Prevent plastic soup in your bathroom
If you take a look around your bathroom, it is probably filled with plastic jars, tubes, spray cans, and bottles. Your multiblade cartridge razor also contains plastic. Some toothpastes from well-known drugstore brands strangely contain so-called microplastics. 'Huh', yes you read that right: plastic in toothpaste. After use, it all ends up in the trash or in the sewer. More and more men want to get rid of all that plastic. In this blog, we have 10 super handy tips and product recommendations to reduce plastic use in the bathroom.
Some people will probably say: 'Not shaving and grooming at all prevents 'plastic soup' in the bathroom.' But we are conveniently assuming that our customers do care about grooming.
Tip 1: Shave classically
Throw away that spray can of ready-made shaving foam and switch to classic wet shaving. A spray can may not be plastic, but it does create a huge amount of waste.
What do you need for classic wet shaving:
- a razor with an accompanying razor blade;
- shaving brush and;
- shaving soap or shaving cream.
The only thing you throw away after several shaves is a single razor blade. If you maintain your shaving brush well, you can enjoy it for 5-10 years. A shaving soap or shaving cream lasts much longer than a spray can shaving foam. On average, you can shave for 3 months with a shaving soap. Moreover, shaving with classic shaving soap is much more pleasant and smoother. In short, better for the environment and it makes you happy.
Tip 2: Shave with an open razor
The open razor is the most sustainable shaving system. After use, you do not throw it away. Just clean it after use, sharpen it on the strop, and you're ready for the next use. If you maintain the open razor well, you can pass it down to your grandchildren. We regularly speak to customers who recently inherited their late grandfather's open razor.
Another advantage is that the open razor is the most economical shaving system. It is a one-time investment. You can find great open razors from DOVO and Böker starting at €90,-. Additionally, you will also need to purchase a strop and sharpening stone for periodic maintenance.
Tip 3: Shave with a safety razor
If you find the open razor a bit too much, you still have the safety razor with the accompanying double edge razor blades.
The modern cartridge razors from Gillette, Boldking, or Raz*War are made of metal and plastic. Double edge blades are made entirely of metal. In the waste processing process, everything made of metal is extracted with a large magnet. Because these blades only contain metals, they are easy to recycle. Many men switch to the safety razor because it has several major advantages, namely:
- price;
- less shaving irritation;
- lots of choice;
- and more sustainable (environmentally friendly)
Tip 4: Shaving soap with refill
Many hard shaving soaps come in a beautiful luxury wooden pot or a simple (hard) plastic jar. After 3 or 4 months of shaving, the shaving soap is gone. Fortunately, many shaving brands offer a refill. You can put this refill back in the jar and continue shaving. In particular, the classic English shaving brands, such as Truefitt and Hill and Geo F Trumper, have an enormous range of shaving soaps with refill in a beautiful wooden pot.
The German Muhle has shaving soaps in a sturdy white porcelain jar. You can also put a shaving soap refill in here.
Besides sustainability, a shaving soap or shaving cream in a jar is also handy because you can easily whip it up. You always have enough fresh warm shaving foam at hand.
Tip 5: Shaving cream in a metal pot
Do you hate plastic? Then use a shaving cream in a metal pot. Various artisanal soap producers sell their luxury shaving cream in beautiful sturdy metal pots. After use, you can possibly use the jar as a luxury storage box for screws and nails in your workshop. The shaving creams from the French Le Pere Lucien come in sturdy metal pots.
Tip 6: Use bath soaps
Instead of a shower gel in a tube, you can also wash and cleanse yourself with a hard bath soap. Daily, we sell various luxury bath soaps on a string. Super handy. You always have your soap at hand in the shower. A bath soap is more economical in use than a shower gel. The bath soaps from the Portuguese Antiga Barbearia de Bairro and the English DR Harris are very popular.
Tip 7: Use shower and shampoo bars
Most bottles in your bathroom are shampoos. More and more manufacturers are selling so-called shampoo bars of pucks. It is shampoo in solid form. The existing men's brands, such as DR Harris and Meissner Tremonia, also have an extensive range. There is a shampoo available for every type of hair. The bars from DR Harris are packaged in a small metal box. The Meissner pucks come in a cardboard box.
A shampoo bar is very easy to use. Just wet it, rub it between your palms, and then distribute and massage the shampoo foam well into your hair. After use, you can dry it a bit and put it back in the container.
Tip 8: Use toothpaste without microplastics
Many toothpastes from major brands contain microplastics, such as Polyethylene (PE) and/or Polyethylene glycol. We have always been amazed by the use of plastics in toothpaste. Fortunately, there are alternative oral hygiene products without these plastics, such as the Italian Acca Kappa and Marvis.
Additionally, Marvis has an impressive range of toothpastes with fantastic and exciting flavors: mint, licorice, anise, jasmine, and ginger.
I hear you thinking: 'Yes, but then you still have toothpaste in a plastic tube.' Fortunately, there are 100% plastic-free toothpastes. Meissner Tremonia produces tooth powder in a glass jar and in a paper bag as a refill. When the jar is empty, you refill it with tooth powder from the refill bag. This minty fresh toothpaste contains only natural ingredients and minerals, such as: chalk (calcium carbonate) and mint oil.
You just dip your toothbrush into the powder and you can brush away. The added chalk removes dental plaque, food residues, and yellowish stains from coffee, tea, and cigarettes.
Tip 9: Use deodorant cream
Many deodorants come in a spray can or a plastic bottle. The commonly used deodorant sticks are in a plastic tube with a plastic twist mechanism inside. The German Meissner Tremonia has various deodorant creams in a small glass jar. These are natural deodorants made from baking soda, plant-based organic oils, and natural essential oils.
Tip 10: Use pomade without microplastics
Without you often knowing it, pomades or hair gels also contain microplastics, such as:
- Acrylate Copolymer, Acrylate Crosspolymer (ACS)
- Dimethicon
- Methicone
The above listing is a limited overview. There are dozens of different types of plastics that you may encounter in pomades and shampoos. Microplastics or microbeads are not harmful to health, but ultimately you wash them away through the sewer and they end up in the environment. These plastics do not break down and accumulate in our rivers and oceans. For some time now, there has been a handy app available: www.beatthemicrobead.org. In this app, you can easily check whether your favorite hair gel or shampoo contains microplastics.
Many of our customers want to know which ingredients are in their personal care products. More and more people are concerned about these plastics. As best as we can, we have researched this as much as possible based on the list of microplastics per item. We also mention for various pomades and shampoos whether the item contains microplastics. In particular, hair styling products from American barbershop and salon brands contain microplastics: American Crew, Layrite, and Suavecito. Note that not all products from these brands contain these ingredients.
This notification allows customers to determine for themselves whether they will continue to use their favorite pomade or not.
There are of course plenty of pomades and shampoos without microbeads, for example:
