Apr 16, 2021 @ 4:30 pm

Take inventory of the products you have in your shower. You probably have a handful of plastic bottles with pumps. And depending on where you live, you might be able to recycle the bottles curbside.

As for the pumps, well, those will have to be sent off to a recycling program like Terracycle, but more often than not, they end up in landfills.

According to Zero Waste Week, more than 120 billion units of packaging are produced globally each year by the cosmetics industry. So, what if you could declutter your shower and replace your personal care products with more eco-friendly options that perform just as well as the ones you've been using for years.

Meet Plus, a zero waste body care brand that's taking sustainability one step further, starting with body wash. Plus was created by Starface founder Julie Schott and Brian Bordainick, alongside co-founder and CEO Cathryn Woodruff.

"Every year in the U.S., 42.1 billion bottles are used to ship products that contain over 70% water," Plus said in an email release. "With this in mind, Plus is reimagining personal care and providing solutions that are better for you and the planet."

Body Wash is a no-bottle cleanser with a dehydrated formula that eliminates unnecessary water. It's formulated with nourishing ingredients like aloe leaf, sweet almond oil, shea butter, and ferulic acid that are suitable for all skin types. The body wash is also pH-balanced, vegan, cruelty-free, Leaping Bunny certified, and meets Credo Beauty standards. Plus has also left out fillers, suflates, parabens, and SLS and SLES surfactants, which can trigger reactions or allergies in some people.

There are two scents to choose from: Summer (neroli, orange, and lemon) and Waves (coconut, sea salt, and jasmine), along with Cloud, an unscented option.

The 100% dissolvable sachet packaging is made from wood pulp sourced from FSC forests and the ink is no-toxic, bio-newable, and FSA approved. And no, it won't stain your bathtub. It retails for $16.50 for 16 single servings of body wash, exclusively at cleanwith.plus and comes in a compostable pouch and shipping package.

To use, start by getting in the shower. Then, tear open the sachet with dry hands, drop it in the bottom of your shower and watch with amazement as it completely dissolves in a few minutes. Add a small amount of water to the body wash to help it lather, and then, do your thing.

Here's Plus' Body Wash in action:

As a beauty editor whose job is to test the latest products on the market, I accumulate an extraordinary amount of waste — and I feel guilty about it. While brands have made strides to use more post-consumer materials and create refillable packaging, the shipping materials these products come in are sometimes still excessive. So, leave it to a former beauty editor (before starting Starface and Plus, Schott worked at Elle.com) to create a product that prioritizes sustainability in every stage of its lifecycle.

With all of the greenwashing that's happening within the clean beauty community, I jumped on a Zoom with Schott and Woodruff to get the details on Plus' sustainable efforts. Aside from that, I really wanted to know if the Body Wash's serving size is enough for someone like me who uses their body wash for shaving. Schott confirms it is, and says the brand had people of various body types and sizes test the product to ensure they're providing an adequate amount.

I'll admit I love the novelty of watching the sachet dissolve down my shower drain, but I'm equally impressed by the body wash itself. I let the tab soak into my loofah and had the perfect amount for cleansing and shaving my legs. Plus also produces an extremely rich lather, which I love, and the scent of Waves is fresh and subtle.

Overall, Plus creates a very pleasant shower experience, and if I didn't have to try other products for work, I could see myself 100% switching over to the brand's body wash sachets.