Eco Voyage

the first time i read about shampoo bars, i was truly intrigued + a little skeptical, kind of the way i felt about dippin' dots when i first laid eyes on those tiny little ice cream pellets as a kid. innovation is always welcome, but i had to wonder: will it yield the same satisfying results?

i've been a dedicated user of shampoo bars for five years now. i love this zero-plastic + minimal waste option, the simple + safe ingredient lists, and the results. in a previous post sharing 5 easy tips to green your bathroom {which includes saying au revoir to plastic soap dispensers + using old-fashioned bar soap as well as trying bottle-less shampoo, aka shampoo bars}, i discussed why this product is one of my favorite bath + beauty products: because it truly works.

whether you have moody hair {straight one day, wavy the next}, reliably frizzy hair, or predictably straight hair, this product is great for nourishing your locks, and it's great for maintaining healthy tresses whether you have dry hair, oily hair or you're somewhere in between. here's how to use a shampoo bar + what to expect from this tiny, yet mighty product:

shampoo bars have a creamy consistency, so they don't quite lather as a liquid shampoo might, but they are super effective, yielding healthy, shiny locks with just enough volume. rub the bar across your head + hair, and then massage away. bars might require conditioning after washing if you're prone to frizzy hair or hair that is naturally wavy; i always rotate my liquid shampoos throughout the months + supplement with a shampoo bar.

i have mercurial hair, sometimes it's wavy, other times it's straight; shampoo bars always define my waves, so this would be the perfect product for gals with curly hair or girls lovin' the beachy waves.

here's a list of my fave vegan + cruelty-free brands offering organic, fair trade ingredients {no chemical preservatives, no synthetic fragrances and no detergents}:

1/ ethically engineered: made with softening camellia oil. chemical free + animal friendly. find it at whole foods in the usa. handmade in the chicago

2/ dr. bronner's: made with hydrating organic coconut oil. fair trade + organic ingredients. find it at walgreens pharmacy or your local grocery stores in the usa. made in the usa

3/ j.r. liggett's: made with conditioning olive oil + argan oil. each bar is hand cut. find it at whole foods or online at vitacost. made in the usa

4/ unearth malee: made with nourishing jojoba oil + argan oil. organic + vegan ingredients. hand made in california.

a heaping serving of natural + handmade shampoo bars can be found on etsy. i'm going to be trying ethique, which has a shampoo bar and a conditioning bar. i'll let you know how that goes. let the good hair days commence. if you're in france, lamazuna offers a vegan shampoo bar which i've used + like beaucoup.

if you're a gal or guy looking for green, clean bottled shampoo in a store near you, here are my fave bottled shampoos, all natural + all vegan of course.

{don't forget the tip} shampoo was named after a popular indian head massage {champ in hindi}. while the indians used oils, the main ingredients in our shampoos today are detergents, water, surfactants {sodium laureth sulfate, SLES, or sodium lauryl sulfate, SLS}, and alcohol.

shampoo bars don't quite lather up like most conventional liquid shampoos, but they're fantastic at nourishing your locks. remember, foaming agents such as lauramide DEA or cocamide DEA + MEA are not our friends, so an easy green tip to remember: lather is not necessary + it's also potentially dangerous to our health because when a product sits on a shelf, the ingredient DEA reacts with other chemicals to form nitrosamines, carcinogens linked to cancer.

when SLES or SLS is ethoxylated, a process meant to soften the harshness of the chemical, it produces a carcinogen called 1,4-dioxane, which does not have to be listed on product labels as an ingredient. surfactants are wetting agents that help trap oil and the dirt stuck to it, allowing the water to rinse it all off. unfortunately, in the process, this also strips hair of its natural oils. this make our hair feel clean, but it also perpetuates a cycle that demands more and more products. * so choose healthy bath products that keep you and your locks healthy.

until next time, stay green dear hearts!

