Heatwave Hotties

Here in the UK we are getting an unusually big dose of sunshine, and my family’s pale skin needs protection from the harmful UV rays. I used to love Yaoh’s ‘hemp’ sun cream, thinking it must be a good option because anything with hemp in has got to be healthy, right? Sadly I was mistaken: some of Yaoh’s suncare range relies on a chemical barrier called Octinoxate which listed on The Campaign For Safe Cosmetics … Read more

Super Fresh Mouth

Want to have a fresh mouth without making a mountain of plastic? I’ve been trialling natural mouthwashes for a long time to find the very best! The Green Shopper’s ‘toothbrush trials’ settled my favourite plastic-free toothbrush, and it’s time to up the game with our other oral care products. My household had previously settled on the JASON Sea Fresh* mouthwash and toothpaste, but we are taking further steps to reduce the plastic in our lives … Read more

Plastic-Free Bathroom Swaps

If you want to reduce your plastic use in the bathroom, here’s a list of ten simple swaps to make it easier! 1. Buy your toothpaste from Truthpaste or Georganics. 2. Use a Hydro Phil bamboo brush (the bristles are made with plant based plastic). 3. Buy your floss from Georganics: natural fibre floss packaged in a cute refillable glass pot! 4. There are lots of moisturisers which come in glass pots or metal tubes. … Read more

Putting Your Money Where Your Heart Is

*This post has been sponsored by Purposeful Money but all views are from The Green Shopper* Would you lend a few quid to an arms manufacturer? How about a casino or a pornography producer? Perhaps you’d prefer to finance a new nuclear power station? It’s easy not to think about where your money actually is when it’s ‘in the bank’. I’d like to imagine that my cash is kept locked in a vault, perhaps even … Read more

Plastic-Free Paris

One of the reasons why I set up The Green Shopper is that I’m a compulsive researcher. I love to travel by train, and found advice from The Man in Seat 61 very helpful when planning a recent rail trip to Paris and Venice. Before departure I also like to make a list of interesting looking vegetarian restaurants and health-food shops at my destination: the Happy Cow website is a really useful resource for travelling … Read more

A Beginner’s Guide to Plastic-Free Periods

NB: This guide contains a few affiliate links, all marked with an asterisk (which is one of these lovely little stars*). If you buy a product after clicking through on an affiliate link, The Green Shopper will make a tiny commission. This is put towards the running costs of this website and further research into ethical shopping options, and won’t cost you a penny. The average woman spends 6.5 years of her life menstruating, and … Read more

Not All That Glitters is Green…

It’s that time of year where we like to add a bit of sparkle to our lives. Out come the sequins, on goes the glitter. Glitzy crafts come home from nursery, shedding a shiny trail. It feels like glitter is particularly on trend at the moment, with glitter body art and hairstyles, glitter tattoos, and even glitter beards around, but there is evidence that people have used sparkling substances since prehistoric times. As long as … Read more

A Stylish Slipper?

As the days turn colder, the wooden floors in our Victorian house become distinctly draughty. I’ve just mended my Shepherd of Sweden sheepskin slippers, but my man’s feet are getting chilly so I’ve been on a hunt to find him some stylish slippers. It’s pretty hard to find slippers that are attractive, and when you are buying footwear for a loved one, the last thing you want is to make them look fusty and old. … Read more

A Pukka Alternative

herbal tea

Imagine you work for a friendly ethical herb business, but it is owned by a boss who was paid well over 10 million pounds last year… What if your boss also owns a portfolio of businesses that practice animal testing, promote genetic modification and manufacture harmful chemical cleaning products… Could you still call your business ‘ethical’? When the news broke that Pukka Teas sold to Unilever in 2017, their ratings with Ethical Consumer dropped from … Read more

The Compost Catastrophe or A Teeny Tiny Storm in a Teacup

Teacup under a storm cloud, with a crossed out recycling

Fancy a cuppa? Do you take milk and sugar? How about a sprinkling of microplastic particles? When I recently heard that some teabags contain plastic, I thought to myself ‘not mine — ​I only buy Fairtrade, organic, unbleached paper teabags ‘. So, when our local health food shop told me that the Clipper brand teabags we’ve drunk for years contain plastic, I just didn’t want to believe it. After studying the box carefully and finding … Read more