooing and my hair is pretty much back to the way it used to be. Sure, it feels a little greasy now and again, but in general it's healthy, happy, and pretty nice-looking.

I can't guarantee it, but I suspect you'll have the same experience. If you thinking about ending your 'poo days, please do! It's worth it!

My routine so far (if you can call it that because I just started this experiment this past Sunday) is to use a premixed solution of baking soda and water (2 Tbsp baking soda mixed with 2 cups water in a sports bottle) and a premixed solution of apple cider vinegar and water (same proportions as the baking soda solution.) It's a good use for the unused plastic sports bottles we had stashed in the cupboard once we switched to stainless steel Klean Kanteens for drinking. (Jeanne uses a glass pitcher, but we tend to be a little too spazzy to keep glass in the bathroom.)

I found organic apple cider vinegar in a glass bottle at Trader Joe's, during the same shopping trip when I broke down and bought toothpaste. So while I may have given up the baking soda as toothpaste this week, I found another use for it in my personal care regimen.

The results so far are fine. Not brilliant or amazing. But I will say that for the first time, I have been able to style my hair without any holding product and have it keep it's shape for the whole day. I have no idea why that should be, but it makes me happy. We'll see what happens as I continue this process. I'm hoping to get to a point where I only have to wash my hair once or twice a week, like Jeanne does, and use the vinegar rinse once or twice a week as well.

Here is a post with much more detailed instructions for going "no 'poo." And once again, here's the forum where participants discuss all the finer points and nuances of the practice.

Have you tried this method yet? If so, what's been your experience with it? What kind of hair do you have? Jeanne's a long-haired white girl. I'm a shorter-haired, white chick going gray on the sides (Yeah, I know, I didn't add the gray bits to my little cartoon avatar. Sue me.) which is starting to add a bit of sexy older woman wiriness. No Impact Man's a short-haired white dude. So I'd like to hear from folks of different ethnicities with different lengths and textures of hair. How can we all take care of our scalps and hair with as little environmental impact as possible. And still look hot? (Cuz you know that's what's really important.)

Ideas?
 

Lush responds, for what it's worth

The letter-writing continues. After mentioning Lush solid shampoo and deodorant bars in my post two weeks ago, I received several comments from readers who had mail ordered Lush products hoping to avoid plastic packaging, only to find that the products that are sold "naked" in the store are packaged in all kinds of plastic when shipped through the mail.

So I wrote to Lush. I'm not going to reprint my actual email because I'm embarrassed to admit that it wasn't very nice. I must have been in a crappy mood when I wrote it, and rereading it tonight, I realize it's pretty confrontational, which is not the best approach when we want someone to make a change for us. Flies and honey and all that. Nevertheless, the response I got back was very polite. And while I still don't agree with all their packaging choices, I'm happy that they've obviously thought about the issue a lot and are working to get better.

Here's the full response from Lush. Take from it what you will. If you want them to make changes faster, email Amanda (adhalla@lush.com) and let her know. And don't forget that packaging is not the only issue with Lush products. Many of them also contain irritating synthetics like SLS. In my letter, I only addressed packaging concerns. Also, please read my note below regarding the "biodegradable plastic" that Amanda mentions.

Wed, 2 Apr 2008 20:11:36 -0700
From: "Amanda Dhalla" (adhalla@lush.com)
To: beth [at] fakeplasticfish [dot] com

Hi Beth,

Thank you so much for your email and for highlighting an issue near and dear to our hearts.

I’m sure you understand that to ensure that our fragile products arrive at customers’ homes in good condition we must use wrapping materials to protect them against damage. Some of our packages travel many miles and must be able to withstand lots of bumps as both Canada and the US are vast countries.

Over the last few years, we have made many positive changes in the types of materials that we use for packaging. For example:

We use cardboard boxes made from recycled materials and wood excelsior (wood shavings) to protect our products during shipment. Wood excelsior is 100% biodegradable and completely safe.

We use TDPA™ biodegradable plastic bags to protect our bath bombs during shipment. Our bags start degrading after 18 months while regular plastic bags take about 25 years to break down.

