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Dublin, Ireland
Because little things everyday make a big difference!
It is so difficult to make the switch to greener household and personal products when one is used to the cleaning/whitening/brightening power of the popular brands.
I am wondering if anyone can suggest any tried, tested and true eco-friendly products that actually work...I'm talking shampoos, deodorants, toothpaste... bathroom cleaners, laundry soap etc.
Vinegar vinegar vinegar - cleans toilets of limescale better and cheaper than anything I have ever bought in the household cleaners section, cleans windows and glass, cleans limescale and waterspots off stainless steel and the inside of shower cubicles de limes kettles fantastically - and honest my house does not smell like a chip shop. The other thing to invest in is microfobre cleaning cloths (by from an on-line nappy shop where they are sold as nappy inserts this is the cheapest way) use one wetted in hot water and well rung out and another dry to polish cleans windows with just fresh water (how much more ecofriendly can you get) and really works, also good on porcelain sinks. On the line of deodorants I find that the solid deodorants sold by Lush are very good last a long time, smell great, and have very little in the way of preservatives and no packaging to throw away. Finally if you can't give up the optical whitener effect of your washing powder, just remember that their recommended doses can be lowered and they still work well, I wash my nappies using Fairy but only a tablespoon in the wash is effective - and you can imagine how dirty nappies are!(the reason I started doing this is that too much powder lowers absorbancy of nappies and manufacturers recommend just a tablespoon but since I discovered how effective it is, I lowered the amount I use in my main wash too)
Like maples said it would be really interesting to know if someone tried eco-friendly products.
So if you did, please share your experiences.
Thank you.
I mean even more people....
Well, we have tried AlmaWin dishwasher liquid - for handwashing & a product for the dishwasher, tablets I think...
For handwashing: smells a bit too citrus-y for my taste, kinda a bit annoying.. Also lots of foam, which wasn't so great.. Otherwise, washed okay..
A friend of mine from US found a handwashing liquid that has no smell, so she found that a bit weird.. But personally I would prefer that..
For the dishwasher: it seemed to not wash so well, & not so shiny at the end.. & we're not sure, but it seems maybe it damaged the dishes a bit (some of the old dishes got damaged with the old conventional Powerball one too..)
Some reviews online say that some other 'eco' dishwasher stuff had less-than-great results too... :(
We tried using the soappods for washing clothes - seem to work okay for not-so-dirty stuff (especially okay with grey-ish/brown-ish colors, I read eg pink stuff could get a bit tinted, so I haven't tried it with those), one needs to remove stains beforehand..
My Mom who wants things super-clean wasn't happiest with those but I will use them again, as I'm sensitive to chemicals & her conventional powders smell entirely 'too much' for me..
As for cleaning the bathroom & toilet - yup, vinegar too! :)
As for soap, I try to use less! :) Only when necessary..
Deodorant - I try to use less too. Just for 'public appearances', never at home.. I use the crystal, if at all..
At the hair forums some people shared some homemade recipes for deodorants too, but I'm not so sure about them..
Shampoo - haven't used it for almost a year! :) I've experimented with 'water only' & 'no water', just hair-brushing etc lol! :)
At the myzerowaste site Mrs Green says she had good results with some clay.. to use instead of shampoo.. (?)
Hmm, too bad no paragraph breaks seem to register.. this is a bit difficult to read like this...
Hi Layla! Is it possible to wash your hair only with water? I heard that some people use water with flour. Apparently, flour is effective cure for landruff and make remove oil from your head-skin. It is an environmental friendly living way as well ;-) I am a bit afraid of washing my hair with water without anything else... so I will try with flour! What do you guys think of it?
I always use products from lush when I have a shower or wash my hair. To avoid plastic bottles or any other packing, they produce solid shampoos instead of liquid ones. I think it's a great idea to avoid unnecessary litter!
Hi Sun! I've never heard of flour - very interesting!
I may have heard something about corn flour, not sure exactly.. maybe Grandma told me they used it as 'dry shampoo' sometimes in the old days.. (?)
I tried 'dry eco shampoo' a few years ago - looked like ground hay/bran or something once & it was difficult to get/comb it out of my hair.. we tried it for dishes too, worked okay for greasy stuff, to throw to the compost then.. mum was suspicious of its cleaning powers though, & then worms got into it..
http://hair-care.suite101.com/article.cfm/water_only_hair_washing explains 'water only' (& a few other methods) a bit..
Basically the transition period can be a bit stressful.. as hair & the scalp need some time to adjust..
I had a back injury at the time & washing hair was too stressful for me (& I didn't want to use Head&Shoulders!! very toxic, got it into my eyes once & thought I'd go blind! lol - it burnt so much!!), I had no better organic alternatives in da house & I just didn't wash it for a month lol..
Then I started googling for 'recipes' for homemade shampoo (there are such too!) - because even shampoos in health stores had iffy chemicals!! (& were terribly expensive!)
Then I came across this!
Support forum for doing this type of thing
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=3412 '(Official) Water Only Thread'
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=144 The Official NW/SO Thread (No water/sebum only - using hairbrushes &/or fingers or such..)
Wearing hair in a bun or such is helpful a lot of the time too, & there are many threads & tips for great hair-dos in other threads or archives on the old forum too.. (this is the new forum, so some of the initial info is missing..)
Thing is if you ever wash with shampoo again, or go to eg pools for 2 weeks, getting your hair wet every day, this can be a setback too, & there's another 'adjustment period'! :) /which I'm sorta going through now, as I didn't bother to get a cap for swimming in chlorinated water before! :))
It all started with a google article, I think the one posted here, or very similar:
http://www.longhaircareforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=271653
The kiddies there seem appalled (at least some of them), thing is I never had any lice in the one year I sorta did this..
I researched it a bit & read how lice stick to 'too washed' hair stripped off oils better!! (!) /& there are natural products for dealing with livce anyway../
After not washing my hair with H&S I had dandruff & eczema-ish thingie on my scalp after a week of not washing or so.. In the transition period this got worse, but later on the eczema went away completely..
Returned to some degree after the chlorinated water, which I didn't properly rinse out at the time either.. (at least I know better now! :))
A relative of ours rid himself of fungi on his feet & problems with his scalp by not washing with chemicals & just using water & natural things.. & washing more rarely..
Meike, I agree about avoiding unnecessary litter!!
Been thinking that if you're part of a recycling scheme & if the plastic bottles are labelled eg 2 - PE & can be recycled.. this could be better than throwing away packaging of 'firm' soaps..
Don't know enough about this to be sure, though.. more research be needed.. :)
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