Earlier in the week I got my first soapnut shampoo bar. Admittedly my itchy scalp is feeling much more comfortable with using this (it doesn’t contain any detergent) but my thin, lank hair seems to be weighed down in some way. Other people find their hair feels amazing. Perhaps all the nourishing oils in the bar are the problem, I have plenty of my own!
I think it might be great if you have thick hair, or short hair. But I’ll carry on a bit longer. Another plan is to try to make my own from the soapnuts I already have in stock. The small muslin bag the bar came in will be very useful!
I’ve had a go with bamboo toothbrushes. They come with either nylon, pigs bristle or vegetable-based bristles. They seem to work just fine, but so far I’ve only been able to find standard head size and I use a compact head. My husband didn’t like the feel of wood instead of plastic, though I didn’t find that a problem. Nylon bristles are not biodegradable of course, but the handles are the big problem here.
I had to replace one of my ink cartridges last night. Nowhere online seems to mention that Tesco has specific bins for recycling batteries, compact florescent bulbs, water filters and ink cartridges. I would be surprised if it’s only this Tesco that does that. There used to be envelopes and getting points for ink cartridges – don’t know if this is still done or not, but there was always a shortage of Round Tuits in this house when it came to packaging up and sending off.
We’re nearly out of brown sauce (which matters!) so I resolved to no longer buy it in plastic. After all, the plastic cap-down type bottle we have now (admittedly very convenient) can be refilled easily, so that’s what we’ll do. However, there was almost nothing on the Tesco shelves in glass. One small bottle of Branston brand brown sauce. Oh well, we’ll give it a try. (Possibly add to the Sainsbury list.)
I’m now buying loose vegetables, reusing the bags I have. Mostly I buy now from the greengrocer. I asked the woman at the till about bags, she says all her other customers still have them because they’re free – no one seems bothered about trying not to use yet another one.
I use white vinegar (distilled) quite a lot in my cleaning (some examples here). Tesco packages in plastic bottles, so that’s now on my Sainsbury list of things I have to get there instead. Tesco also no longer sells kitchen towels or loo rolls from recycled paper, another thing I get from Sainsbury’s (but I digress – all are still wrapped in plastic).
Well, early days and the search goes on!