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Plastic-Free Shampoo Suggestions

A few months ago, my blog and I were featured in the Time magazine article, The Truth About Plastic. The author started the article with the line, "If you know where to find a good plastic-free shampoo, can you tell Jeanne Haegele?"

As you might imagine, this little line resulted in a lot of emails and ideas coming my way, which I figure I should share. Here they are.

Plastic-free Shampoo Ideas
  • Lush bar shampoo (I got a looooot of emails about these)
  • J.R. Liggett's old fashioned bar shampoo
  • Chagrin Valley bar shampoo
  • Burt's Bees baby bar shampoo
  • Burt's Bess rosemary mind bar shampoo
  • Kirk's original hardwater castille soap
  • Liquid shampoo from bulk dispensers at health stores (it seems that this is a possibility on the West coast)
  • Indian herbs (see here for recipes)
  • Yoghurt (although I think this is actually more of a conditioner)
And that's all I got. Thanks everyone for your suggestions.
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Lisa said…
I heard rumors of a shampoo being made in glass soon, I'm working to find out if it's true. I will let you know if it is.
September 30, 2008 at 10:48 AM
Anonymous said…
I am very happy I found your blog. There are a lot of great recommendations. Do you happen to know how much these shampoos are? I have only heard of Lush, and that's pretty pricey. I hope you don't mind I would like to add you to my blog roll. Great site!

http://chefsquire.wordpress.com/
September 30, 2008 at 3:45 PM
Anonymous said…
I find the best thing for washing hair, especially is you have problems with an itchy scalp, is bicarb aka baking soda. I keep a container of it in the shower, take out about a tablespoon full and wet it a little to form a paste. That's what I rub into my hair and it works beautifully. I also wash my hair sometimes with my homemade olive oil soap. I haven't bought shampoo for years. Good luck with your search for something that suyits you.
September 30, 2008 at 4:57 PM
Anonymous said…
Hy, I'm from Germany and have just recently discovered something called Wascherde, or Lavaerde (from latin lavare= to wash and german erde=soil), or ghassoul (arabian). It's a kind of clay and absorbs the fat on your scalp and hair in a very soft way (no detergents or such). It comes as a kind of powder to be mixed with water or as a ready-to-use shampoo. Use some cider vinegar rinse afterwards, and your hair will look great. It's not very expensive and easy to take with you (plus the added fun of putting mud on your head ;))
I was very sceptical at first, but the results convinced me (and many of my friends ;)) It's a strange feeling to take a shower without any soap or foam...and you can even wash your body with it. It's so mild your skin won't feel dry at all. (On the german wikipedia, you can find the chemical composition in the article on "Lavaerde")
The ready-to-use stuff comes in a plastic bottle, but the powder comes in a paper bag, so that would be great for a life without plastic!
October 9, 2008 at 8:04 AM
Anonymous said…
have you tried baking soda?
http://the-coveted.com/blog/2008/09/02/how-to-ditch-shampoo-and-look-even-better/

i wrote a post a while back about it, i went with baking soda/apple cider vinegar for a month... it worked, but here in germany finding a nice box of baking soda is harder than one would think.

i found you through the time article!
October 14, 2008 at 5:27 AM
Aelinn said…
Ditto the baking soda, it's what I use. It might take a few weeks for your scalp to adjust and stop over-producing the oil, though... mine did, but now it's fine! I keep it in a shaker by the sink and sprinkle it on like dry shampoo before getting into the shower.
October 22, 2008 at 4:37 PM
Anonymous said…
I found your blog from Andrew Weil's Self-Healing newsletter.

Reducing plastic is so important and so difficult for the average consumer. EVERYTHING it seems is now put in plastic.

My wife and I have reduced plastic bags by using cloth sacks. We recycle over 95% of all plastic from consumables.

Our next step is finding non-plastic packaging or packaging free solutions. Your blog should be a great help in this area.

Jeff
October 25, 2008 at 1:09 PM
Anonymous said…
Me too with the baking soda. I buy a bunch from the bulk store and put it in a glass jar by the shower. I use it for my hair, skin, deodorant (i got a lot of jostling for admitting to that one :)

I have longish hair and it has never looked better! And it has cleared my skin considerably.
November 17, 2008 at 3:59 PM
Anonymous said…
I came across your blog through a link from another blog. I was googling about plastic and recycling and somehow I ended up here. Random.
Anyway, I support your cause! I am trying to go plastic-free in 2009!
December 11, 2008 at 3:35 PM
Anonymous said…
Thanks for having this blog. I am writing a blog about not throwing away my garbage for a year. Of course that means that I think more about creating it in the first place! It has been almost 10 months, so I have definitely noticed shampoo bottles piling up. Thanks for all the tips and I wrote about your site on mine.

www.ilivewithit.blogspot.com
March 30, 2009 at 12:28 AM
Unknown said…
I spent so much time looking at the plastic shampoo bottles at Stark and Van Tyl that I finally tried to make my own shampoo bar. Wanna try some? It's super lathery and you can tell me if you like it.

Jack
March 30, 2009 at 11:10 AM
Azura Skye said…
Hey there,
Ever heard of No Poo? Nope, not a strange experiment in toilet behaviour, but not using any shampoo on your hair at all! I.e. No SHAMpoo.
Yup I don't use any shampoo, or conditioner. In fact lots of people who are into the raw food movement decide to ditch the shampoo (I don't know why, we like to go natural I suppose).
I love it, no plastic, and no money spent. I just brush my hair, go to the shower and let the water rinse my hair clean. You see, water is heavier than oil - so the chunky water molecules can push those ickle sebum ones right off the hair shaft.. weee!
So there we go, just thought I'd give you another suggestion for plastic free shampoo.
Totally plastic free No 'Poo!
Take care,
Azura Skye
July 29, 2009 at 1:49 PM
Anonymous said…
I am thinking about making my own shampoo and putting it in a glass canning jar. This page has lots of recipes. I don't know how well it would work though.

http://www.healthrecipes.com/homemade_beauty_recipes.htm

Also, my daughter is biracial and I don't know if I could find any leave-in conditioner that comes close to being as good as Mixed Chicks (comes in a plastic container) that I can make myself...if anyone has any ideas for biracial hair care, please let me know! ~ Robin
March 31, 2010 at 8:01 AM
Anonymous said…
PS: Me again....I just emailed Mixed Chicks and asked them if they would consider packaging their leave-in conditioner in glass...I'll let you know what their response is :)

Robin
March 31, 2010 at 8:09 AM
Anonymous said…
Shea butter, theres an organic company that makes it in a cardboard container
May 26, 2012 at 9:26 PM
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