Shampoo pollution

What you describe in your second paragraph, nfk, is the same explanation a Geography lecturer in Thailand gave to me more than twenty years ago. The wheels of social attitudes and understanding change exceeding slow. I guess that's not surprising when millions, possibly even billions, of people are involved.

Everything is chemicals really..................

Thomas Malthus, 1766-1834 was banging on about population growth years ago and it featured large in my Geography degree lectures 1966-69.

I agree about Lush - you can smell them a mile off and I can’t go near them. I’ll investigate the bar shampoo on-line. However, if it lathers well then it probably contains sodium laureth sulphate, I think made from palm oil too. This made my scalp itch terribly and caused other skin problems. It’s also in most toothpaste and caused problems with my mouth too. Waitrose Pure products are free of it, but not cheap, and Sensodyne toothpaste but will now have to work on the packaging issues!

Now if manufacturers were prepared to avoid using plastics....... if only!

i'm sorry but i use shampoo, conditioner, shower gel when i shower and spray deodorant plus perfume afterwards.
i also use bleach, toilet cleaner, spray polish and other cleaning products.
i like to keep myself and my home looking (and smelling) good so i will continue to use what i use now.
does that make me a rebel?

My bin is almost empty of plastics. I use eggs and vinegar for my hair (sounds disgusting I know, but it works very well). I clean the house with lemons, bicarb and vinegar for most things. I do have the odd thing around like clothes washing liquid in plastic, but they last months before I have to throw them out. I expect one day that will be gone too.

It took a total mindset change to try some of the changes but once I got used to the idea that lots of lather isn't necessary to clean things it got easier. And no one has got ill, which was my main concern, but I've never really sprayed disinfectants around anyway.

My OH was a bit taken aback at first, but I just made the changes and told him later. Our shopping bill hasn't really gone down, we just buy different things, but I do like the idea that I am reducing not only the amount of plastics going back into the world but my dependence on mining for oil. Not a lifestyle for everyone I know.

No one wants to use an excessive or harmful amount of chemicals but before everyone gets their knickers in a twist can I remind them of the following:-

-the 'fat scare' which turned out to be completely wrong
- the alcohol unit case where the doctor made up the guidelines on the spot for a radio interview
-the government advice and tax changes which tried to force the public to buy Diesel cars when it was already known that particulates were harmful
-the 'Green Deal' which placed a debt on a property rendering it unsaleable

And so on.

Don't forget that life expectency has been rising and that most people survive things which would have killed them in the past. Of course, close contact with strong chemicals is not healthy, but who purposely breathes them in? We air our houses and avoid strong nasties as a matter of common sense.

Use your judgement, do your research, retain your balance and remember that, despite the fact that Chicken Licken says so, the sky is not actually falling in. Yet.

NfkDumpling I would like the nameless Swedish scientist to give one of his 'fantastic' lectures on population growth after he had carried out a survey on my part of the UK.
The average family around here incl of parents consists of five or even more yet of the three thousand new homes currently in the process of construction only twenty five percent are three bedroom. There just isn't the space..We cannot be the only area in this situation Our main hospital was down to its worst level for admissions over the xmas period Do people ever stop to think where are their children going to live when they decide to flee the nest? .

Hans Rosling! That’s his name!

(I knew it would come to me in the end!)

And now I've read that parts of Mexico are becoming deforested due to too much avocado growing, due to the demand from us Europeans who think they're a miracle veg! It's put me off buying them.

Sorry I kniw this os irrelevant to the thread but has a yone else got a fb strip right across the home page inviting them the 'share'? This has only happened today and this is the only thread it will allow me to open. Jolly annoying and I cant get rid of it.

I mean I know it's irrelevant!

Polyperkins, that strip is infuriating! And as you say, only started appearing today! So what can be done about it?

Having an open plan living area, I boil orange peel to dispel cooking smells, as opposed to air fresheners, candles etc.

To add to list of about turns by those who know, butter was the great danger for ages. Also recently read that the 10,000 steps a day was recommended when the Olympics were in in Japan, and was fairly arbitrary. Now thought that 3 x 10 minutes strenuous walking a day is more beneficial.

Ive complained to GN HQ about the annoying strip.

Yes. What's going on with that strip. It's extremely annoying.

Has anyone been able to read the top thread 'there's no hope for me now'? I'm getting worried that op is getting no support!!!

Whilst I’m doing all I can to reduce the use of plastics and chemicals, we have no control over what happens elsewhere in the world. For example, when I visited Hong Kong, I was simply amazed at the thousands of brightly lit lightbulbs! Meantime, we’re all using gloomy low energy that take a while to get going. Not saying we shouldn’t do more, but the rest of the world needs to do their bit too. Oh, and that strip for Facebook is beyond annoying,

It’s high handed of GN HQ to presume that gransnetters want everyone to know what other social media they are on. I can imagine plenty of scenarios where it could be embarrassing. I can only hope it was just a glitch in the system.

I've not used shampoo for ages now. Conditioner washing only. If you are careful not to use products with silicones in its absolutely fine and really much better for your hair. We are conditioned (see what I did there?) to think that a lot of lather is better, but in in fact it is often too harsh for our hair.

Baggs, the pollution in places like India may be more visible because it's in rivers etc (presumably because they don't have the infrastructure to deal with it) but it's the West who are the greatest polluters. According to this, we in Europe each use approx six times as much plastic as the average Indian. Americans use even more. economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/indl-goods/svs/paper-/-wood-/-glass/-plastic/-marbles/india-wants-to-double-consumption-of-cheap-material-in-5-yrs-what-about-its-plastic-waste/articleshow/59301057.cms

I've lived in two developing countries and they are ingenious when it comes to rubbish in general. In one, collectors sorted through the rubbish outside your house (it was put into a niche in the garden wall) and took what was reusable. So a man would come and take all the glass, a woman would collect plastic bottles, a child (yes, children worked too might collect metal bottle tops and so on. What was left truly was rubbish and that I suppose is the problem we face today.

In the West African country where we lived, rubbish was taken to a tip where sorters worked their way through it. Anything of value was taken, even food scraps for animal feed. Again, what is left is the true rubbish we must deal with somehow.

Hi polly. Yes, I’ve got that Facebook message too, which is stopping me from accessing the thread, so glad you’ve reported it. I would if I knew how. However, it’s in chat and it’s about imperial and metric measures if you want to read it.

Ok thanks Mapleleaf - not as serious as I feared then!