Please note: I received soap to review and this blog post contains affiliate links. Opinions are all my own and I was a customer of Friendly before getting in touch with them to ask for some soap to review.

Ways that I tried to go shampoo and conditioner free

I tried:

• Using bicarbonate of soda and vinegar. But vinegar can be quite a harsh substance and I read that both can damage your hair over time. I didn’t want to risk it, so I gave up.
• Using a boar bristle brush. The idea is that it brushes the grease out, or at least distributes it. After one or two go’s with it, I had a brush and a hair full of grease
• Using water only. It was alright for a bit, but my hair got progressively greasier
• Using plain olive oil soap. Again OK for a bit, but it was hard to wash out after a while.
• Using cornflour as a dry shampoo – the only effect that had was to make me look like I had white tinged witchy hair and then I had to wash it out!
• Egg wash – you have to be really careful not to use hot water on it, otherwise you end up with scrambled eggs in your hair. I’m not really a fan of cold showers and let’s just say it didn’t work for me.
• Persisting for ages – my hair didn’t cave and say OK then I will survive without shampoo, it just said no!

Back then I gave up after what I felt was a really good try at it and everyone breathed a sigh of relief that they wouldn’t have to look at my greasy hair any more.

Fast forward a few years and shampoo, conditioner and shaver bars are now widely available. I decided to give some a try. I found that they either didn’t work for me, were too expensive or both. But then I discovered Friendly Soap Bars.

Friendly soap review

Before we get started with this review, I am sad to report that their shampoo bars don’t work for me. This is because I live in a hard water area and they don’t work with hard water. I think that is why I had so much trouble in general with going shampoo free. Apparently soft water makes all the difference.

However I love all their other soap bars.

Reasons I love Friendly soap

1. The soap bars work. I use the Friendly conditioner bar instead of liquid conditioner and the Friendly shaver bar instead of shower gel. They both do the job really well and I don’t miss the liquid alternatives at all.
2. They are very reasonably priced compared to other similar alternatives. To save even more money you can buy them in bulk like I do e.g. bulk packs of 6 Friendly Conditioner Bars and Friendly Shaving Soap.
3. They smell good. Some of the other soap bars I tried from other places smelled OK, but then after using them, they weren’t so nice. These bars are really nice and have a gentle scent, that isn’t overpowering.
4. I love the ethics of the company. The packaging is made from recycled cardboard and it is recyclable. The soap is vegan and free from sulphates. They pay a living wage and Friendly soap is handmade in Yorkshire using traditional methods with no by products. They donate 10p from every website order made to charity and they also give staff paid days off to go and help plant trees and hedgerows locally!

All in all, they seem to be a company that are getting it right in so many ways and I’m not the only one who thinks so. They have won an award for their Lavender and Geranium Conditioner Bar, voted for by the readers of Your Healthy Living Magazine.

Are there any downsides?

As I said earlier, the shampoo bars don’t work in hard water areas. I bought my first bars of Friendly soap in a local health food shop. Although Friendly are very open about the shampoo bars not working in hard water areas on their website, it doesn’t say anything on the bars, or on their Amazon listings. I think they need to be clearly labelled as not being suitable everywhere, to stop them being sold/ people buying them in hard water areas. I used my shampoo bar that I bought originally that didn’t work as a shower bar to use it up and that was fine.

Another point, which isn’t specific to this company, but is about using soap bars in the shower. You need to get soap dishes to put the soaps in. I would recommend trying them to start with though, to make sure you like them before you invest in soap dishes.

Would I buy Friendly soap in future?

Yes definitely! As I said earlier I love them so much I have bought them in bulk.

As I haven’t found a shampoo bar yet, that is affordable and works for me, I still buy liquid shampoo. I buy Faith and Nature shampoo in bulk and top up a bottle as needed. If you are thinking that’s too much to buy at once, you could top up a bottle at your local Zero Waste Shop. You will probably find Friendly soap for sale there too.

Have you tried Friendly shampoo, conditioner and shaver bars or other varieties? Which are your favourites?

The post Eco friendly conditioner and shaving bars that are affordable. appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

Note: this post has been updated in November 2020. This is a sponsored post and also contains affiliate links marked with an asterisk. All opinions are my own.

What eco-friendly features does the plastic free toilet paper have?

