Sustainable Hair Care Swaps
You Can Make TODAY

Sustainability is all of our responsibility. In order to do our bit for the planet, we all have to play our role. At That Good Hair, we have always believed that good hair products should cost the earth which is why we make it easy to embrace sustainable self-care. We are accountable for our packaging waste, by reusing, refilling, and recycling wherever possible. All you have to do is treat yourself to our low waste beauty products and we’ll take care of the rest.

Most mainstream cosmetics are packaged in plastic containers. These are cheap to produce, durable, leak proof and widely accepted by society making them the ideal solution for most brands. However, when it comes to the environment, plastics, especially single use plastics are highly unsustainable and harmful to the environment. From filling up landfills to polluting our oceans and taking up to 1,000 years to degrade naturally, the popularity of plastic is running out.

Many sustainable beauty brands often veer towards glass packaging or aluminium packaging for their products.

Aluminium Packaging
Unlike plastic Aluminium is an abundant mineral that is 100 percent recyclable and a sustainable option for those looking for eco friendly packaging. It is also lightweight and durable and can be reused or repurposed forever! Every aluminium bottle is the equivalent energy to 5 plastic bottles, therefore substantially reducing your impact on the environment. At That Good Hair, we choose Aluminium bottles to package our hair care products, ensuring they have a protective coating to prevent the bottle from reacting with the products. The durability of these bottles also help facilitate our Refill and Recycle scheme.

Glass Packaging
Glass is another great alternative to plastic packaging. Not only does it look great and high quality, it also requires less energy to recycle existing glass product than to melt raw materials. Glass containers are not usually treated with chemicals for durability which makes them excellent for the recycling process. However, unlike plastic, they are heavy, breakable, and comparatively costly. This can make glass challenging for hair care products that can often be used in the bathroom or with wet hands. No one wants a shattered glass shampoo bottle while they are in shower...

Often hair care brands will proudly champion using organic ingredients, but so much more comes into play when looking at sustainability in the hair care industry. From the harmful dyes and chemicals in your hair products, to the questionable fragrances opting for 'clean' hair products and zero/low waste alternatives can improve your impact on the environment.

Look out for Toxic Ingredients
Relaxers, hot oil treatments, anti-frizz, leave-in conditioners, and many other styling products marketed specifically to women of colour have often been found to contain toxic ingredients, including formaldehyde, phthalates, parabens, cyclosiloxanes, fragrance chemicals, and other endocrine disruptors and asthma-related chemicals. To make matters worse, researchers have found that many of these toxic chemicals aren’t actually listed on the packaging. One study revealed that “compared with white women, women of colour have higher levels of beauty product-related environmental chemicals in their bodies, independent of socioeconomic status.” Read the list of ingredients on the back of your bottle while shopping to know what to avoid. You can find which ingredients we avoid here.

So after considering whats in your products and how they are packaged, a major part in sustainability is how your products get from where they are made, to sitting on your bathroom shelf.

The shipping industry is responsible for around 940 million tonnes of CO2 annually, which is at least 2.5% of the world's total CO2 emissions. Furthermore transportation generates one of the largest shares of global greenhouse gas emissions, leaving behind a large carbon-footprint. Therefore purchasing locally is a great way to ensure that you minimise your impact. If you enjoy shopping online (or can't find a hair shop near you), only purchase your hair products from the UK to reduce international travel by air or sea. Alternatively head over to your local hair shop to find what is available in your vicinity. At That Good Hair, we ship exclusively in the K to reduce our carbon emissions and order 90% our ingredients from the UK only.