● Mini-scientists project form
School :
All work included in this project has been completed by our
pupils and as such is subject to copyright
© Scoil Bhríde Leixlip, Co. Kildare.
Students
names:
Sarah, Ruth and Danny
Class :
5th class
Teacher :
Ms Brosnan
Title of
project :
Soap Suds and Eco Shampoo
Short
description
of project:
We are trying to find out what toxic chemicals are in our daily
shampoo and how they are bad for the environment. We want to find
out if organic shampoo is a better alternative. We hope to make our
own organic shampoo.
1. Introduction
Why did you do the project?
We started this project because we wanted to make people aware
that bottled shampoo that we use today is bad for you hair and
the environment because of toxic chemicals and it wastes a lot of
water. We also wanted to compare the cost of organic shampoo
which has less cost on water, cheaper packaging and no toxic
chemicals. We hoped that people might realise that they are
damaging the environment and might be convinced to use organic
shampoo bars.
What did you hope to learn?
We hoped to learn what toxics are in shampoos and what
damage they can cause to the environment. We hoped to make
our own organic shampoo. We hoped to find out if we could
convince people to stop using bottled shampoos.
We used these ‘key questions’ to guide our investigation
1. What is in a shampoo bottle and what harm does it do to the
environment?
2. Can we make our own natural shampoo using ingredients that won't
harm the environment?
3. Are people aware of the harmful effects of bottled shampoo on
the environment and can we make them aware of the advantages of
using organic shampoos?
Main information
These are our main findings:
1. Before the invention of shampoos people typically used
soap for personal care. However, soap had the disadvantages
of being irritating to the eyes and incompatible with hard
water which made it leave a dull looking film on the hair. In
the early 1930’s the first synthetic detergent shampoos
were created. Over the year’s many improvements have been
made to shampoo formulations. New detergents are less
irritating to the eyes and the skin and have improved health
and environmental qualities.
2. The environmental impacts of regular everyday shampoo
versus organic shampoo bars. It's is more economical to use
a shampoo bar as one person would use two per year versus
10 bottles of shampoo. Shampoos also use more water than
shampoo bars. The packaging on shampoo bars is more
environmentally friendly.
3. We found out that there are many toxic chemicals in
shampoo.These are: Diethanolamine, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate,
Methylisothiazoline, Polyethlene, Chlorine, Phthalates,
Formaldehyde, Isopropyl Alcohol, Coal Tar, Dioxane. All 0f
these substance are harmful to the environment. If these
toxic chemicals get into the water system they can cause
water pollution which can kill wildlife.
2.
Experimental methods
Experiments
Creating our own organic shampoo bars
To make our own shampoo bars we researched the
ingredients of the shampoo bars online. We then ordered
ingredients such as lavender and wax from the web and
then set about following the instructions to make the
shampoo bars. We created the shampoo by melting wax
and adding purple dye, lavender scent and lavender herbs.
We then left then for about 20 minutes to harden.
Water
We wanted to understand what happens to waste water
from households as normal shampoo releases chemicals
into the water that have to be treated. We found two
videos which explain what happens after it has been
affected by toxic chemicals. It leads to pollution which
can kill wildlife.
Survey
We carried out a survey to understand if people knew
what in their everyday normal shampoo versus an organic
shampoo. We created 20 surveys and got different people
to fill them out around our estate. We asked what
shampoo they use, if they ever used organic shampoo and
if so which one? We also wanted to know how many people
in their family and how much they would spend per year on
shampoo. We found that Pantene is the most popular
shampoo and that Garnier is the least popular shampoo. 10
out of 20 people knew that shampoo is bad for the
environment and the other 10 didn’t know that shampoo
has a bad effect on the environment. From conducting our
survey we found that the average amount €1,952. If
customers purchased this organic product it would last
them for a year. From conducting the survey we found out
that 3 of the participants out of 20 people already use
organic shampoo. Two of the participants stated that Lush
was their favourite organic shampoo.
Conclusions –
What did you learn?
● Water there are only 326 million cubic miles of
water on earth so we should try to conserve it.
We learned that everyday shampoo is made up
from 80% water that's doesn't include the
water used to treat the water leaving your
house! A shampoo bar uses no water.
● It's is more economical to use a shampoo bar as
one person would use two per year versus 10
bottles of shampoo. 2x shampoo bar cost
€14.00 10x bottles of shampoo cost €49.00
that's a saving of €35.00.
● Normal everyday shampoos come in plastic
bottles. This is a drain on resources and extra
space is needed to ship them in boxes. Organic
shampoo bars are small and have inexpensive
environmentally friendly packaging.
● The chemicals used in normal shampoo is not
good for your hair versus a shampoo bar.
What key discoveries did you make?
● The key discovery that we made was
information from from ethical consumer guide.
It measures 64 brands of shampoo with the
highest score of 20. Lush shampoo bar scored
13 while Tresseme scored 3.
What did you enjoy most while doing the project?
● We enjoyed everything it was a great
experience aS it was a fun enjoyable time with
our group and we also loved carrying out the
experiments.
Acknowledgements - at the end of your report acknowledge
any help you received during the project for example,
teachers, friends, school and parents.
We want to acknowledge all of our mums and dads as they
were great help. We would also like to acknowledge or
teacher, Ms Brosnan, Ms Mc Andrew, Mrs Ellis and Ms O’
Mahony for all their help throughout the project. Thank you
so much mums and dads and fellow teachers!
References - list any books, articles, web pages and references that
helped you in your project.
Books:
ethical consumer guide uk
Lush website
Irish water
Create a graph classic
Documents
Amazon
How to make shampoo bar
Various web searches
Webpages:
www.miniscientist.ie
Other:
http://www3.epa.gov/safewater/kids/flash/flash_watercycle.html The water cycle animation
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