Green challenge: the daily shower

Testing alternative methods to make your routine more green

BY MOLLY SMITH FOR GREENING OF OIL

I admit with shame that I am part of the Facebook group “I Shower Daily”. I indulge in this ‘bad habit’ for two reasons.

One, I have curly, unmanageable hair, which will not be tamed unless it is clean and wet.  Two, I’m a person who showers in the morning, because I find I cannot wake up unless there is a full jet of water on my face.

That said, I realize how environmentally unsound it is to shower ever single day.  Quite apart from the flagrant disregard for the preciousness of clean water resources, the cosmetics one uses in the shower are far from environmentally friendly as well.

(Start the conversation. See comments section at bottom of page.)

Shampoos and conditions are loaded with chemical ingredients, many of which have their base in crude oil. The synthetic nature of most shampoos is precisely why they are an environmental hazard.

Once down the shower drain, the chemicals in shampoos have the potential to leak out of septic and sewer systems into waterways, where they can do damage to the water’s ecosystems.

What’s in them?

Take a look at the ingredients list on an ordinary bottle of shampoo and you may be surprised with what you find. Most contain a list of ingredients full of synthetic, oil-based chemicals, closer to plastic that soap and ending with the intimidating  -ates, - ides and -zoates. Some ingredients, such as phthalates, are known to seep out of sewer systems into waterways, often ending up in the soil where they can be consumed by livestock or taken up by crops. Shampoo preservatives like parabens kill off beneficial microbes in waterways, which would have otherwise discouraged algal blooms, thus leading to the eutrophication, or clogging of waterways with biomass. Some shampoos even contain ingredients like sodium lauryl sulfate, 1,4-dioxane, and formaldehyde, all of which have been listed as potential carcinogens to humans.

For example, a regular bottle of Herbal Essences shampoo contains 23 ingredients, including Cocamide MEA. Cocamide MEA is derived from the chemical compound DEA (Diethanolamine), which has been proven by the FDA to cause cancer. While most products containing DEA derivatives have been pulled from the market, MEA is still used widely in shampoos and has the highest amount of DEA of any product.

Not only are the chemicals harmful pollutants, but every bottle of shampoo is also another plastic bottle on the planet, which had to be manufactured and then discarded as trash when empty.

Shampoos and conditioners, while seemingly essential for your hair’s volume and shine, are certainly not an environmentally friendly part of our daily routines. What solutions are available without giving up the essentialness of luscious tresses? My hair is hard to manage as it is and the thought of doing without my Herbal Essence lavender-scented shampoo every morning is less than desirable. 

Popular alternatives

While Kermit the frog may have said, “It ain’t easy being green”, I’ve tweaked this famous quote to reflect my feelings on the green challenge: “It ain’t easy being green, but it’s worth a try.” For my current challenge I decided to try different methods of cleaning my hair, all of which would be non-harmful and natural.

The most popular option I found was washing one’s hair with a baking soda paste and vinegar solution. To make the paste, I simply put two tablespoons of regular baking soda in a bowl and added enough water to get a paste-like consistency. Lavender-scented it was not.

In the shower I used the paste in my hair as I would have used shampoo, getting to the very roots and scrubbing, then rinsing with plain water. Afterward, I rinsed my hair in a solution of two tablespoons of cider vinegar to two cups of cool water. This was then followed with a final rinse of regular water.

I was very apprehensive. No conditioner? However, the results were astounding. As I let my hair air-dry (hair dryers are one of the biggest energy-use offenders, most use an estimated wattage of 1250 while computers use 225), I was delighted to see my hair had a glossy sheen I’d never seen before and felt clean and smooth. When it was completely dry I concluded that my hair had never looked or felt better.

A common alternative to the baking soda and vinegar method is simply using regular bar soap to clean your hair. A classic bar of ivory soap has only 7 ingredients, the most unnatural of which is sodium silicate, which is a synthetic powder that is good for cleaning. With fewer ingredients and none proven to be cancer-causing, I decided to give a regular bar of ivory soap a try in cleaning my hair.  I was disappointed. It was hard to get enough lather in my hands to feel like I was doing any cleaning. While still in the shower, I felt like my hair was becoming coarse. But as I brushed my hair while wet, I was pleasantly surprised to see it didn’t suffer from lack of conditioner and tangles were minimum. When completely dried though, I realized that was due to the fact that there was still enough natural oil in my hair to make it tame, but not squeaky clean. In my opinion, the ivory sop was a foamy failure.

Readers, after conducting my ‘hair trials’ the message is clear: I’m not about to give up using shampoo. Surprised? Even though it’s not only bad for the environment, but may also contain enough carcinogens to kill a few rat brain cells, I enjoy the gentle lather and lavender smell that comes with my Herbal Essences shampoo, the commercials don’t lie, you feel THAT amazing.

However, I also recognize that with millions upon millions of people taking a shower every day and all lathering, rinsing and repeating, it’s no longer a sustainable practice.

So, instead of taking your daily shower with your normal shampoo, why not mix it up? Try some alternative methods like the ones I mentioned. If you don’t mind spending the extra money, you can also buy organic, all-natural shampoos. While still delivered in plastic bottles, these are good alternatives to synthetic shampoos.

You don’t have to make overwhelming changes and adjustments in your life to be more sustainable. It’s the little things, and if everyone makes small changes they’ll eventually add up to big differences in reducing our environmental footprints.

As for me, I’ve decided to not only use baking soda and vinegar every other shower, but I’ve also decided to shower every other day instead of every day. Farewell Facebook group.

If any of you have helpful tips and tricks please share in the comments section below!

Links of interest

Right to Know: DEA, TEA, MEA chemicals found in products as their main ingredients

Green Guide for Everyday Living: Shampoo

About Molly Smith

Molly Smith hails from a small rare-breeds farm in Woolrich, Pennsylvania. Growing up she was an active participant in 4-H, Project Grass, Envirothon and Dairy Promotion. After her graduation from the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School in 2007, Smith moved to New York to begin undergraduate work at Cornell University. As a Natural Resources major in Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Science, Smith has found ample opportunities to develop her interests in sustainable agriculture, conservation ecology and wildlife biology. On campus, she is an active participant in Forword Women’s Literary Magazine, Society for Natural Resources and Conservation and the Developmental Fencing Club. When not working, Molly enjoys rock climbing, yoga, playing scrabble and discovering new music.

Contact Molly Smith at mls379@cornell.edu