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Everyday swaps

Solid soap and shampoo bars instead of bottles

Bars come naked or in paper; Lush has avoided over 15,000 tonnes of plastic since 2005 by selling solid products.

Swap out
Plastic bottles of shampoo, conditioner and body wash
Swap in
Solid bars in paper or naked
Impact
3 / 5
Cost
1 / 3
Effort
1 / 3
Grams of plastic avoided per person per year
500
Break-even
A bar often lasts as long as two bottles, so cost per wash is usually lower
Watch out for
Some bars are shrink-wrapped in plastic; check the packaging and avoid plastic tins.

Switch body wash, shampoo and conditioner to bars, and hand soap to a bar in a dish. Buy them loose or in paper, and keep them dry between uses so they last.

A bottle of shampoo or shower gel uses around 40 g of HDPE; someone getting through a dozen bottles a year avoids roughly 500 g. Lush reports that 37 million naked products a year, 58 percent of its units, have avoided more than 15,000 tonnes of plastic since 2005.

The catch: some bars are wrapped in plastic film or sold in plastic tins; check before you buy, and give your hair a couple of weeks to adjust to a shampoo bar.

Page updated 22 September 2026. How we check sources