Plastic Free July started as a month-long challenge. One month, less plastic, see how you get on. But for anyone who spends real time outdoors — on the trail, in the water, up on the slopes — the question of plastic-free skincare isn’t seasonal. It’s practical. Every tube of sun cream or bottle of moisturiser that gets squeezed into a rucksack is a piece of plastic you’re carrying, using once, and eventually throwing away.
There’s a better way to do it. And it doesn’t require compromise on performance.
The term gets used loosely. Some brands switch from a plastic bottle to a slightly-less-plastic tube and call it plastic-free. That’s not really the same thing. True plastic-free skincare means the packaging itself contains no plastic — not in the lid, not in a dispenser nozzle, not in a lining you can’t see.
Aluminium tins are the cleanest solution for semi-solid products. The tin is infinitely recyclable — unlike most plastics, which can only be recycled a handful of times before they degrade and end up in landfill or incineration anyway. Aluminium keeps its properties through the recycling cycle indefinitely. One tin can become another tin, then another, without losing anything.
For solid products, the packaging question largely disappears. A solid bar needs no tube, no pump, no seal. The product is the product. No packaging means no packaging problem.
Anyone who’s found a leaked sun cream in the bottom of a dry bag knows the problem with tubes and flip-tops. They fail at the worst moments. A rucksack gets compressed under other kit. A salopette pocket warms up on a mountain. The lid wasn’t on properly. The result is a mess, a ruined product, and often a ruined piece of kit.
An aluminium screw-top tin doesn’t do that. The seal is mechanical — thread-on, thread-off. It won’t pop open under pressure, won’t burst in the hold on a flight, and won’t creep open in a jersey pocket over four hours. At 60g, every Balmy Fox tin sits well within the 100ml airline liquid limit, so there’s no need to decant into those small plastic pots that everyone forgets to buy before they get to the airport.
The tin is also more durable in cold conditions. Plastic gets brittle in low temperatures — at altitude, on a winter run, in a ski jacket pocket. Aluminium doesn’t.
Solid skincare takes the advantages a step further. A solid bar contains no water and no liquid, which means it doesn’t count as a liquid under airport security rules. It goes straight in your bag without a second thought. It weighs less than the equivalent cream version. It doesn’t require a sealed container because there’s nothing to leak.
For ultralight hikers and expedition travellers, solid format is genuinely useful — not as a gimmick, but as a practical packing decision. Two solid products can replace a handful of tubes and take up a fraction of the space.
Solid format also tends to be more concentrated. Without the water content that makes up a significant portion of most creams, you get more product per gram. A solid bar lasts longer in use than its weight would suggest.
The Balm Bar is a solid moisturiser — all-over use, hands, face, any dry skin patch that needs attention. Plant wax based and vegan, it’s the format that the packaging problem never touches. No liquid classification, no seal, no risk. It fits in a jacket pocket, a hip belt pouch, or the palm of your hand.
If you’ve never used a solid moisturiser before, the application is straightforward — warm a small amount between your fingers and apply. It spreads more than you’d expect from something that starts solid.
The Citro Balm Bar does two things: it moisturises, and the citronella in it deters insects. Same solid format, same advantages in terms of packing and travel, but with a practical edge for anyone heading into midge or mosquito territory. Scotland, Wales, the Lake District in summer — or further afield on a trekking trip. The solid format means it qualifies as carry-on regardless of how the airline security person is feeling that morning.
It’s not a replacement for serious insect repellent in high-risk areas. But for UK outdoor use, it’s a solid (in both senses) option.
The appeal of Plastic Free July is that it gives people a defined window to try something different. But the products that replace plastic don’t stop working on the first of August. Aluminium tin skincare and solid bars work on the hill in November just as well as they do on a summer trail. The screw-top holds in the cold. The solid bar doesn’t separate or go off.
If you’re going to go to the effort of switching your skincare kit to plastic-free, it’s worth choosing products that make the switch easy to maintain. That means formats that travel without fuss, perform in real conditions, and don’t add steps or complexity to your routine.
The kit question for outdoor people is usually about what to take, not what to leave. Plastic-free skincare that’s also compact, robust, and genuinely effective isn’t a trade-off. It’s just a better version of the thing you were already carrying.
The Balm Bar and Citro Balm Bar are available at balmyfox.co.uk — along with the full range of aluminium tin skincare for trail, water, slope, and travel. If you’re rethinking your kit this summer, that’s a good place to start.
