• Carlos Solís@communities.azkware.netEnglish
    735·
    1 year ago

    The problem being, the other companies that could provide an alternative to their products are about as harmful (Nestlé, Mondelez, Johnson and Johnson, etcetera). At this point, we should start learning how to grow our own food and make our own soap

    • WarmSoda@lemm.eeEnglish
      381·
      1 year ago

      I have an idea. We steal lard from plastic surgeons, turn it into soap, and then sell it back to the rich bastards.

    • halfelfhalfreindeer@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      262·
      1 year ago

      These are pretty common products. There are tons of ethical alternatives, in fact personal care items are among the easiest and cheapest products to find ethical alternatives for and a good starting point if you want to develop more ethical consumption habits. You don’t need to make your own soap in order to avoid sponsoring genocide.

        • halfelfhalfreindeer@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
          194·
          1 year ago

          Frankly that’s an excuse, and a lazy one at that. Ethical products are widely available outside of the US, and I say this as a digital nomad who has lived on three continents and lived in the US for less than a year in total. If the inconvenience is unbearable for you then that’s your prerogative, but don’t try to justify it by saying things that simply aren’t true and thereby discouraging others.

          • TheDoctorDonna@lemmy.worldEnglish
            4·
            1 year ago

            Can you provide some links so we have a starting point? Simply googling Ethical Shampoo is going to bring about a disheartening and probably half fake onslaught of results that would be nearly impossible to sort through.

          • Kerrigor@kbin.social
            87·
            1 year ago

            Not everyone can afford such alternatives. It isn’t simply a matter of inconvenience, it’s a matter of access and expense.

            • PupBiru@kbin.social
              81·
              1 year ago

              also a crap excuse… P&G don’t make cheap products; they make brand name products… plenty of home brand stuff is cheap, and doesn’t actively support russias genocide

              there are other discussions to be had about environmental impact, pay gap, etc but that’s not what we’re discussing

              • Kerrigor@kbin.social
                31·
                1 year ago

                I’m referring to ones that are made by non-controversial companies. It’s difficult to find products that aren’t made by the same companies just under a different name. Finding ethical alternatives isn’t as simple as “don’t buy P&G”, and isn’t cheap either

                • PupBiru@kbin.social
                  2·
                  1 year ago

                  there are (at least) 2 things that boycotts are meant to do:

                  • directly deny funding to the company which will pass that onto “causes” you disagree with
                  • make a statement that you and others disagree with decisions the company is making

                  in the first point, switching to a different brand produced by the same company clearly does nothing unless the at product has a lower margin (which isn’t even unlikely either: plenty of brands do the “budget”, “midrange”, “luxury” brand concept and budget is where they make their least overhead)

                  on the second however, that’s where you can maybe make a difference… if a company starts to see market share dip in their big name products, that’s problematic for them even if people are switching to other products in their line that are less well known, because it shows that people have more negative attitudes to their brands

    • MrsEaves@kbin.social
      71·
      1 year ago

      I’ll start: avoid Hellman’s easily by making your own mayo. If the eggs squick you out, or you just want bonus points, I use this vegan garlic mayo recipe. It keeps for weeks and I don’t miss mayo at all. This requires a blender - any kind is fine.

      Soap: someone near you makes bars of this that are better quality and sells them for roughly $5, I guarantee it. If not, making it is pretty straightforward as long as you follow instructions carefully and use established recipes. If you want to go custom, you can also use a lye calculator. This one requires an immersion blender.

      Breyer’s/ice cream in general: Get yourself some xanthan gum for regular dairy, and add soy lecithin to your list if you want to do vegan ice creams. The xanthan gum inhibits ice crystals for a smooth and creamy texture, and helps with scoopability. Soy lecithin helps emulsify oil and water, so you can use it to bring up the fat content of soy or oat bases to be closer to a heavy cream. Requires a blender.

      Gillette: get a safety razor. Mine’s a vintage lady Gillette I got off eBay. You will save so much money on blades it’s not even funny.

      Lipton: your local grocery store might have loose leaf tea in the bulk section. If so, try that first. If not, check out Arbor Teas instead. Small business, fair trade, high quality stuff, and the packaging is completely compostable, making it an awesome zero waste choice.

    • LostCause@kbin.social
      2·
      1 year ago

      Farmers markets usually have good stuff, my only issue with that is the price is like double… might be an incentive to be a bit more frugal too I guess, but it‘s hard to save much on food or hygiene products for me.