Shampoo - Part I

This is going to probably be the subject of multiple posts, because what I am now in the process of doing is attempting to go entirely without shampoo and other hair products.  Yes, you read that right.  Nothing non-edible in or on my hair, or at least that is the goal.

The whole "movement", if you could call it that, to go shampoo-free (or "no poo") as the converted lovingly refer to themselves is based on a couple of pretty sound premises which are consistent with the goals of this blog and myself in general, so I thought that I would at least give it a try, because if you can, then why not?  Commercially made shampoo has only been available since the early 1900s, so obviously the human race has survived without it before and may even be able to do so again.  I will start by setting out some of the reasons why a person may be interested in living a shampoo-free existence.  In the coming days, I will tell you about different things that I am trying, and how the experiment is going for me personally.

Packaging.

Purchasing food in bulk is an action that can be taken that lies nicely at the intersection of eco-friendly living and trying to do so economically.  By "purchasing food in bulk" I DO NOT mean going to Costco and purchasing everything there in "Costco-size" quantities, although this may, indeed, reduce some of the packaging that you bring home with your purchases overall.  I am referring to purchasing foods and ingredients from the bulk bins of grocery stores.

Something that I saw on the trailer for The Clean Bin Project was purchasing foods from delis using your own Gladware or Ziplock storage containers.  I know that these sorts of containers are made from plastic, but I haven't always been aware of the detrimental effects of using plastic products, so I have many of these containers.  I use them when I go to grocery stores and I buy as many of the ingredients for my baking as I can using these containers.  I have not run into any problems from the employees at the stores, and in fact, some have told me that they are going to encourage other people to use these types of containers, as this means that customers don't have to use the plastic bags provided by the store.  Once I get home, I transfer the ingredients into their respective glass jars that I keep for just that purpose.  So far I have started doing this with flour and sugar (I go through massive amounts of each), as well as pasta, coconut, some candies, and any other products I need for the baking that I do.  In the future I will start using bulk bins for many more products, because the reduction of packaging and the corresponding reduction of cost makes sense to take advantage of, particularly when it is such an easy change to make.