[Beth's note: TDPA™ biodegradable plastic bags are similar to the D2W bags that I wrote about in January. They are petroleum-based bags with a chemical (heavy metal) additive which helps them break down. They bring with them many of the same problems of conventional plastics. The only difference is that they will break down under the right conditions.

Also, I don't know where she gets the idea that traditional plastic bags take 25 years to break down. As far as we know, they break down into smaller and smaller plastic particles, but the actual polymers don't break down.]

Our packing tape is recyclable, tamperproof, tamper-evident, and is stronger per square inch than polypropylene.

Our gifts are wrapped with recycled paper and protected using biofoam/envirofill packing peanuts, which are 100% biodegradable.

From this month, we’re rolling out a new clear plastic bottle made with 100% post-consumer recycled (PCR) for our shampoos, conditioners and shower gels, and by this fall all of our black pots will be made with 100% post-consumer recycled plastic too.

This is not to say that we don’t have lots of room for improvement as we do still package some of our products in regular plastic before shipping. However, we are continuing to source more environmentally friendly alternatives such as biodegradable bags and containers to replace the plastic. As you can understand, this process does take some time, but we hope to have moved away from regular plastic completely by the end of 2008.

If you have any suggestions for alternative packaging that you feel would help LUSH Direct (online and phones) in our efforts to become more environmentally friendly, we would be extremely interested in hearing more about them.

Thanks once again for your open and honest feedback, and for keeping us honest.

Warm regards,

Amanda

--------------------------------------------------
Amanda Dhalla
Web Operations Manager – LUSH Canada
Tel: 604.638.5612
Cell: 604.603.1239
Fax: 604.638.3649
http://www.lush.ca

I also notice that Amanda works for the Canadian branch of the company, so I don't know if the packaging policies she mentions are the same in the U.S. But really, how environmentally-friendly is it to mail-order personal care products and spend the associated fuel when you can get them locally? Read my March 24 post as well as the comments for alternatives to Lush solid shampoo bars and deodorants. The baking soda is still doing the trick for me!
 

Update 3: 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 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 Cat at It's A Green Green Green Green World.

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 a 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. 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.

Burt's Bees Rosemary Mint shampoo bar, on the other hand, smells great to me. And it comes in a cardboard box with zero plastic. But I find it a little drying for my hair. Plus, the company's now owned by Clorox, and I'm not sure I want to continue to support them. On the other hand, since the company's now owned by a big corporation, their products may become easier to find. Burt's Bees may be the one shampoo bar that folks in mainstream or more rural areas can get from a local store, and that would not be a bad thing.

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, caster 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???

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 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?
 

Giving up the struggle: stories of ants and cats and hair products gone awry

I was planning to write about DIY hair care products this week. But so far, my experiments have been less than successful. Take, for example, the sugar water hairspray, exhibit left. Here's the recipe:

Dissolve 1 tablespoon sugar in a cup of water. Boil 3 minutes. Be sure the sugar is completely dissolved. Add 1 tablespoon vodka and 2-3 drops essential oil of your choice for scent. Pour into a spray bottle.

The instructions should also have said, "Keep out of the reach of ants!" But then, I guess the writer figured most sane people are aware that sugar attracts ants. Just to clarify, this hairspray ant invasion happened a month BEFORE last week's sugar incident. You'd think I would have learned. And you would be wrong.

So, about the hairspray. It didn't work anyway. Still looking for a plastic-free alternative. But that's not what I want to talk about in this post.

What I want to talk about is letting go of the struggle against reality, accepting things as they truly are, and finding ways to work with the world rather than against it. As I mentioned in my post about the ant invasion, constantly spraying them with vinegar was not working. I was in a never-ending battle with these creatures that was overwhelming and disheartening.

First of all, killing living beings every day is not fun. I'll admit there's a certain satisfaction in wiping them up and washing them down the drain. But it comes from a very dark place, the same as pouring salt on slugs and watching them sizzle or teasing tigers at the zoo. It doesn't make you a nice person. And an FPF reader, who also is one of Michael's co-workers and a Buddhist, was kind of horrified at the idea of mixing borax with sugar. Her reaction made me seriously reconsider anything lethal.