• The packaging. I have done quite a bit of reading about compostable packaging and there are often two problems with it. Firstly often, it needs hot composting and can’t break down in your home compost bin. Secondly biodegradable plastic is sometimes made of genetically modified corn. Neither of those things are a problem in this case. The packaging is home compostable and is made from potato starch.
• The paper is made from responsibly sourced trees. See the picture below for why they decided not to go with recycled paper. There can be small amounts of BPA in it too, which although minor is not ideal. That said the Ethical Consumer recommends recycled paper over virgin wood.

• Compared to another toilet roll they sell, they have made the roll 45% longer, so each roll will last longer. This means you need to buy less rolls and have less toilet roll tubes to recycle afterwards. They say that it also means 30% less delivery trucks on the road
• The toilet paper is manufactured and sold in the UK.
• The company has a partnership with and supports Tree Aid – a UK charity which helps plant trees in Africa.

Are there any downsides?

The toilet paper is 2 ply. If you usually buy 3 ply toilet paper it will seem a bit thin compared to that. That said I have tested it out and although it does seem a bit thinner, it still does the job just fine.

How does the plastic free Soft On Nature toilet paper compare price wise?

At the time of writing they are priced at £38.88 inclusive of delivery for 108 rolls. That works out at 36p a roll. This is very competitive with most toilet roll brands on offer in the supermarkets. Add to that it’s eco-credentials and the fact that each roll is longer than the average roll and it is very good value for money. You can buy it on Amazon here: Cushion Soft, Soft on Nature toilet paper *

If you were to compare it to other toilet brands:

• Soft on Nature toilet paper (2ply, in compostable packaging and made from sustainable sources in the UK): 36p a roll
• Sainsbury’s 2 ply recycled paper in plastic packaging: 33p a roll
• Who Gives a Crap recycled toilet paper (3 ply, plastic free and made in China): 75p a roll
• Cheeky Panda* bamboo toilet paper 88p per roll
• Skinkissed bamboo toilet paper £1.04 per roll
• Who Gives a Crap bamboo toilet paper (3 ply, plastic free and made in China): £1.20 a roll
• Dalia Eco-Friendly Toilet Paper, Maxi Rolls* £1.27 per roll (each roll has 800 sheets and the layers are bonded together, so it is technically 1 ply – I’m going to try this one out and report back)

Conclusion

Overall I like the fact that the Soft on Nature toilet paper:

1. Is made from sustainable forests
2. Has compostable packaging made from potato starch
3. Is made in the UK
4. Is affordable.
5. Supports Tree Aid.

I tried going toilet paper free for a while, but in the long run it didn’t work for me. Most of us buy toilet paper week in, week out and switching to a greener budget toilet paper like this is an easy eco-thrifty swap to make!

Follow them on Facebook and Instagram to keep up to date with their latest news.

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How to make homemade bath salts?

Bath salts are really quick and easy to make a home! If you grow Lavender at home then bath salts can make a great personal gift. Or just a treat for yourself.

Several months ago I harvested the lavender flowers growing in my garden and put them in a big bucket. Remembering I had some bath salts I had bought in bulk I combined the two making a jar of relaxing bath salts. Here’s how you can make bath salts at home;

Homemade Lavender Bath Salt Recipe:

Ingredients:

Lavender flowers

Sea salt

Method:

1. Pour salt and lavender flowers into a jar and mix together. Add around 3 – 4 times as much salt as lavender flowers.
2. Sprinkle a spoonful or two into a hot bath and enjoy.
3. Alternatively display in a nice jar and give as a gift.

What did it cost me to make?

The jars pictured above were 80p each from Ikea. The lavender grew in my garden, and the original plant was a gift, so that didn’t cost me anything. I bought the salt in bulk from France when we did a house swap a couple of years ago. We went on a tour of a salt marsh in Aigues Mortes, which I found fascinating and saw the different stages the sea water needs to go through until it evaporates entirely and becomes salt! I paid around 6 euros for 5kg’s of good quality attractive sea salt! All together it cost me approx £1 to make the bath salts. Which compared to a similar product here at £14.50 is a big saving.

The shop bought product contains lavender oil instead of actual lavender. So you could put a few drops of lavender oil in the bath if you want to!

How to make this recipe zero waste?

If you are thinking of making these bath salts consider the following;

• Using local unpackaged sea salt limits packaging waste and airmiles!

• Failing that look to buy in bulk.

