If you are like we used to be, you have a plastic bottle of shampoo, a plastic bottle of conditioner, and a plastic bottle of liquid soap on the shelf in your bath. Perhaps you and your spouse have different tastes in shampoo and conditioner, and you have two of each in your master bath. And maybe you have kids, each of which has their favorites in the second bathroom. Then, of course, you have a few in the closet as backup. And maybe you use liquid hand soap at your sinks. 

Especially considering these are consumable products, this really adds up!

Of course you know that you can get bar soap, but did you know there are such things as bar shampoo and even bar conditioner? Bars are smaller, lighter and more concentrated than liquids, which means they consume less energy in shipping. And the performance of the good bars is excellent. Between bar soap, shampoo and conditioner, my wife and I have almost eliminated plastic in our baths.

We started with bar soap — we use Bronner’s peppermint bar soap, which has replaced Bronner’s liquid peppermint soap in our household. Then, we discovered Lush Cosmetics, and started trying out their bar shampoos and conditioners, as well as those from other companies. We have settled on different blends for each of us — I tend to have oily hair, and my wife’s hair tends to be dry. The nice thing about bars is that they actually last longer than liquids. The products we use are also wrapped in waxed paper and cardboard, so no plastic packaging. 

We also got rid of the reusable liquid soap dispensers that we used to fill with a combination of Bronner’s peppermint liquid soap, clarifying shampoo, and water (to keep it from building up). There is now a bamboo soap tray at each sink, one in our master shower, and one in our second bath, each of which holds a Bronner’s bar.

The results: we have almost eliminated plastic from our bathrooms, and we are very happy with the performance of our bathing products. Try it — you might like it!