My sustainable habits in the bathroom.

2 out of 3

In my last article, I talked about how I managed to switch to a vegan diet. Most of all, I talked about how I could have become a vegan in 2011, but for some reason, it didn’t cross my mind as an option.

Very often, what we do and feel ready to do has to do with what we see people around us doing and consider normal. Questioning my habits in the bathroom started with an Instagram story that Alex Linotner posted a couple of years ago.

It was a “before and after picture” of her bathtub shelf. “Before,” she had a bunch of plastic bottles. Then, the “after” picture was a shot of a tray with a soap and a solid shampoo.

I saw the picture, I admired it, it took me years to take any actions. However, I’m glad I did.

I have finally ditched conventional shampoos

Thank you, Alex Linotner, for having been a great inspiration in this regard.

On my very last day of pre-adult life, I dyed my hair blonde. Up until then, I had healthy hair that was like nails. I was blonde for one day and one day only. It looked awful. It was this one day that completely changed the structure of my hair.

I'm lucky to have a lot of hair. I have a lot of very fine hair that likes to tangle up and glue to a point where hairdressers think I have extensions that I’m concealing. For years, I'd have to switch shampoos every couple of months as I was trying to prevent that.

Having tried most conventional shampoos, I eventually started questioning what else was out there, which is how I discovered solid shampoos.

For some reason, solid shampoos aren't mainstream. Instead, most of us opt for a shampoo that comes in a disposable plastic bottle. A bottle that's filled with chemicals. Then, in the shower, we squeeze the shampoo into our palm and ignore that we might be using an unnecessary (and significant) amount.

With a solid shampoo, you stroke the bar straight onto your hair, and, once you add some water in your palms, it starts to foam.

I like solid shampoos because they're almost waste-free. You also only use the exact amount you need. I love the shampoos from the Rosenrot Manufaktur. However, I've also started to make shampoo. (Feel free to ping me if you'd like a bar!)

I finally said goodbye to shower gels!

Thank you, Sophia Hoffmann, for posting a picture of a sisal bag on Instagram.

And I started to use a solid soap instead.

As a child, I hated solid soaps. I didn't like that they were lying in their own "juice." I didn't like how it felt to touch soap. I never used soap as a child. Not a single time when washing my hands. (Sorry, mum.)

For years, I was using relatively expensive shower gels. Even when my income was only about € 730 a month, I still bought shower gels that cost about € 8.

You can imagine that me switching to a solid soap – which I did for environmental reasons – wasn't an easy venture. I needed a solution that was at least as exciting as a nice shower gel; I wanted the soap to foam accurately. I wished for it to smell nice. Then, Sophia posted a picture of a sisal bag on Instagram.

I became curious, so I bought one at Manufactum.

What I like about sisal bags especially is that I never actually have to touch the soap directly. Especially when it gets too small to bother with in the first place. Yes, I’m snobby in certain regards, I know. The sisal soap bag can also be used to store those bars that are getting too small and thin to use regularly, so, rather than throwing them away, which would be a waste, you can carry on using them.

I use olive-based soaps that I bought at an organic store in Greece and have been using and loving those together with my sisal bag. If you told the 8-year old me this, she wouldn’t have believed you. A thought that’s making me proud of myself every time I shower.

I switched to a menstrual cup

Thank you, Maxie Matthiessen, Julia San Juan, and Miranda Strominger, for being such visionary spirits.

The first time I got my period, I was 14. I walked over to my dad and told him what was happening. He replied: "You know what to do, right?" And I did. I was well aware of tampons and pads. And that's what I started using. I never questioned it, and I guess it's not something women question.

When I then moved to Berlin in 2013, some of the most inspiring women in my life happened to work for RubyCup. (Hello, Julia, Miranda, Leanka, and Maxie. I'm looking at you).

RubyCup, a company for sustainable female hygiene, was doing things differently. They produced menstrual cups; by buying a cup, you’d also give one for free to a woman in Africa, where menstrual hygiene causes many more difficulties for women than it does in Europe.

I was intrigued.

And, eventually, I ordered my own RubyCup. I knew I’d at least do a good deed, even if I wouldn’t use mine in the long-term.

I still remember texting Maxie the day I got my period and used the cup for the very first time. I was so excited. Her response: "Text me when you managed to get it out." I didn’t know what she meant until I found myself on the toilet the same evening trying to get it out for 40 minutes.

I realized it's not easy to get the cup out when you've never done it before so I opened YouTube for instructions.

