How long does it last?

If you have a look at the products in my bathroom, you’ll notice one constant – everything I use has a date written on it in permanent pen. It’s part of a project I have going to a) discover how long everything lasts and b) make the products last longer the next time.

I started doing this 2 or 3 years ago, when I noticed that my shampoo lasted longer once I’d transferred it to a bottle with a pump top (my solution to too many mornings of dropping a 500ml bottle of shampoo on my foot in the shower as I struggled to remove/replace the lid). But how much longer? So I put a date on the new bottle and waited to find out. The answer was at least twice as long.

The other half of the equation is probably just as important: using dispensers to give a measured dose of product each time. As well as shampoo, I transfer hair conditioner and body lotion to pump top bottles. My cleanser and my make-up base already came that way. If these things last longer, that’s money I can use elsewhere. Here are some results:-

Shampoo – 500ml bottles – 4 months
Hair conditioner – 500ml bottles – 6 months
Body lotion – 400ml bottles – 6 months
Body wash – 500ml bottles – 9 months
Cleanser – 150ml bottles – 3 months at 2 x washes a day
Make-up base – 60ml bottles – 10 months

So how long does your stuff last?

- Pam

NOTE - I water the hair conditioner down by about 40% because it works better that way on my hair, but I don’t doctor the other products.