Second, the ants weren't actually invading me. They were trying to escape the rain. We know this because during normal dry weather, the ants disappear from my kitchen and stick to farming the scale on my potted citrus trees. (Ew!)

Third, the ants were in my cupboard and last month all over my hairspray because that's where the sugar was. Perhaps if the sugar were somewhere else...

So I did try the measure that I mentioned in my post: putting a cup of sugar in the cabinet under the sink to attract them away from my countertops and food cupboards. And guess what. It's working! The ants are all over the sugar under the sink (where I can't see them and they can't hurt anything) and almost completely gone from everywhere else. I guess once the rains have stopped for good, I'll start moving the sugar towards the back door and try to lead them back outside. Or maybe they'll just go on their own. We'll see.

Humans have different ways of describing the experience of living with reality rather than the fantasy of life as you wish it were. Going with the flow. Following the tao. Byron Katie, author of one of my favorite books, calls it Loving What Is.

"Loving what is" doesn't mean that when we see injustice or harm occurring in the world we sit passively by and do nothing. What it does mean is that we can work with things as they actually are rather than how we think they ought to be. Instead of thinking, "These ants should not be on my countertop!" I can say, "These ants should be on my countertop because that is what ants do when it rains outside and they have no other source of food. So I'll put some food for them down below and leave my countertops free for my own food." Or some other solution that recognizes the nature of ants rather than the idea of how we wish ants behaved.

Okay, so I learned this lesson a second time this week with my kitties. They are not allowed into our bedroom at night because they chase and bite and wrestle on top of our heads. (Why it is necessary for the wrestling to happen on our heads, we do not know.) So every morning, there are kitties outside the bedroom door scratching and mewing and oh so excited for us to come out and be with them, or at least give them food. And every morning, when I open the door, these kitties rush past me into the room and under the bed, where I spend many minutes trying to coax them out.

Why are they coming into the bedroom? Don't they know I'm leaving the bedroom? Don't they know the food is in the kitchen? Are they stupid? These are the kinds of grumblings that were running through me each morning. Until finally, I realized that I was expecting my kittens to think like people instead of kittens. So instead of trying to coax them out of the bedroom, I simply left them in there, closed the door, and walked away. It only took about 5 seconds before they were scratching on the door to be let out. And zero frustration for me.

So what does this have to do with plastic and environmental issues? Here's the thing. Plastic exists. People use it. People throw it away. It harms animals. It's also extremely convenient and useful. It is reality and no amount of wishful thinking will change that. If we're going to create a world without harm, we somehow have to work with reality the way it is and go from there, rather than grumbling and mumbling and getting angry with people who don't agree with us.

What does that mean? I don't know. I'm trying to figure it out. I do suspect that fighting doesn't work and that there's no winning "the war against plastic" any more than "the war against drugs" or "the war against terrorism." There's only seeing the world as it actually is, working with reality, and creating change from the inside out, starting with ourselves.

It's as my meditation teacher said at the last retreat pointing to his noggin, "The real garbage is in here." Perhaps once we realize that, the rest will come easily.
 

The Vodka Variations

On November 4, I wrote that I had finished up my last bottle of Act fluoride rinse and had decided not to replace it. Several dentists told me they didn't think I needed it. However, I wasn't just using the rinse for the fluoride; it had also served as my mouthwash for the last couple of years, leaving my breath minty fresh. Without it, I needed to find a plastic-free alternative, and since there are apparently no mouthwashes sold plastic-free these days, I decided to make my own.

I found the following recipe on herbsforhealth.com and tried it:

Spicy Sweet Mouthwash

This mouthwash requires a couple of weeks for the spices to steep in the alcohol.

1 cup vodka
1 tablespoon whole cloves
1 tablespoon cinnamon chips (I used ground cinnamon)
1 teaspoon fennel seed (ommited because I didn't have)
1 teaspoon anise seed
1 teaspoon licorice root (also ommitted -- didn't have)

I also added 1/16 tsp of stevia powder for sweetness.

Place vodka and spices into a small glass jar, tightly lidded. Steep for two weeks, giving the jar a shake daily to keep spices from settling. Strain and pour into a glass bottle. To use, dilute 1 tablespoon mouthwash in 1 cup of water. Use as a gargle and mouth rinse and do not swallow.

