Much ado about mushrooms

This range of products is enriched with King Trumpet mushrooms

It's hard to think about self-care when the products lining your bathroom shelves are packaged in plastic containers and filled with non-biodegradable microplastics and microbeads - research reveals that 552 million plastic shampoo bottles are dumped in landfills every year, while 5.25 trillion macro and microplastics make their way to the oceans. Switching from liquid products to bars, especially with shampoos and conditioners, can thus help you do your bit to preserve the environment. That these products are also travel-friendly adds to their allure.

The Switch Fix is an indie platform that is plant based and environmentally conscious. It follows therefore that most of their haircare products come in bar form and paper packaging. But when it comes to actual performance, do the products deliver? We tried out their magic shrooms rehydrating shampoo (Rs 549) and conditioner (Rs 524) bars, which are intended for dry scalp and hair and enriched with king trumpet mushrooms.

We appreciated the simple but effective paper packaging and found the shampoo and conditioner easy to use. The bars lather well and leave the hair and scalp feeling refreshed without stripping them of moisture. The products do have a mild fragrance, which we didn't mind. Keeping in mind the dry weather, we also tested out their scalp serum (Rs 537) from the same range. The serum is light and helped with the slight itchiness that we were experiencing given the recent cold spell. Make sure to use very little, to keep your hair from looking greasy.

The website offers options based on the condition of your scalp and hair. All in all, if you're in the market for sustainable, pocket-friendly products, we'd suggest giving this range a try.

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