I found the Precious Stars Pads channel by Bryony, and I was hooked immediately. Which led to me sitting on the toilet for even longer.

At that time, Bryony must have been maybe 14. Her entire channel was filled with reviews of all the different menstrual cups and sustainable pads out there. Gosh, even at 14, she was so incredibly eloquent and cool.

I remember thinking to myself, “If she can do it at 14, so can I!”

In a lifetime, a woman might go through 8K to 10K tampons. That's a lot of bleached (!) cotton a woman puts up her most sensitive parts and throws away.

Using one Ruby Cup for 10 years – which is how long they last – is a way more sustainable solution, and, while it's a bit weird at the beginning, I'd also not want to deal with my period any other way anymore.

Once the cup is “in” after the morning shower, you only have to remove/empty it before going to bed at night. It also means there is no more dealing with the disposal of menstrual products or even blood on one's fingers several times a day. You can get on with your busy schedule. There is also no more shopping or even the mental load of thinking about needing to buy tampons or pads.

Again, once a habit is established, it’s hard to change it. In the case of our periods, we learn how to deal with them at such a young age, it’s hard to even think about doing it differently. However, I'd love to invite you to do just that. Try it once. But then try it again. It's a matter of practice, and, over time, it only feels better and cleaner.

You’ll see.

Reduced the amount of toilet paper I use

Thank you, Marco Dzierma, for having an impact on me you don’t even know you had. :)

The word "cleaner" is what brings me to the next subject because trained toilet habits die hard, too.

If you've ever traveled to Asia, you've for sure come across their hand showers. Asians are usually not big on toilet paper. And I'd say it's mostly because they have a much better, cleaner solution.

In 2018, there was a big PR campaign for HappyPo in Germany, which is a handheld, mechanical device to help you clean your butt with water instead of toilet paper. While I think it's great, I also know I'm way too lazy to get used to such a solution.

Luckily, I happened to live with a man whose fiancée was Thai, and, because he was thoughtful of her needs, he installed a toilet shower that was attached to our sink and that worked more or less like the Asian solution.

At first, I was skeptical, but I decided to try it nevertheless. Instead of jumping in the shower after going to the bathroom, I dared to use the hand shower. It worked wonders. With a little bit of soap and a little bit of toilet paper to dry off, one feels much cleaner and saves toilet paper, too.

Since then, I've had it installed in all my apartments. Luckily, in Berlin it’s common to have the sink right next to the toilet and so installing it has never been an issue. If you happen to have such a bathroom, I’d highly recommend trying it out. If not, I've only heard good things about HappyPo, so maybe that could work for you.

I changed my oral hygiene rituals and ditched toothpaste

Thank you, Fabian Ghoschal and Ben Beck, for bringing this solution to my attention.

Now that we've arrived in “the land of super personal details” talking about oral hygiene suddenly doesn’t seem all too awkward.

Years ago, when I was helping the designers of TIO with their toothbrush project on Kickstarter, they introduced me to DENTtabs, which are tabs that you can use instead of toothpaste. You take one tablet and then chew on it. You make your toothbrush wet and then brush your teeth just as you do when using toothpaste. The idea of doing this is much weirder than “actually doing it.”

Back in 2015, I thought the idea of using DENTtabs was plain weird. Now I think it's actually quite brilliant.

With DENTtabs, I don't need to think about if I have too little or too much toothpaste on my toothbrush.

I don't need to think about how gross I find toothpaste altogether.

They are plastic and micro-plastic free. You can get them at any DM or organic store or order them online.

I acknowledge that the first time it's a bit of a stretch, but once you've managed to pass over the "I've always done it this way" attitude, you’ll be fine. You'll see: Your teeth will feel much cleaner. Even my dentist was excited when she saw my teeth last week.

I’m currently waiting for my LastSwab, as I also decided to ditch ear rods, and I’m also looking for a good solution for makeup removal tissues. I have mine next to my bed as I’ve realized that I only remove my mascara if I can do it in the laziest of all ways – while lying in bed and before I fall asleep.

Years ago, I read the book Better than Before by Gretchen Rubin and learned that, if you want to establish a new habit, you should “attach it” to a habit you already have. In other words, if you want to start doing something, you should do right before or after something such as brushing your teeth because you already do that twice a day. Hopefully anyway. You’ll see, after a couple of weeks – or sometimes months – it will be hard to go back to the more unsustainable habits you might have once had. At least that’s how I feel about mine.

(*** This is part two of my sustainable food series. Find Parts 1 and 3 here.)