Actually, I added one cup of water to the vodka mixture for a 50/50 dilution since that's what the guys did on Mythbusters.

The results? I'm not crazy about the taste. Cinnamon is not my favorite flavor. But I do think it works well. Burns at first. Next time, I'm going to try a mint infusion instead of cinnamon. I think I might like it better.

This week, I also used up my last bottle of hairspray and needed a plastic-free alternative. Once again, I turned to vodka for help. From the web site recipezaar.com, I tried:

Lemon-fresh Hair Spray

2 cups water
2 lemons
1 tablespoon vodka

1. Boil the water in a saucepan.
2. While the water is boiling, peel and finely chop the lemons.
3. Add the lemons to the boiling water, and simmer over low heat until the lemons are soft.
4. Cool, strain, and pour into a spray bottle.
5. Add the vodka, and shake well.
6. If the hair spray is too sticky, dilute it with a little water.

So far, this one doesn't work at all. I mean, not at all. My hair's not even sticky, much less held in place. Don't know what I did wrong. Maybe I didn't cook the lemons long enough. Maybe the lemons were not big enough. Maybe this recipe is a joke just to see if anyone will try it. Who knows? Will keep trying until I find something that works.

In the meantime, there are quite a few other uses for vodka to test. 21 of them, in fact, according to the web page, 21 Uses For Vodka. No, boys and girls. Vodka's not just for drinking anymore. Check it out.
 

Store/Product Report: Lush (Some more good news)

03/25/2008 UPDATE: Warning to those who would order Lush products through the mail. I have had several reports from readers who ordered what they thought would be naked chunks of shampoo or deodorant, only to have them arrive wrapped up in a ton of plastic. So either be very specific in your ordering instructions that you don't want any plastic packaging, or don't order from Lush. Reading the comments on my updated 03/24/08 blog post might be helpful to you.

When you walk into a Lush Cosmetics store, (there is one at 240 Powell Street in San Francisco, as well as locations throughout the U.S. and the rest of the world) you are greeted not by rows and rows of products packaged in plastic (as you are when you enter The Body Shop, for example), but by big unwrapped chunks of solid soap as well as shampoo, deodorant, bubble bath, and massage oil. That's right, big solid chunks of these things! They are sold by weight. You tell the staff how much you want, and they cut off a piece, weigh it, and wrap it in paper for you. I tried 4 products which have been working great for me for the past 2 weeks:

Lush Bohemian Soap smells like lemon, the fruit, not the furniture polish. I find it really refreshing in the morning. And if you don't like that smell, there are about 20 more kinds of soap to choose from.

Lush does sell some products in plastic containers, including shaving creams. While I was assured by the salesperson assisting me that they are recyclable, I was not about to add more plastic to the waste-stream, recyclable or not. (In fact, much of the plastic we think is reyclable does not actually get recycled. More on that later.) So I asked her what Lush product she would use if she had to shave her legs with something other than shaving cream. She recommended the Emporer of Icecream Buttercream cleanser, as it's the most moisturizing soap. And in fact, it works. It makes my legs and other areas slippery enough to shave without wounding myself. It also smells awesome, lightly scented with vanilla and orange blosson honey. Unfortunately, I can't find this one on the web site. Perhaps it's only sold in stores. Oh, and by the way, the plastic container in the photo did not come from Lush. I made it from pieces of that Chinese food container from 2 weeks ago.

The Re-Incarnate Shampoo bar seems to work just as well as liquid shampoo, once you get over the initial weirdness of rubbing a bar of soap on your head. It lathers up really well and rinses out well too. I'm not crazy about this particular scent which reminds me of Chinese 5 spice powder (although, looking at the list of ingredients, I can't tell what would cause that particular smell for me). But others may love it. And there are about 12 other shampoo bars to choose from.

And finally, the Aromarant deodorant bar is the wonder product for me. I was skeptical about whether it would really work, but after using it for 2 weeks with no odor and no irritation, I am sold. Lush warns that you should not keep these deodorant bars in the bathroom because of the steam. They work best if kept dry and used on dry underarms. I've been keeping it in my underwear drawer, where it does double-duty making my underthings smell nice. As with the other products, if you don't like this scent, there are others to choose from.

