Shampoo Bars - Reducing Carbon Emissions & Pollution

This week we celebrated the 3rd birthday of our Natural Detergent-Free Solid Shampoo Bar. Since its launch, we've sold over 80,000 bars in three different fragrances.

There are some obvious wins with shifting from a plastic-bottled shampoo to a solid one. Based on the average shampoo bottle being a plastic 300ml sized container, we've calculated that we've saved over 300,000 plastic bottles (over 16 tonnes) from landfill and the oceans. To put that into perspective floating in the ocean, these bottles would have covered a circle with a diameter of over 120 metres!

But there's an even bigger 'eco-friendly' story here...

Cosy Cottage Natural Shampoo Bars are handmade 'slowly'. This means that they're left to cure for 2-3 weeks which makes them firmer, longer lasting products and they don't go mushy (as long as they're left in a place where water can drain easily). Longer lasting products mean less consumption, less water use and less shipping; so less pollution and a lower carbon footprint.

In addition to this, we don't use any SLS, SLES or any other synthetic surfactants (commonly known as detergents) and our bars are made with just five 100% natural ingredients.

Many other solid shampoos contain SLS-type compounds or surfactants; sometimes they're named things like sodium cocoyl isethionate. Sounds ok right? We don't think so. They may not be called SLS or SLES, but they're still synthetic surfactants, which we choose to avoid.

So what does this mean for you and the environment?

Detergents have a drying effect on the hair and skin and have been cited in some studies to cause permanent harm to the ecosystems and marine life once they've been washed down the drain.

Hundreds of people have told us that once they've fully adjusted to using our natural shampoo bar, their hair and scalp is less dry and that they don't need to wash the hair as frequently as before, meaning better hair condition and less water used. A large proportion have even ditched conditioner because it's simply not needed anymore - another reduction in consumption, water use and single use plastic too.

Our shampoo bars are also vegan, cruelty-free, plastic-free and palm oil free. No palm oil means less deforestation too.

All of our packaging can be recycled or composted.

So celebrate with us and make the switch. You can read our 5 star reviews and our other blogs on the transition to a natural shampoo and some instructions on how to use.