This Amazing New Line Of Shower Products Is Giving Back To Ensure People's Right To Shower
How often do you shower? Every day? Every other day? Maybe every three days? Imagine if you couldn’t shower for a week? Or a month? Can you even picture not being able to shower for months at a time? Having access to a working shower is a luxury that hundreds of thousands of Americans cannot afford, but Unilever’s new The Right to Shower line is trying hard to change that, and it’s one campaign that I can 100 percent get behind.
There have been many thoughtful Unilever launches promoted over the last decade (their Dove Real Beauty Campaign is pretty powerful), but nothing has compared to the feels I got when I learned about Unilever’s new The Right to Shower campaign. The new line of products, which includes four bar soaps ($8 each, amazon.com) and four body washes ($12 each, amazon.com), will donate 100 percent of their proceeds in the first year of sales to mobile shower initiatives that help people currently experiencing homelessness and are in need of a hot shower.
One such partner is called Lava Mae, an organization based out of San Francisco that’s converted old public transportation buses into showers and toilets on wheels. Since they first launched in 2013, they’ve offered over 58,000 showers to over 15,000 guests. Their business is founded on the core beliefs of humanity, innovation, and collaboration, and reminds me so much of my mother’s own non-profit organization.
My mom started her own non-profit, called The Chow Train, about 13 years ago, and up until this past Christmas, she was serving hot meals to about 50 to 100 hungry and homeless people in the San Antonio area out of her food truck every Tuesday night. December 25, 2018, was the last evening The Chow Train chugged along, and my family and I were all there to serve the same people I had helped serve food to since I was in middle school. My mother had grand plans of expanding her Chow Train to become a caravan-like train, where she would travel across the country with her food truck, a truck offering hot showers, and another truck that would teach people how to grow their own food.
Because I grew up in a household that spent so much time focusing on the hungry and homeless, this new The Right to Shower line means the world to me. The product names, including “Strength,” “Hope,” “Joy,” and “Dignity,” are words my mother uses when speaking about the people she serves almost every day. The scents smell exactly like their names, and I found myself feeling actual joy and hope every time I used them in my own shower.
Not only does The Right to Shower give back to those living on the streets, but it is also giving back to the Earth, too. The body washes and bar soaps are 100 percent vegan, cruelty-free, and packaged in recycled materials. Plus, the packaging and colors are unisex, so they’re appealing to all genders. Additionally, if you prefer to use an all-in-one type of product, the bar soaps and body washes can be used as a body soap, hand soap, shampoo, and/or face soap.
Although it’s my job to test out other shower products, all I really want to do is stock up on these delicious The Right to Shower soaps and support this cause as much as I can. A hot shower is the smallest part of our day, yet it is one of the biggest luxuries we take for granted — why not lather up in a way that can help someone else lather up, get clean, and put a smile on their face, too?
