Would anyone like to share their eco new years resolutions? They could perhaps appear in the next newsletter?
Here is a my little one! To reduce the number of 'things' I buy in plastic bottles. Not a major resolution but quite fun and a challenge! The idea was started by reading Matthew Parris's very funny article in the Times on Oct 3rd last year. He thought it was typical that, of all he has written in the last quarter of a century on all the major issues affecting mankind, only 3 have really excited his readers. The first was his campaign to get a milk sachet on trains that you could open without having to use your teeth and without it squirting milk all over you (the pre-torn dotted lines are due to him!). The second was the controversy he sparked over shampoo. Should one put regular dollops of detergent (which is what shampoo is) on the natural oils on the scalp? Strip away the natural oils and the hair feels it must produce more. He gave up shampooing 20 years ago! His third grouse is with shower gel, why not use an ordinary bar of soap? If you hang it it's impossible to get just what you need out - you always get too much! (Have designers done this on purpose he asks so we have to buy more than we need?). "Soap is more environmentally friendly than shower gel because it produces lss waste. However, statistics show they have fallen out of favour - the average person uses only half a bar of soap a year, while 85% of us now use shower gels"
The article got me thinking. I've abandoned shampoo and hair seems to me less 'whispy' (you may disagree!), shower gel has gone (hope our visitors don't mind too much) and I am trying to make sure than any product I do buy will do as many jobs as possible.
Marianne Beale
3 comments:
This is certainly one way to cut down waste. I have quite a lot to say about not washing hair as I gave up for about 3 months a couple of years ago, it was great and I can't quite remeber why I went back. I will write a post about it soon, I have some good links to share with you. I also find that I use castile soap for everything from toilet cleaning to washing a babies bum. It is gentle yet so effective, and also since it is made from vegetable oil it is more environmentally friendly, (except it does come in a plastic bottle) x
The fact that you can't get toothpaste in a tube that can be recycled ( or can you??) has led to me cutting the tube across the bottom and down the side when it appears to be completely empty. You get at least a week's and probably 2 weeks' more use (depending on when you used to consider your tube to be empty!)out of the tube. Close up the sides after use or it dries up too much.
Marianne
After posting about not shampooing my hair since October I am beginning to find there must be something about this time of year that is making my hair more greasy! Any deas for natural products to use rather than shampoo?
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