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Comment by dylan604 | Hacker News Reader

Look at all of the bottles/containers in your bath/shower. Would you really want glass in a wet slippery area? Metal containers?

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bar soaps and shampoos exist. They just aren’t popular. They also weigh MUCH less when transported than a plastic bottle full of liquid.

plastic containers for perfume and cosmetics don’t bother me. beauty products tend to last much longer than soap anyway.

You mean like perfume and cosmetics? Sturdy glass with carpets near the bathroom sink and the shower will do the trick. I'll take a few cuts through my life over cancer and chronic diseases.

>carpets near the bathroom sink and the shower

Now every spillage is a potential mold growth problem, which is also bad to inhale.

I mean, you could make a simple and cheap bottle out of aluminum probably? We had shampoo before the widespread usage of plastic bottles, though you are right that they used to come in glass. Perhaps we could use that fancy unbreakable soviet glass.

Sounds like a good business idea actually..

Edit: Actually thinking about it, that really is a good business idea. If anyone wants to build that business with me, email me at the address in my bio.

You just have to convince the vast majority of people that the extra expense of the container is worth it to them.

I have taken a very unscientific poll, and a very few number of people would want glass containers. You have to realize that people commenting on HN are not the mass public. The polls I've done were just asking during specific skincare product related conversations. The vast majority were onboard for paraben/phthalate free products made from plant based ingredients, but the no plastic issue was not something people felt strongly about at all.

These exist for cosmetics[1], though the pump is still plastic. Would work fine for other shower products too.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Calvin-Klein-one-Skin-Moisturizer/dp/...

yes, I would. thick glass is great and cant break easily if it is smaller container. there is also stainless steel and other materials.

plastic was invented 100 years ago. people did just fine in the house without it.

People also survived without antibiotics and electricity in past. Electricity generation is a far bigger environmental load than plastic. By your logic we should revert to burning candles. Even windmills and solar panels are made from toxic chemicals. Everything in life has its tradeoffs. It is not responsible to use a one sided mass hysteria to impose a lower standard of living on people when it is not clear what the quantifiable harm the technological innovation that is plastics is to justify doing so. Many things are toxic in the right dose but the dose makes the poison. Making policy without considering tradeoffs is the road to Idiocracy and watering plants with Brawndo.

Electricity generation if it is from right sources is not killing me or us. Plastic is and we have it everywhere around, or inside, even in our brains.. So, what has bigger priority?

I use bar soaps for everything. Ethique is an amazing brand. https://ethique.com/

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