Our Fangirl Top 12 Fav's Shaking Up The Bathroom

We don’t need a few people doing zero-waste perfectly, we need millions of us doing it imperfectly.

Businesses that are born from love or passion for something hold something unique. We found this to be true when exploring what was out there for a budding low-waster/ conscious shopper. It was amazing to find brands passionately working on finding solutions to the dated in a new and exciting way.

But what we love most of all is when businesses also have a social mission running through them. This gives us, the consumer, the opportunity to speak with our purses and it’s so good to be able to do this with our daily essentials.

As with all things, some of these we sampled worked better than others, and after trialing lots of different products, we settled on our favourites. Some are quick switches — like for like, others are a new way of doing things. But we have our favourites and we wanted to put a shout out to them all — and put them all together in a roll call, fangirl’s guide.

Enjoy.

BUMS

The Cheeky Panda makes all products with bamboo. Bamboo is the world’s fastest-growing plant and is harvested like grass (cut and regrows), therefore it is a great example of a circular resource. Compare this to trees (even recycled paper): the bamboo needs fewer chemicals and treatment and you aren’t killing the plant to harvest it.

The folks at Who Gives A Crap, who not only use bamboo but also deliver you plastic-free colourful shelf worthy loo roll and donate 50% of profits to hygiene projects globally. They also send you reminders so you never have to think of loo roll again.

TUSHY (click, don’t google) removes the option of having loo roll at all — and encourages us to go full European, which I have to say, once you try it, you’ll find it hard to go back.

BODY

We may be makers of the liquid kind, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t big fans of the solids & we’ve tried a lot of solid. Whilst they don’t work for everyone, there are the amazing solid soap, shampoo & more out there; if you can find one that works for you then this would be the ultimate zero-waste solution.

The Soap Co. is genuinely one of the most beautiful brands out — not only doing amazing things with soap, but also with social enterprise. They provide training and work opportunities for people who are visually impaired, have disabilities or are otherwise disadvantaged. They are based in East London.

My greatest success was with the Arlington DR Harris & Co shampoo bar which foamed up beautifully and came in a gorgeous metal tin. It’s traditionally modern, scent gorgeously unisex, but more importantly it worked. A real contender for a no-sacrifice switch from liquid to solid.

Ethique hit the UK in 2019 and they do solid everything. They’ve single-handedly removed 5 million bottles from circulation and are on a mission to make it 50 million. This brand originated from New Zealand, and are worth a try (they do a great sample pack so you can try them all).

MOUTH

Happier loves metal as we do — Putting toothpaste in aluminum tubes removes the plastic tubes which are tricky to be recycled. Over 1.5 billion tubes are thrown away every year, which blows the mind. They also removed all the nasties you can find in products including SLS, synthetic flavouring and ingredients, parabens and petrochemicals.

The humble co. are more than just toothbrushes and they, like the Who Gives a’ guys, do a bunch of stuff on social impact too.

Georganics are a UK company revolutionising teeth. I’ve tried almost all their toothpaste, mouthwashes and I’ve now converted to the floss as a staple in our bathroom. It’s one of those great switches which feels better, works better and feels better than the plastic alternative.

LADYBITS

Periods are having a moment, and it’s not a moment too soon. We are loving the shameless (damn straight!) open conversation that is finally taking place around women's cycles and the various options that are available. It seems like only yesterday that the choices were tampons or pads. Now we have a choice of organic, but also cups, absorbent undies, and re-useable applicators. Like everything, not all things fit each person, but periods are more personal than others.

Dame has developed the first re-useable tampon applicator. They have removed the stigma around the idea of re-useable in a gorgeous, straight forward way. We love the lack of pink, the ambition and the class of this product. If you use applicators, you need to be using this one.

Nixit is a new wave menstrual cup. We are fans of the bright, fresh branding but they have a USP that’s even better. This one wins hands down in a practical way — it now allows for a mess-less roll around should you feel inclined.

Thinx underpants literally changed my life. How did it take so long for absorbent undies to come and change the world of literally millions of women? Leaky leaky no more.

Other brands out there do it too, such as modibodi and Wuka — I’m sure they’re just as good. It’s amazing to think that within a few years there are now options that work, that produce no waste and are truly a no-sacrifice solution.

Here at KANKAN, we want to say thank you to all these amazing brands for leading the charge, taking the baton and forging the new. We live in exciting times with so many great things solutions from all corners, showing us and others there really is another way.

Please keep bubbling up and doing what you do — with care for us and the planet built-in.

FANGIRLS FOREVER xx