I read that Britains get through 15 million plastic bottles a day. How many? I find that utterly shocking. So I decided to stop buying hair products in plastic bottles. Which pretty much means I stopped buying hair products.

Finding a suitable conditioner was hard work

Solid Conditioners

I tried the Pure Lush solid conditioning bar.  It smells lovely and others rave about it (see www.purelush.co.uk for details). Sadly it didn’t work for me.

Olive Oil

The recipe for the olive oil and honey conditioner on www.tipking.co.uk sounded yummy so I tried it Putting olive oil on my naturally lustrous hair – ok greasy hair- was a big mistake. 3 days later and I was still washing it out.

Coconut Oil

Fantastic as a conditioner. I have oily hair so I rub it on my hair before showering, leave for 5 minutes then shampoo off. Afterwards my hair is lovely and silky. Village boy has very dry hair so he applies a little after showering. His hair is also nice and smooth. And you can use it for everything else as well. Read more here….

Vinegar Rinse

For me its the vinegar rinse. Its really easy to make, just dilute half a tablespoon of apple vinegar in a cup of water and use it to rinse your hair after washing. Don’t be put off by the strong smell – once the hair is dry there is no odour of vinegar – honest. It works and here’s why; acidifiers (such as vinegar) close the cuticle of the hair making it shiny and less prone to tangling – and I got that from a real hairdresser so it must be true.

Tescos do an apple vinegar in a glass bottle with a metal screwtop lid. Apart from the little plasticised disc in the lid they are as plastic free as you can get….unless you decide to make your own apple vinegar.

• You can find out more about vinegar here.
• Find more hair care products here – including shampoos.
• And there is more plastic free prettiness here.

Shampoo in a plastic bottle? Why bother when there are gentler, cheaper and plastic-free soap substitutes?

Liquid Shampoo

Soap Flake Shampoo
Long ago  I stopped buying shampoo and started making my own. Simple recipe – soap flakes mixed with water to make a liquid soap

Soap flakes are pretty much pure soap and so my shampoo contains  no artificial fragrance, color, preservatives, detergents, alcohol, urea, formaldehyde, sodium laurel sulfate, DEA, propylene glycol – or any of the other synthetic hair care additives.

SHAMPOO RECIPE

2 cups of soap flakes
2 litres of water
30ml of glycerine. ( I can’t decide if this makes any difference so it’s obviously not essential
This makes a big pan full.

Heat up and stir till the soap flakes melt then leave it.
When it cools the soap will go all stiff and jelly like.
If it is too thick add some more water.
When it is the desired consistency you can add a few drops of scent if you wish.
If you make a batch and store it for a while you might find that it solidifies. Don’t add water whisk it with the blender and it will return to its original consistency.

It’s not as sudsy as shampoo though if you do two washes and you get lots of lather the 2nd time. You don’t get the feeling it is stripping your hair bare and it doesn’t leave it frizzy and mad. It seems to take hair some time to adapt.

Buy Soap Flakes
I use Soap flakes from Dri pak, a Derbyshire based company. They are described (on their website) as follows

Dri-Pak Soap Flakes are predominantly pure soap – with no added perfumes, enzymes, bleach, phosphates or additives, so you can be confident that they will degrade harmlessly without damaging watercourses and aquatic life.
Soap Flakes have not been tested on animals. They will leave your clothes feeling soft and fresh, and far less likely to cause skin irritations than regular detergent washing powders. They are gentle enough for woollens, silk, delicates and modern outdoor fabrics that have special waterproof and breathable properties, which can be damaged by detergents and fabric conditioners.
They also come in cardboard boxes so there’s no nasty plastic packaging. You can get them from Wilkinsons hardware stores, Ebay or direct from Dri pak.

Wilkinsons also do own brand soap flakes in a cardboard box. More details here.

Ecover emergency shampoo
This one also works well and so far no one has twigged. Put some Ecover  washing up liquid, which you buy as a refill, in a nice bottle ( you can dilute it if you think it is too strong, I do). Add few drops of scent if you wish. Luxury shampoo in no time at all.

Using Essential OIls
Essential oils are concentrated and so should be used with some care.
Do not apply neat to the skin. They should always de diluted. Read more about how to use them HERE
It is good practice to do an allergy test before you slather on any product containing them.
Do some further research into the oil you plan to use. Some are very strong and need to be used with caution.
Buy from a company that is clear about how they grow and harvest their oils. You can read more about this,here

Solid Shampoo

Bar Shampoo
If that seems like a lot of faffing around, get a solid shampoo bar from Pure Lush. These come wrapped in paper if you buy them from the shop and plastic if you buy from the website. I know – plastic – but it is a small shrink wrapped bag as compared to a whole bottle.You can find many stores on-line selling similar.

Soap

I got to thinking why bother with all that flaking and making – surely soap is soap is soap. Turns out yes it is and you can wash your hair with a bar of soap just as well as anything else including shampoo which is just runny soap.

I find its best to wash twice.
N.B. Dove soap is not good for this.
For my hair type I have to use soap in conjunction with an occasional  vinegar rinse. Seems to clear out build up.
After a while you might find your hair stops looking so good after washes. Change soap.

Bicarbonate Of Soda

Often called the no poo method. You can read up about it here

Disclaimer

Be aware of the risks of listening to someone who
a) doesn’t have any training in this field,
b) most of what they know comes from Google,
That’s me I mean.

I am telling you of my own experiences for your information only. You should do a lot more research before proceeding. None of the following have been tested on anyone other than me. All I can say Is that I have used the above for a long time with, as yet,  no ill effects.

More

See a full range of homemade #plasticfree personal care products here 
And find out how to make lots more stuff HERE
Find all plastic free personal care products here…

Ingredients

An introduction to some of the stuff you need to make the above