• You don’t have to stick to sea salt . Rock salt, epsom salts, even bicarbonate of soda are included in lots of bath salt recipes. Use up what you have first rather than buying new.

• Home grown or locally grown lavender also reduces air miles and packaging. If you don’t have any lavender try other herbs. Make sure there aren’t any bits that will clog the drain though!

• Reuse jars you have at home before buying new.

If you are looking for other ideas for things to do with lavender, lavender wands are lovely – see how to make them here. Bunches of lavender in vases look beautiful and lavender also tastes great as a herbal tea – make sure it hasn’t had a pesticides or anything sprayed on it first though!   

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Wet wipes get a lot of negative press. This is because single use wipes contain plastic. They are often flushed down the toilet causing huge drain blockages.

If the wipe makes it into the sea marine life mistake them for food. The tragedy of this is that fish can die as a direct result of eating wet wipes. So we are all encouraged not to flush wet wipes, avoid using them altogether or find eco wet wipe alternatives.

When my kids were babies I used wet wipes all the time. (I’ve never flushed them down the toilet though).  At first I used cotton wool and water, but I switched to baby wipes at some point. Probably for convenience.  

I bought a supermarket own brand fragrance free eco variety of baby wipes. I gave zero thought to the level of eco-friendliness of those baby wipes beyond the word on the packaging. This was in spite of them costing around double their non eco-friendly equivalent.  I used to use them for everything! Cleaning floors, toilets, bins, dirty shoes, wiping messy hands and faces, the list was endless.

Every week I was using around 2 packets of baby-wipes at a cost of £156 a year.  

I looked at my baby wipes a bit closer and realised they were not eco friendly at all. They were in plastic packaging. They were not biodegradable (and actually contain plastic themselves) and contained a complex chemical ingredient list.

The only difference between them and their non-eco friendly counterparts were that in the eco ones 2 ingredients are organic.  That does not make them eco-friendly and they were a big waste of money. Even wet wipes which are biodegradable still take a long time to break down. They won’t biodegrade in landfill and if flushed down the toilet can still cause blockages and harm to marine life.

Realising this I started looking into eco wet wipe alternatives.

What are the alternatives to single use wet wipes?

• Reusable cloths. These can be dampened and kept in a water proof pouch for going out with your kids or family.

• Swap cleansing and makeup wipes for olive oil and a *soft cloth. Olive oil is a great makeup remover.  Apply it with your fingers and wash it off with the cloth.

• Hand and face single use wipes can be swapped for reusable flannels.

• Replace cleaning or dusting wipes for kitchen or bathroom with & *reusable washing cleaning cloths.

• Antibacterial wipes. Ditch them altogether. Overuse of antibacterial agents may be contributing to antibiotics becoming less effective.  If you are worried about bacteria in a particular area wipe with vinegar.

• Floor wipes can be swapped for a mop or *reusable floor wipe solution.

• Use waste paper from your recycling bin to wipe down items such as the kitchen bin.

• Take a change of shoes and clothes with you if you get muddy out and about. Pop them in a reusable bag to wash when you get home so you don’t need single use wipes.

• Rinse muddy shoes off in a bath or shower and then leave them in there to dry. If they won’t do well if soaked, then spot clean them with a cloth.

You might be wondering if washing reusable cloths negates the eco-friendliness of using reusable wipes. Well, to produce disposable items takes water and energy and then they end up in landfill. To reuse items takes water and energy but they don’t end up in landfill. Especially if they are made from natural fibres as they can be added to your compost heap.

Plus you don’t need to buy cloths! You can chop up old towels or sheets like I did.

This blog post contains affiliate links and anything you buy through them will help to support the blog as I will get a small commission. All opinions are my own – Thanks!

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• Swap disposables for reusables – e.g.
  • use a body brush
    instead of an exfoliating cream or gel.
  • Consider swapping toilet paper for cloth wipes (or the water pistol method – read more here) and using cloth nappies.
  • Swap disposable tampons and sanitary towels for a menstrual cup or reusable cloth sanitary towels.
• Stop buying beauty products.  If you have to use them – make your own from natural ingredients. You will save money, packaging and they will be better for you.   If you want some ideas Mrs Pinch has some good ones – I really like the look of these homemade bath bombs!
• Consider swapping products that come in non-recyclable packaging for ones that come in packaging that can be composted or recycled e.g. swap deodorant in a tube for bicarbonate of soda (I buy it in bulk in paper bags).

