Stars in the universe. Grains of sand. Blades of grass. Minutes in a century. These are all things which exist in numbers far too overwhelming for my mind to conceptualise their true vastness. Some things just seem too big or too small for us to comprehend. We marvel at the mystery of such enormity, and sometimes we despair at the horror. Do you know of the horrors numbered in such orders of magnitude that I just can’t fathom them? They are hearts that are stilled, and the screams that are silenced every year by a sharp blade to a doomed throat. They are plastic particles swirling uncontrollably in our dying oceans and eaten unwittingly by our threatened sea life. They are plastic bottles, straws and bags dumped absentmindedly in landfill to fester slowly over centuries. An estimated 56 billion land animals are bred and killed each year so that we humans can eat their bodies, their babies, and their bodily secretions, and decorate our lives with their skin, fur and feathers. 56 billion, can you imagine that?! And trillions of sea creatures as well. In 2017 alone, 275 billion plastic bags were produced with only 1% being recycled, and can you believe that 12.7 million tonnes of plastic ends up in our oceans every year?!
You’ve probably seen TV show Blue Planet, featuring David Attenborough highlighting the terrifying results for our oceans of our unyielding obsession with plastic. You may also have seen Seaspriacy, an illuminating documentary about the desperate condition of our oceans. If you haven’t seen it yet, I really do recommend it, and you can watch it here. As an environmentalist plastic is something I’ve been concerned about for years, and I believe that as vegans, once we’ve figured out how we can avoid using products containing animals products, it’s a good idea to try our best to look after non-farmed animals too – we don’t want sea life to suffer at our hands any more than we want farm animals to suffer. All the pain, all the destruction, just to feed our human addictions to familiar foods and products.
I’m not perfect, but I try where I can to reduce my plastic consumption, and one of the easiest ways to cut down considerably on my plastic use has been to opt for naked toiletries. Packaging free shampoo, conditioner, deodorant and body wash are surprisingly easy to adjust to, so much so, that I’m left wondering how we became so reliant on plastic packaged toiletries in the first place. Going vegan can be tricky ground to navigate while you learn which foods you should and shouldn’t eat, which clothes are off limits and which cosmetic products are out of bounds. Plastic only further complicates matters. So I thought I’d share with you the naked products I’ve been using recently from Lush. There are quite a few zero waste products on the market now, but Lush stands out as a bastion of forward thinking environmentally conscious packaging, is easily accessible as it’s available on most hight streets, and has a good selection of plastic free products. These 4 products are free from horrible animal abuse and come with no unnecessary plastic; they are just sweet smelling, effective, and convenient alternatives to shampoo, conditioner, deodorant and body wash.
Trichomania Shampoo
£7.80 for 120g
I’m a coconut lover and have always used coconut scented shampoos and conditioners, so this was a no brainer product for me. It has a familiar desiccated coconut appearance and a beautiful subtle scent. The first time I used it, it was like a brillo pad on my hands trying to lather it up and it took a lot of work to get enough product on my hands to work through my long and very thick hair. I found that it’s best to leave it in the bathroom in your shower area because the whole process gets much easier once the bar has taken up some moisture. In fact, once it’s soft, it works like a dream – only a few rolls of the bar in my hand give me enough product to work through my hair and create a generous lather, and it leaves my curly hair feeling clean and soft.
Big Conditioner
£6.75 for 50g
Just like the shampoo bar, this is easiest on the second use, after it’s been collecting moisture in the bathroom for a while. It doesn’t get your hair as silky smooth as a liquid conditioner does, but it does condition enough to comb your hair through and add some moisture back in after shampooing. If I’m using curling irons or straighteners or styling with my large round brush, the conditioner alone is enough. For my thick curly hair, if I want to let my hair air dry and wear my natural curls, which is most common look, I definitely need to follow up after conditioning with coconut oil and another product like the lush RnB hair treatment. But that doesn’t deter me from using it at all, because it’s the new normal now, and I love not having plastic surrounding me in the shower.
Rock Star Soap
Price: £2.80 for 75g
It looks cute on the side of your sink or bath with it’s five little points of bubblegum pinkness. It will leave your skin and your bathroom smelling incredible for hours with a beautiful sweet and vanilla scent, reminiscent of bubblegum, candy floss, sherbet or parma violets. Once it’s soaked in some water it glides over your skin like a swan over a lake. This soap has me feeling super exited for showers and hand washes. For any fans of the Christmas edition Snow Fairy body wash, this is a great little find because it’s quite a similar smell but available all year round. Warning – it’s not for the faint hearted: this scent has it’s volume up! Please also bear in mind that using this soap may cause you to compulsively sniff your arms and hands all day like an absolute weirdo and will draw you repeatedly and uncontrollably into the bathroom to get your nose full of it’s glorious scent.
T’ao Solid Deodorant
£5.95 for 90g
I absolutely love this product! You just gently dab or lightly rub the bar under your arms. Be warned that it’s a bit abrasive if you apply it too vigorously, it wont go on a smoothly as a roll on, and it tends to crumble a little so is best to use in the bathroom over the sink. It’s all worth it though! The powdery residue feels silky smooth, which I love. I usually prefer deodorants that are fragrance free because I generally don’t like deodorant smells and don’t like my deodorants clashing with my perfume. The citrus and lemongrass in T’ao give it a really lovely fresh smell that I actually like. I do get whiffs of it occasionally, but I’m surprised to find that I don’t mind it, and the intensity fades after a few hours anyway. I didn’t really believe this product would work. I’ve given it a good run for it’s money though using it on some of the hot days we’ve had recently, wearing it through the day at work, baking in a sun soaked windowed office before going out for dinner and drinks in the evening. Although it doesn’t stop me sweating, it really does work at keeping me feeling fresh and body odour free! The citrus scent fades without any sweaty armpit smell developing in it’s place! I like that it has no aluminium content (studies show that using an aluminium containing deodorant on freshly shaved armpits that are shaved more than three times a week increases your risk of breast cancer) and so I’m happy to find that the ingredients from nature that have cleansing and antiseptic properties actually seem to work! Hooray for Lush! Genius product and one I’ll keep using again and again.
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