At the beginning of 2020, before all hell broke loose, I decided this was the year I was going to make a dent in my single-use plastics. I wanted to make sure that whatever habits I changed they would be simple (not easy), sustainable, cost-effective, and not wasteful, (i.e. I wasn’t going to have a decluttering party and throw all our plastics in the trash). Being a busy mum, I didn’t have a huge amount of time on my hands to go through the whole house either so I targeted a specific few areas of our lives. The first one was personal care products and then some cleaning products.
I had been pretty much had the same products for my personal care for years, the same antiperspirant, same cleanser, toner, moisturizer, shampoos and conditioners, etc. so changing some of the products was a little nerve-wracking. I also have naturally curly hair and live in a very dry climate, so I was dubious about whether I could get the same results without slathering my hair in conditioner. I started researching different products and also got sucked in by some ads on social media but decided it was time to try out some of these bar products and other plastic-free alternatives increasingly available. Here’s what I chose:
- Hibar Shampoo & Conditioner – Moisturize
- Native Deodorant
- Native Bar Soap
- SheaMoisture African Black Face & Body Soap (not plastic-free but a lot less plastic than a bottle of shower gel)
- Denttabs
- Raw Elements Tinted Moisturizer with SPF 30
- Ethique Lime & Ginger Body Wash
- Ethique Coconut & Lime Butter Block
- Hello Boo bamboo toothbrushes
- Sheets Laundry Detergent Sheets
- Sheets Solid Dish Soap
- Sheets Dryer Sheets – I’ve since replaced these with wool dryer balls. Eventually, I’d love to be able hang my clothes back out on the clothes line!
). The quality, effectiveness, and lifespan of the products were in most cases a significant improvement on what I had been using previously. It is also really satisfying when I get into the shower and I am not surrounded by giant plastic bottles. I didn’t get any freebies from these products, I just found these the same way you would and ordered them so this is not a paid for review. 
I know some of these look, shall we say, a little interesting… The two taller ones are the Hibar shampoo and conditioner, the white bar on the left is the Native bar soap, and the black one is the SheaMoisture face soap. dapibus leo.
I first started using Native because it was an aluminum free anti-perspirant that supposedly worked. I was happily surprised to find out it did and then they introduced plastic-free packaging! SOLD!