What is solid shampoo? How do you use solid toothpaste? Are solid personal care products really good for the environment and do they perform just as well as the originals?
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My decision to hop onto the solid bandwagon was borne from frustration with the plastic seals, jars, and other plastic packaging filling my bathroom bins weekly. When I searched for alternatives, I stumbled upon solid beauty products that promise to be the same great products you love but without the extra water and packaging. Solid soaps and moisturizers are packaged minimally with paper instead of heavy plastic containers or jars. While solid products like toothpaste tabs seem like innovative solutions, most have their roots in history. Classic bar soaps and solid shampoos were used in the 1900s and even before then. Before the industrial revolution, household items were made at home or purchased from local producers that didn’t rely on fillers and water. And, plastic containers weren’t dominating beauty isles.
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So, why is it important to minimize plastic packaging waste? Two main environmental and health concerns are the rapid accumulation of nonbiodegradable plastic in our landfills and the toxins it releases. Since the 1960s, plastic packaging has increased in the U.S. by 120%. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), around 70% ends up as landfill waste. Because these products are made from oil and natural gas, they require a lot of energy to create and can also be hazardous when decomposing in landfills. Plastic containers are estimated to take 200 years to decompose. While they break down in landfills, methane, and carbon dioxide are two greenhouse gases that are emitted. According to a 2015 study published in Nature Climate Change, carbon emissions from plastics equaled 1.8 billion tons.
To reverse, prevent, and reduce this negative impact, brands and consumers are reverting to classic packaging solutions like paper, which is biodegradable, refillable and recyclable tins and glass jars, and bioplastics– materials that perform like plastics but are sourced from plants. These alternatives are making a positive impact. A Netherlands-based group, LCA Centre, found that 70% of carbon emissions from plastic packaging could be eliminated if the beauty industry alone used refillable containers. If one industry and one sustainable packaging solution can make a difference, imagine the impact if multiple solutions and industries adopted sustainable packaging solutions.
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My part has been about making switches in my bathroom. This article focuses on making the switch to solid beauty / personal care products, but there are other changes that I’ve made over the last two years too. We use solid dish soap to clean the dishes. All hand pumps and containers have been replaced with bar soaps on bamboo trays. Even my makeup has been converted to brands that package their cream foundations in plastic jars. And, slowly, but surely I’m noticing less waste, especially plastic packaging, that we’re creating.
Deodorant: Humankind
While solid deodorants are nothing new, refillable deodorants are. As an alternative to unrecyclable plastic containers, Humankind’s deodorants are refillable, and each refill is packaged and shipped in biodegradable paper. Aside from the plastic swivel feature, the refills are packed in a biodegradable container. To use, place an order for the original plastic container and set up your subscription for the refills. It’s a nice option considering that a lot of personal care products are wrapped in plastic. But, the downside is the carbon emissions emitted from shipping.
What It’s Like: The scents are appealing and the texture – a powdery cream- is moisturizing. It feels and works like a standard solid deodorant, only in better-for-the-planet packaging.
Benefits For You: Humankind’s deodorant has been tested to show that it kills 40% more B.O-causing bacteria than other brands. That’s good to know, especially if you’ve ever used an all-natural deodorant brand only to find out that it didn’t work out so well for you. The list of natural ingredients includes arrowroot powder to absorb moisture, baking soda to prevent infections, shea butter to moisturize, and zinc oxide for UV protection.
Benefits To The Environment: Plastic from your daily personal care routine help to make up 34.5 million tons of plastic hitting our landfills in the US. Humankind admits that their solution isn’t perfect, but it’s a step in the right direction. They’ve calculated that switching to their products will reduce 5 pounds of single-use within 12 months.
Shampoo: Viori
Viori has made its way into many bathrooms thanks to a viral social media campaign and a formula that is built on hair care rituals from cultures that are 1000s of years old.
What It’s Like: This bar is a solid shampoo. It lasts longer than regular liquid shampoos as long as you keep it in a container. As a tip, the brand does offer tins that you can purchase to store their soaps and shampoos in. While the solid shampoo bar did well at cleaning my hair, it took extra work to build up the soap into a nice lather to cover my whole head. Delicate curls might not appreciate this extra labor or the fact that it didn’t feel as moisturizing as my standard liquid moisturizing shampoo. My curls did have a healthy bounce afterward, so it’s become one of the shampoos that I use in rotation with the standard liquid shampoos.
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Benefits To You: Buying solid beauty products means that liquid hasn’t been added and they can have a longer shelf life without the use of parabens. When products use water for that liquid consistency we love so much in shampoos and creams, bacteria can breed. Parabens are able to stop bacteria from breeding, but they have been known to disrupt hormone function.
Benefits To The Environment: Minimal packaging. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that containers and packaging materials accounted for 29.4 million tons of waste in our landfills in 2015.
Toothpaste Tabs: BITE
Hailing from another online retailer that focuses on refillable products, you purchase the original glass container and set up a subscription to have the refills delivered to your door. The refills are packaged in paper that is biodegradable and used in local farms as compost.
What It’s Like: I’ll admit that I’ve tested three different brands of toothpaste tabs available at my local grocery stores. But afterward, I came back to BITE’s toothpaste tabs. They have the best size, taste, and texture that lasts. If you’ve tried other brands, you might be familiar with how quickly they dissolve before you even start brushing. BITE’s tabs are also minimally packaged. The paper package arrives on your doorstep. Then, you simply pour the refills into the glass jar. Just make sure that you have time to wash and FULLY dry the jar before every refill to keep it looking fresh.
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Benefits To You: One of the star ingredients of these toothpaste tabs is Nano-hydroxyapatite (nHAP). This biomaterial is the main constituent of the mineral part of bone and teeth and has been shown to strengthen and remineralize teeth enamel. It does this by replacing lost minerals like calcium and phosphates into the microscopic cracks in our teeth created by tooth decay.
Benefits To The Environment: This plastic-free, zero-waste brand focuses on materials like aluminum and glass which are infinitely recyclable and refillable. By encouraging refilling items, waste is eliminated. All mailers for refills are made from post-consumer newspapers and are compostable. To combat the negative environmental impact of shipping, the brand never offers rush 2-day shipping and instead works with local postal routes to ensure that the most sustainable shipping option is used.
