Can Powder Shampoo make me a waterless beauty convert?

We tried the sustainable shower routine bundle which includes shampoo and body wash (The Independent)

We all know about how wasteful the beauty industry can be. Cosmetics bottles are discarded after a few months of use only for us to buy another, and most of these won’t end up recycled (less than 10 per cent of plastic has been recycled), while the majority of our shampoo is made of water which, in terms of sustainability, leaves something to be desired.

This is where The Powder Shampoo and its water-free, plastic-free body and hair care products come in. These powders don’t need any fresh water during the production process and contain no water at all, which not only makes them lighter and less energy intensive to transport, but they should also (in theory) be longer lasting than our more viscous shower products.

In a similar vein to solid shampoo bars and refillable hair and body care products looking to cut down or eliminate plastic waste, The Powder Shampoo houses its product in aluminium bottles. Unlike plastic, aluminium is essentially infinitely recyclable, although the idea is to refill them using recyclable and compostable paper refills sent through the post.

It seems appealing on paper, so, I wanted to know how the formulas would fare – what would using a powder in the shower be like, from consistency to effectiveness? Keep reading to see how I got on.

How I tested

I tried The Powder Shampoo’s sustainable shower routine bundle, which includes the strengthening and soothing powder shampoo (£26.50, Thepowdershampoo.com), energising day body foam wash (£26.50, Thepowdershampoo.com) and the relaxing night body foam wash (£26.50, Thepowdershampoo.com).

This was my first time using powder hair and body care, so, I was curious to see how easy they would be to use, making a note of their price, consistency, scent and the results. For reference, I have thick, balanced hair, which can be dry towards the ends, and I followed the shampoo with my usual conditioner.

The Powder Shampoo sustainable shower routine bundle: £65.90, Thepowdershampoo.com

Ease of use

It goes without saying that all of The Powder Shampoo’s products need to be mixed with water, whether this is by sprinkling them onto your palm or straight into your hair once it’s wet. This is an easy process, as the bottles have holes in the lid like a salt and pepper shaker, to release the right amount (which is very little) and avoid an avalanche.

They all foam up in the same way and it’s almost instant, which means this hardly feels like an extra step at all. The foam from the body wash is lightweight, not too dissimilar to the foam from a bar of soap. I like a good amount of foam from my shampoo, so that I can feel like it’s offering a thorough cleanse, and the strengthening and soothing powder shampoo (£26.50, Thepowdershampoo.com) delivered on this, with the resulting consistency in the hair being similar to any other viscous shampoo I’ve used.

These water-free formulas aren’t cheap, but the brand actually claims each of these bottles will last you through 100 washes. I’m not sure it would be quite as many for me – it might, but I would need to be quite sparing with it. Four or five shakes of the bottle was enough, so I can certainly see this outlasting viscous shampoos.

Formulas

The Powder Shampoo brand draws on vegan, cruelty-free and 100 per cent nature-derived ingredients. If this is something you look for in your hair and skincare, they’re also made without sulfates, silicones, parabens, phthalates, or synthetic fragrances, which will be a plus point if you find that sulphates can be drying for your hair, or you worry about build-up from using silicones.

With a very faint but sweet and pleasant scent, the strengthening and smoothing shampoo is formulated for normal (which just means balanced) to sensitive scalps, but the brand does also offer powder shampoos specifically formulated for use on oily scalps and limp hair, as well as for thinning and ageing hair.

Grapefruit works to control sebum while boosting hair growth (which isn’t something I can attest to), there’s thyme for easing irritation, coconut for a gentler cleanse than other, harsher surfactants, and papaya, which is claimed to have an exfoliating effect. Meanwhile, probiotics balance the hair and skin’s pH.

While it is hard to know whether these ingredients are doing their job, my hair looked and felt smooth and healthy. My roots also stayed fresh for days as a result of using this shampoo. Something I noticed, which to me suggests that my hair has been thoroughly cleansed, was that my locks looked lightweight, bouncy and silky which isn’t always the case. I also didn’t notice any lingering scent on the hair after use.

The body wash powders have been formulated with your morning and evening routine in mind, in that there’s one to energize and one to calm. While the lemon grass, turmeric and ginger energizing day body foam wash (£26.50, Thepowdershampoo.com) didn’t wake me up from my morning grogginess as much as I’d have hoped, it was still a refreshing start to the day.

I noticed a zingy and fresh scent, although again this was fairly faint compared to other body washes. It features a blend of lemongrass to invigorate in the AM, turmeric for its anti-inflammatory perks, green spirulina for antioxidant benefits, and papaya enzyme to exfoliate, the formula also calls on the moisturising benefits of soy. As a result, my skin felt clean but balanced.

Again, I noticed a very subtle scent when using the butterfly pea flower lavender and chamomile relaxing night body foam wash (£26.50, Thepowdershampoo.com), which is meant to help you feel more ready to fall asleep in the PM. It is hard to say whether the scent was as potent as that, though I did find the lavender scent soothing.

Sharing some of the same ingredients as the day body foam, it also features butterfly pea flower, and blue spirulina which is said to help the skin heal. Plus, The Powder Shampoo has committed to planting three trees every time a bundle is sold, which is a nice takeaway.

The verdict: The Powder Shampoo sustainable shower routine bundle

The Powder Shampoo’s sustainable shower routine bundle proved that using powders in the shower is very straightforward and ultimately, effective. I would happily switch to using the set – the powders turn into a usable consistency almost instantly, which means swapping to a powder formula won’t slow you down in the morning, and the scents are botanical and very subtle which I didn’t mind at all.

The brand doesn’t yet offer a plastic-free alternative to conditioner, which would be good to see – provided a powder conditioner would be an effective option.

My hair looked healthy and smooth and felt fresh at the root for days as a result of using the strengthening and soothing powder shampoo (£26.50, Thepowdershampoo.com). There is of course the added benefit of knowing that I was using a plastic-free product that would (in theory) last longer than my other products, which does make me more willing to overlook the price tag which, especially as far as body washes go, is fairly premium.