Lynn Tan on The Powder Shampoo and the Urgent Need for a More Sustainable Beauty Industry
“The antiquated way of producing shampoos from the '50s has not changed much – The Powder Shampoo is a revolutionary way to care for our hair.”
Lynn Tan realised something that – although seemingly obvious – most beauty industry leaders seem to ignore. Did you know that our regular liquid shampoos contain 80 to 90% water? A useless ingredient when all we need is the other 10%: The actual shampoo formula.
The beauty connoisseur is revolutionizing the way we wash our hair with her very own water-free powder shampoo. As a mother of three, successful entrepreneur and founder of The Powder Shampoo, she feels it is her responsibility as a business leader to take the necessary steps to push towards a more sustainable beauty industry.
Concerned for the future of her kids and the generations to come, Tan saw the need and urgency to create a sustainable brand that was lacking in the beauty industry – one that not only cares for our hair but also for our planet.
What motivated you to create The Powder Shampoo?
I am a mother of 3 and naturally, I am concerned for their future and the future of their kids. Plastic pollution is an ongoing disaster, especially with single-use plastic making up 50% of the plastic plague. And for me the evidence is surmountable; drastic action must be taken and taken fast to preserve our future.
If we can stop relying on single-use plastic for the beauty industry, our carbon footprint can be drastically reduced. As a business leader, I feel like I can harness my experience to create a ripple effect that will start the winds of change and break out of the mould we are so accustomed to.
The antiquated way of producing shampoo has hardly changed since the '50s. The Powder Shampoo is a revolutionary way to care for our hair. It’s clean for our climate, made with botanical goodness and pleasurable to use while providing the efficacy one would need or expect a high-quality product to provide.
What are some of the benefits of switching to powder shampoos?
For starters, you'll get to enjoy the same benefits and pleasure as a liquid shampoo can give.
Secondly, you save clean water for consumption and not for production. Plus, The Powder Shampoo is value for money as the 100gram bottle can give you 100 washes on average, as compared to a 100ml shampoo which you can use maybe 10 times.
You not only save mother earth, but you also save money.
Why powder shampoos over liquid shampoos?
When you realise that liquid shampoos contain 80 to 90% of water and only 10-20% (of formula) to wash our hair, you'll start to question why it's there to begin with. By removing water from shampoo, we do not need to use plastic packaging.
I decided that The Powder Shampoo will use recyclable aluminium bottles as our packaging. Did you know that globally, 90% of all aluminium is recycled and aluminium can be recycled infinitely? Unlike plastic, the global average of plastic recycling is only 9% and plastic can only be recycled once. You cannot recycle recycled plastic, meaning that recycled plastic goes back to landfills and incinerators.
The Powder Shampoo is so much lighter to transport as compared to liquid shampoos. Hence, you save so much carbon footprint.
Lastly, clean water is very scarce. Hence, it is better to conserve this precious commodity for consumption and not for shampoo production. And when you shampoo, you also need to use water to lather, wash, and rinse off. The same as if you used The Powder Shampoo.
Do you feel that there is a shift towards more sustainable products and packaging within the industry?
Yes and no. Yes, I see a lot of them trying to do so; almost all the big brands have their “green” initiatives, but they are mostly done half-heartedly or are just a temporary respite or simply greenwashing.
To be truly sustainable, it starts from the core values and the foundation of the brand. You cannot claim to be sustainable while you are still indulging in plastic packaging. You cannot claim to be sustainable if you are chasing profits as your top priority in the company.
For The Powder Shampoo, we have 3 core values – Plant Power (everything we formulate is botanical, clean, and safe for you and the earth), Plastic Free (we will not use plastic in our packaging), and Planet First (we do no harm to the planet and we will also set aside earnings to heal the planet).
The Powder Shampoo is available here.
