Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

Morning Campers,
This camper really will be camping very soon.
Just flagging up an article in the 'Guardian' by Gaby Hinsliff, called 'Shop less, live more'. It really chimes with the discussion we had on here recently about how simply buying & using less can be better for the environment than swapping to buying replacement products. Nice to scroll through the Guardian app first thing & feel like part of not so much the zeitgeist, but the solution.
BTW I bought my first shampoo bar yesterday, which I'll be trying as soon as I've finished my current bottle. I chose a slice from a big jasmine bar, which is supposed to be good for hair with a tendancy to frizzle. I'll see what I think. If I like it, it will be another plastic bottle gone. It infuriates me that manufacturers print 'recyclable' or 'check your local authority' on plastic because although some areas do collect several types, ours takes only spread tubs, yoghurt pots & bottles. And of course with programmes like HFW's earlier this summer highlighting the shipping of UK plastics abroad where they sit in a stinking polluting mountain, the jury is out on just how much locally collected plastic waste actually does get recycled.
I hope I get on with the shampoo bar. It cost £3.50 so is broadly comparable with buying shampoo & I've heard that bars last a long time.
F x

wishingthemortgaheaway

I'm just about to start my first ever shampoo bar.

PurpleFairy26

As some one who has done the shampoo bar thing for over a year, had a little pause too for various reasons. I would say you a) might need to try 2 or 3 before you get the right one b) use bicarbonate rinse before you start the first time and possibly once a month after if you need to c) use a scrunchie type body buffer to rub on the bar to lather it up if you live in a hard water area. Otherwise it's practically impossible to get lather d) have a bottle of apple cider vinegar and a jug in your bathroom to make a rinse

wishingthemortgaheaway

Oooh, purple fairy, this is sounding complex. I assumed you just used it like a bar of soap on your hair.

What's a bicarbonate rinse?
Noted re: the scrunchie
Apple cider vinegar rinse?

Oh no, I thought this was going to be simple....

Baileys_Babe

Foxgloves In my teens I worked in a bakery in the Midlands we also sold Russian slice, it was very popular. I never seen it sold or mentioned outside the Midlands, you have brought back a flood of happy memories.

DawnW

wishingthemortgaheaway wrote: »

Oooh, purple fairy, this is sounding complex. I assumed you just used it like a bar of soap on your hair.

What's a bicarbonate rinse?
Noted re: the scrunchie
Apple cider vinegar rinse?

Oh no, I thought this was going to be simple....

To be honest, I do use mine just like a bar of soap on my hair

Baileys_Babe

The only plastic our local authority collects is bottles, no lids. It is infuriating, we try and limit the amount of plastic we buy, which is a work in progress, any recyclable plastic which comes into the house other than bottles, we used to collect and then take to my parents when visiting, this worked until my parents moved nearer and are now in the same authority, we currently have arrangements with various friends and family from out of the area and we drop off our recycling when visiting or they collect when here.

A couple of months ago I started using a shampoo bar, I have chose one that doesn't contain sodium lauryl sulfate - as it irritates my skin and no plastic in the packaging. After the initial settling in period I'm very happy.

PurpleFairy how do you store your shampoo bar? And when you're travelling?

Baileys_Babe

DawnW wrote: »

To be honest, I do use mine just like a bar of soap on my hair

How you use the bar I think it depends on many factors including, hardness of your water, hair type, hair length etc.

PurpleFairy26

I store it at home on a wooden soap dish. When travelling I have a little waterproof pouch that I was gifted from reused rice bags in India which is a perfect size but any small tub (Tupperware type) would suffice.

Bicarbonate rinse just gets out the gunk that’s built up from using bottle shampoo. Some soap is difficult to get out of your hair particularly if it’s thick, so putting a teaspoon (or small glut in my case) of ACV in warm water and then putting on your head after rinsing with water will help remove soap residue that might otherwise make your hair look greasy.

It’s a bit trial and error.

chocomonsta

https://snapguide.com/guides/make-russian-slice-cake/

….Believed to have been created in the us . It was at the end of 1871 on the occasion of the visit of Alexei Alexandrovich the grand duke of Russia.....recycled leftovers of different sponge cakes etc..

left over cake...never happens in our house!