Eco creme deodorant & the bizarre marketing of laundry detergent
I switched to deodorant cream quite a few years ago. I don't think I could ever go back. In my experience, there are solely advantages:
In general, it's much more organic/eco-friendly and better for the environment. The packaging is usually not made of plastic and there are no propellants, making it better for recycling and the environment in every way.
Much cheaper, lasts a really long time: a 50-millilitre jar costs €1.79, and you don't pay for empty space, gas, unnecessary liquid and more. My girlfriend and use that same jar daily and it last us a few months.
Getting the right dosage seems far easier and better. You can quickly and easily use as much or as little deodorant as your body and the weather require, which is much less than with a spray or even a roll-on. No more white marks on dark clothing, spraying a good amount into the air or accidentally using too much.
Especially great for travelling. Many stores sell the tiny (and many different sizes) transparent plastic screw-top jars. Whether you're travelling for 2 days or 2 months, you can take exactly enough + a little extra and at all times see exactly how much you have left. Compared to a spray, this saves about eight times the volume as well as four times the weight, which is important with the extremely limited baggage and liquid conditions with all airlines nowadays.
Usually not owned by the most awful mega-multinational companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Proctor & Gamble or Unilever, but rather by companies that are somewhat or often far more ethical.
Works well, smells good, and almost always contains no aluminium salts or other highly questionable chemicals.
Much of the above also applies to soap bars and solid shampoo bars for in the shower. There too, what I used to use and what it comes in seems positively archaic.
I would find it very strange to buy once again buy large plastic bottles and line the pockets of Dove, Schwarzkopf, all owned by those aforementioned multinationals. See the infographic at the very end of this post.
Not to mention having to separate the plastic. With all solid versions, you have extremely little waste, consisting entirely of very little paper or thin cardboard
Finally these products work out so much cheaper per use than the chemical multinational rubbish. Don't be confused by their small volume or weight or their package size, the bar or creme variants are simply far more concentrated, you need far less and they will last way longer.
I use the following, among others:
https://www.rossmann.de/de/pflege-und-duft-isana-deocreme/p/0000042402152
https://www.rossmann.de/de/pflege-und-duft-isana-med-arztseife-hygiene/p/4305615996547
https://www.rossmann.de/de/search?text=foamie
Laundry detergents, pod and strips non-sense and why vinegar & baking soda are all you need.
Washing strips recently, and almost all other laundry detergents my whole life, and long before, have been rife with absurd advertising, misleading marketing and overpriced nonsense.
First it was all about washing powder in cardboard boxes, okay, especially if it was reasonably eco-friendly, it is fine.
"But no! That's passé! Now you HAVE to have liquid detergent, from a big thick plastic bottle, because that's sooo much better!" "No, don't ask any questions, not even about how it's any better, just consume product!"
Yes, we're actually just selling you partly water and less active ingredient for your money... whatever. Buy it!
Later:
"Liquid? HA! Are you living in the Stone Age?! Pods are all the rage now!".
Never mind that stupid people and children sometimes eat them and get very sick and that pods are terrible for the environment ->
https://iere.org/are-tide-pods-bad-for-the-environment/
And 10 other ‘innovations’ in washing detergent. Madness and marketing nonsense. For quite a few years now, at my place we only use baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) to wash our clothes. We buy it in packs of 500 grams or more (I once bought a 15-kilo bucket, and I still have quite a bit left in Berlin; it's very cost-effective).
Much better for the environment than any commercial laundry detergent, much cheaper too, cleans very well, does not clump in the packaging or on your clothes/never leaves any traces, easier to dose.
Baking soda is slightly alkaline, which makes it very effective at dissolving dirt, etc. It also has countless other uses around the house, such as removing odours from the refrigerator, sprinkling a little in shoes instead of talcum powder (some of which is carcinogenic), cleaning all kinds of things, scrubbing, and serving as an excellent toothpaste or deodorant when nothing else is available, etc.
You should not combine it with the equally inexpensive and multi-functional cleaning vinegar, because vinegar is slightly acidic and they counteract/cancel each other out.
But if you occasionally use a cup of cleaning vinegar instead of sodium bicarbonate for your laundry, you are using two effective agents separately in your washing machine and on your laundry. The result is very clean laundry and a washing machine. Nothing will ever smell like a wet dog or build up or mould in your machine. With regular powder, and especially fabric softener who has not had some mould or issues. Fabric softener liquid have various issues and are very much not necessary, both vinegar and sodium bicarbonate are well known to soften laundry.