Unfortunately, if you don't like any scented products, you are kind of out of luck with Lush. Everything is made with essential oils and contains some scent, although some are stronger than others.

After my visit to Lush, I spoke with Jennifer Graybeal who handles press inquiries for Lush. I asked her about the products that are packaged in plastic containers. She said that Lush is currently looking into more biodegradable options and is very serious about being environmentally responsible. However, at the moment, there is no non-plastic alternative for some of the products.

I also asked her how the bars are packaged for mail-order shipping. I would hate to order a product that comes without plastic in the store only to find plastic packaging in the box. She told me the only packaging they use is old paper copies of the Lush Times, and that they are looking into even better alternatives, including possibly using actual popcorn to pad the products for shipping.

The main drawback I can see to these products is that they are pricey. I purchased 1/4 pound of each item, and the average price was about $8.00 per bar. The salesperson at the store told me that the Lush bars last longer than other brands. That remains to be seen. But to me, the price is worth it for products that will not contribute to the plastic problem.
 

Store Report: Elephant Pharmacy

Just like Whole Foods, this natural pharmacy contains very few items that are not packaged in plastic. Recycled toilet paper in plastic. Recycled napkins in plastic. Natural cellulose sponges in plastic. Natural cleaning products in plastic. Natural cosmetics, drugs, foods, bric-a-brac in plastic. Here are the few plastic-free items that I found and bought:

2 boxes of BioBags, 3 gallon size. BioBags are made from corn and are 100% biodegradable and compostable. We are going to use them in our kitchen garbage can instead of the plastic grocery bags that we have been using. Hopefully, we won't be putting much into them anyway. We put all of our food waste into the green compost bin; we put all of our paper, cans, and curbside-recyclable plastic into the gray recycling bin; and since the beginning of this plastic project, I have been saving all the non-recyclable plastic "for later."

Ever since I heard about Casabella natural cellulose scrubbers, I've been searching for them in area stores. I finally found them at Elephant Pharmacy... in a 3-pack packaged in plastic! Feh! I stood in front of the scrubber display and pondered this dilemma for a full 5 minutes before I noticed the cute Loofah-Art scrubbers above them. (Short people like me often miss things that are over our heads.) Loofah-Art scrubbers are made from organically-grown loofah, and the only bit of plastic in the packaging is the tiny thingy that connects the loofah to the cardboard backing card. (What are those tiny thingies called?) I thought I could deal with a tiny thingy of plastic. So this scrubber is what we will use to clean our dishes from now on.

And finally, I spent way too much ($19.99) for this Bag-E-Wash plastic bag dryer. You put it on the counter or hang it under the cabinet and leave your washed plastic bags on it to dry. It could be useful. Or it could be a good idea that gets pushed to the back of the counter and gathers dust. I'm not much of a dish-washer to begin with. Just ask Michael. Yeah, I do my dishes, half-heartedly, eventually, and this could be just too much for my non-domestic nature to handle. But why think negatively? It could be fun, right? Or it could be that Michael will do it! Now there's a great idea!

And here's an awesome looking product that I didn't buy: Burt's Bees Rosemary Mint shampoo bar. It smells wicked cool, and it comes in a cardboard box with zero plastic. I didn't buy it because I'm already using the Re-Incarnate shampoo bar from Lush (more on that later.) But it's on my list. As soon as the current shampoo bar is gone, that thing is mine!

Eventually, I found myself once again in a toothpaste aisle opening boxes of toothpaste hoping to find something without plastic. No go. I don't think such a thing exists anymore. Not in the U.S., anyway. And no mouthwash that's not in a plastic bottle either. So when I got home, I looked up recipes for homemade tooth powder, and here's one I found on the Yes! Magazine Web site:

Combine equal parts salt and baking soda. Add a tiny bit of stevia for sweetness (1/16th tsp stevia per 2 tablespoons baking soda/salt.) For flavor, add a few drops of peppermint oil or 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon. (I wonder if peppermint extract would work as well as oil.)

So, I'm gonna do it. If I haven't found any other alternative before my current tube of toothpaste runs out, I'm just going to make my own. Martha Stewart will be so proud.