Is anyone else feeling really guilty about their habits, particularly when it comes to their plastic consumption? Well recently I went along to the Holland & Barrett Press Day and learnt about all the new sustainable brands they are introducing into their stores, and since then I have been feeling incredibly awful about the amount of plastic waste I am generating on a day-to-day basis (through completely preventable things).
I was lucky enough to meet a brand called Ethique whilst I was at the press day, and they have helped me to eliminate some plastic from my life through their incredible, innovative products.
I was drawn in by the fact that they are a zero-waste brand, meaning even the packaging that the product comes in is biodegradable and compostable. But after a bit of research I learnt so many more good things about the brand such as they only use plant-based ingredients like coconut oil and cocoa butter in their products, and the best thing - they don't test on animals.
OK, so now that I have let you all in on all the good things about Ethique, I should probably tell you what they actually make. They make all sorts of beauty products from shampoo and conditioner bars, to body wash bars, cleansers and scrubs - and trust me when I say, they are great. They kindly sent over some products for me to try, and their shampoo and conditioner bars have been such a hit. I was so worried, after speaking to friends who have tried various other shampoo bars in the past, that these would dry out my hair or even just not clean it, but that has not been the case at all.
There are 7 different shampoo bars at present, all with different hair types in mind. The St Clements shampoo bar is for oily hair, and with all my sweaty workouts that tends to be the best description of my hair. Most shampoo bars are made from a high percentage of soap, but these are 100% soap free, pH balanced and safe for colour treated hair. They remove oil without stripping or drying hair, and Ethique even state that you don't need to use conditioner after using their bars (which I can confirm that you don't, although I have been using their conditioner bar too).
The St Clements shampoo bar lathered so incredibly well, made my hair squeaky clean, and smelt divine - a luxurious fresh orange scent. If you don't believe me, I even made my sister take a photo of me using it for the first time in the bath, just look at that lather!
I probably buy one bottle of shampoo a month, and these bars are the equivalent of 2-5 bottles of shampoo, depending on how often you use the bars of course. I'm such a sucker for the Mane & Tail shampoos so I was skeptical about trying out a shampoo bar, but I am glad I did, and from such a lovely brand too.
Ethique have stopped over 3.3 million plastic bottles from being made and then disposed of in landfills, this is incredible, and is a number that we can all easily help to boost.
Why is plastic bad? Well, if you don't know the answer to this then you have probably been living under a rock and clearly haven't heard of David Attenborough, so here are some facts from Ethique's website. Only 9% of plastic worldwide is recycled, so where do you think the other 91% ends up? Well, it ends up in our oceans, damaging our wildlife with 9/10 fish having ingested microplastics according to global studies. 80 billion plastic bottles are disposed of around the world every year just from shampoo & conditioner alone, imagine how much of that is probably floating around the ocean?! And sadly, by 2050, there will be more plastic in the sea than there will be fish, if things carry on this way.
I've now been using Ethique products for a couple of weeks, and I urge you all to try them. I truly cannot fault them (I appreciate it can be hard to store bars, but you can buy shower cases for them, or just place them on a tray like I do) and it's such an easy way for us to reduce the amount of plastic we are polluting the ocean with, and at an affordable price. They are now available to buy in Holland and Barrett, with their shampoo bars priced at £12.99, and the conditioners at £12.99 also.
*this post contains gifted items
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