The post How to go zero waste in the bathroom! appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

They all boil down to two main options in life – wash or wipe (although washing often also involves wiping).

Toilet paper alternatives – the wiping options

In the absence of toilet roll, it can be tempting to use something else to wipe your backside and then flush it down the loo. Don’t do it! If it isn’t designed to be flushed it can cause blockages in the sewage system and no-one needs that, especially not right now. Only flush the 3 p’s – pee, paper and poo! So if you are going to use a toilet paper alternative to wipe, you will need to wash it, or bin it afterwards!

Reusable toilet wipe alternatives

Cloth wipes

These will need washing afterwards. You can buy them or make your own. The problem with these are that when I looked into them I wasn’t convinced that they were better for the environment than using toilet paper. Plus they can contaminate your washing and make you ill if you aren’t careful with the way they are cleaned. They need to be sterilised before washing and then washed on a very hot wash.

My verdict: Not for me!

Stones

The ancient Romans and Greeks are thought to have used pebbles to wipe their bottoms. I doubt they sterilised them back then, but any modern users should sterilise them between uses.

My Verdict: Not for me!

Disposable toilet wiping alternatives.

Depending on the time and place people have used their resourcefulness to make use of what is available to them to wipe after going to the loo. If you are going to use a disposable toilet wipe alternative, it is really important to make sure that you put these in the bin after use to stop toilet blockages. Do not flush them.

Putting stuff in the bin isn’t great for the environment, so you might be wondering about composting it instead. Do not compost anything with poo on it. Wee on the other hand can be a good addition to your compost heap – according to the National Geographic in their article: Human pee added to compost heaps boosts crops.

Another thing to consider before putting these toilet paper alternatives in your compost bin, is what the wipe is made of and if it contains inks, glues, plastic, bleaches or dyes that are not compostable.

The alternatives:.

• Old newspapers
• Scrap paper
• Leaves
• Wool
• Cotton wool

My verdict – Not for me!

Toilet paper alternatives – the washing options

• Using a wet sponge on a stick – apparently the Romans used to do this (and they use to share them – soaking them in salt water between uses).
• Wet cloths (still a pain as they need washing afterwards)
• A hose next to the toilet (great if you have one already installed, a bit expensive if you don’t)
• Bidet (again great if you have one already installed, a bit expensive if you don’t)
• Get in the shower – good option, but water intensive.
• Left hand and water (not my preferred method)
• The water pistol/ spray bottle method (I think this one is a winner!)

Once I discovered the water pistol/ spray bottle method, I was sold on it. We have a few of them that normally barely get used, so I fished them out from the back of a cupboard.

It worked really well for me. All you need is a tap and the water pistol or spray bottle. You don’t get anything dirty (e.g. a cloth/ sponge/ stone/ hand), you don’t need to wash anything up or sterilise anything and you don’t need to collect/ compost anything.  It also doesn’t use up much water. You do need to keep the water pistol clean though and try to dry it out between uses.

You might need to towel dry afterwards, but it isn’t that different to drying your body after you have had a shower. So that means you don’t need to sterilise it.

My verdict – washing with a water pistol was the winner for me!

Not keen on these toilet paper alternatives?

Don’t like any of these options? After going toilet paper free for a month I became dubious about the environmental benefits because of needing to wash towels more regularly and I went back to using toilet paper. Most recently this one after reviewing it: Budget plastic free toilet paper review *Ad*

So if it came to it, what would your preferred toilet paper alternative be?

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The one thing I have noticed about my hair is that it gets far more tangly than it used to and it needs brushing much more, but apart from that it seems fine..  At least I know now that I definitely don’t need shampoo – even if I’m never successful at going to water only washing, I know that olive oil soap does the job!  The olive soap comes in cardboard boxes which can be recycled, it is inexpensive, has minimal ingredients and I only use it very ocassionally – I think this is infinitely preferable to bottles of shampoo!

I will continue to put updates up about my hair every so often – maybe every few weeks, so you don’t all get too bored!  

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The post 2 more weeks of unwashed hair! appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

Yesterday was a big day for me – a hair washing day!  After two weeks of not washing my hair with anything at all, it felt pretty luxurious even if it was just with a bar of olive oil soap.  During the two weeks my hair seemed to get to a peak of greasiness and then if anything towards the end got a little less greasy. I did wonder if I should wash it at all, but I decided I really wanted to, so I did.  

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