The best plastic-free shampoo bars to try

There are 520 million shampoo bottles thrown away in the UK and Ireland each year.

If you’re looking to make some sustainable swaps in your beauty routine, shampoo bars are the way to go to eliminate plastic shampoo bottles from ending up in landfill. They also last much longer, give your hair a rich lather just like ordinary shampoo, plus, as they’re spill-proof, they’re less wasteful too.

Ready to make the swap? These shampoo bars from your favourite brands tackle plastic waste without compromising on quality.

The new shampoo bars from Garnier, who have just been approved by the Cruelty-Free International Leaping Bunny programme, have zero plastic packaging. They are 94% plant-based and 97% biodegradable and there are four Solid Shampoo Bars to choose from in coconut and aloe vera, honey, ginger and oat. All are delicious, have all the foaminess of your ordinary shampoo and address four hair issues by revitalising, strengthening, hydrating, softening.

Launched this May are L’Occitane’s Solid Shampoo bars, made with plant-derived ingredients and blended with essentials oils to make shampooing feel like a spa day. There are three to try, at €12 each; the Intense Repair Solid Shampoo for damaged hair, the Purifying Freshness Solid Shampoo for normal to oily hair and the Gentle & Balance Solid Shampoo for all hair types.

Just launched is Aveda’s limited-edition Shampure Nurturing Shampoo Bar, a silicone-free, sulfate-free cleanser that’s cruelty-free and vegan. It contains Abyssinian oil for lightweight nourishment, with Aveda’s signature soothing scent, and comes with no plastic packaging, with the carton it’s housed in created from 100% post-consumer recycled FSC certified fiber.

Christophe Robin’s vegan, silicone and SLS free shampoo bar gently cleanses and restores moisture to the hair thanks to a powerful blend of castor oil, glycerin and aloe vera.

From the genius brains at Wella Professionals comes a new brand – weDo – an eco-ethical collection of vegan, cruelty-free, and 100% recyclable products, with a minimalist formula. Their shampoo bar lasts for 80 washes, lathers intensely and is formulated with shea butter and argan oil for shining, hydrated hair.

Love Beauty and Planet’s bar is for coloured hair and contains a rose oil that leaves you enveloped in a cloud of rose with every swish of your hair, while butter in the formula leave the hair ultrasoft.

Klorane has just launched a plant-based, biodegradable Mango Shampoo Bar into it’s Mango range, with 97% less packaging, to weightlessly cleanse and nourish dry hair. It smells delicious, leaves hair silky soft and uses 34% less water in production than liquid shampoo.

Photography by L’Occitane.

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