as the good folks at preserve remind us, "products are more than just products. they have implications and effects far beyond the box or bag they come in." today, we have five simple ways to green your bathroom routine. easy peasy tips to keep you + your family healthy, your home toxin-free + our oceans clean:

bamboo toothbrushes

1/ toothbrushes: did you know over 4.7 billion toothbrushes end up in landfills + oceans every year? yowza! small changes can make a big difference. compostable bamboo toothbrushes or recycled plastic toothbrushes are the perfect alternative for a bright smile {available for little smiles too}. plastic toothbrushes are not biodegradable, and many plastics are made with harmful additives like bpa which is shown to disrupt the body's hormone system. using plant-based products or recycled benign plastic decreases waste sent to landfills, reduces use of nonrenewable resources like natural gas + oil, decreases energy use and reduces emissions of carbon dioxide. clean teeth + clean planet = a clean conscience

tree-free toilet paper

2/ toilet paper: *everybody does it! by "it" i mean, we use toilet paper. did you ever wonder about the environmental toll of paper products? conventional toilet tissue is still made with freshly-cut trees {that's virgin wood which destroys ancient + endangered forests} and is made with dyes + fragrances {most tp is dyed with synthetic colorants or whitened with chlorine bleach, a toxic chemical that leaches into our waterways + airways}. eco boys + girls should look for toilet tissue made from recycled paper + labeled as pcf {processed chlorine free} or tcf {totally chlorine free}. because brown toilet tissue is just as neato keen as white toilet tissue, only better. lucky for us, who gives a crap cares about our bums + our planet.

wgap has created tree-free toilet tissue sans dyes + perfumes, using only 100% recycled fibers that can be delivered straight to your door {50% of profits are donated to water aid to provide toilets to people in communities around the world living without them}. you can find more eco friendly options including seventh generation at whole foods in the usa. learn more here.

bottle-less shampoo + conditioner

3/ green shampoos: previously i compiled a list of good, green shampoos, safe products without any harmful chemicals. along my own eco journey, i've also discovered all-natural shampoo bars. if like me, you've ever used a soap bar in lieu of shampoo {i did this once, and it was like i'd asked a magic genie to replace my hair with a brillo pad, and the confused but willing genie waved a wand granting my foolhardy wish}; know that a soap bar + a shampoo bar are radically different products. shampoo bars work wonders, leaving hair healthy + hydrated.

if you're feeling tentative, i assure you that this is a product worth trying. i've tested a few, and if you set aside the marvelous fact that these ingenious little products are made free of plastic packaging + free of toxic ingredients, there's this to consider: they truly work. try this luxurious handmade bar from tiny yellow bungalow, crafted from coconut milk, organic cocoa butter + thai lime leaf essential oil or this gem from ethically engineered made with grapeseed oil extract + camellia oil for an invigorating citrus lather.

old-fashioned soap bars

4/ soap bars: one of the easiest ways to reduce our carbon footprint is to eliminate bottled hand soap + body washes from our daily routines. instead, try a good, old-fashioned soap bar like these naturally scented beauties from soap rebel, these lush bars from osmia organics or these fair trade bars from dr. bronner's. if you can reduce your purchase of products packaged in plastic, by eliminating even one or two items from your daily routine, you're making a big impact by helping to keep debris out of our oceans + landfills.

clean, green cleaners

5/ greener cleaners: i admit that every time i publish a post here on finny+dill, i think of my friends + family with children because if i was a parent, i'd want to make choices as often as possible that keep my little ones healthy. i'm dedicating this post to my friend lauren + her little peanut, the queen v, and to ximen, + her owl connoisseur, chloe, because i know creating the safest environment for children to thrive is one of the most important choices we can make as conscious consumers. i love a clean home, and dr. bronner's is one my favorite brands on the market using plant-based ingredients. i also put together this handy post of safe + affordable toxin-free cleaners to use in the kitchen, for laundry + throughout your abode {liquid + bar soaps, hand sanitizers + all-purpose cleaning agents, they've got it all}.

{h2o fun fact}: did you know cutting just 3 minutes from your usual shower time can save an average of 6 gallons of water {if you shower daily, you could save 2,190 gallons of water a year}? i don't wash my hair daily, which is why i love dry shampoo. if you're new to the dry shampoo game, here's a handy list of my fave dry shampoos to keep the locks lustrous. until next time, stay green dear hearts!

{header image via brush with bamboo}