I found The Good Fill on Instagram and have been eyeing them for awhile, but since I still had a lot of Plaine Products left in my stash I decided to hold off. But now that I finally finished up some bottles, I decided to let myself try them out. But first, if you’re not familiar with The Good Fill, they are a zero-waste bulk/refill store based in Nashville (by the way I looove Nashville and would totally live there if not for my whole social support system being out on the West Coast lol). They’re relatively new to the scene but what I love about them is that they will ship products in either glass containers (which of course you pay a little more for) or if you already have containers, they will ship their products in refillable plastic pouches that you ship back via their fully compostable mailer (the first time I’ve ever seen one and really all companies should be using this). They request that you ship the plastic pouches back within 3 weeks time (maybe so that the pouches can be cleaned promptly) so I put my extra liquid in a mason jar to store for the time being.
As you can see I ordered two conditioners, the dish soap, their all purpose cleaner and their lotion. So how were their products? The conditioners were alright and nothing fancy. It’s a lot like the Plaine Products one, not super thick or luxurious but gets the job done (probably not best for thick hair that needs a lot of conditioning). The lotion is also pretty standard and not super thick. It’s a great overall moisturizer but I do need some extra lotion for my eczema areas. I ordered the sweetpea scent but I’m not a fan (it smells very Bath and Bodyworks to me) so I’ll probably go with unscented next time. The all purpose cleaner is very vinegary smelling and not favored by my husband. I’ll probably make my own formula after I use this up. And the dish soap was great and just as good as anything off the shelf in your grocery store. So to sum it all up, I would say that their products are great standard products but aren’t “extra” in any way.
Some other things I liked about their system:
-all shipping materials were paper-based, even the tape used for the box
-squeeze pouch makes it super easy to refill even skinny neck bottles like the one above.
-the glass bottles and plastic accessories are all high-quality and work well. They should last for years and years.
Anyway I very much look forward to trying their other products as I slowly convert my lifestyle to a zero waste one. Ideally of course I would have a local zero waste store to refill my products instead of wasting carbon and energy with the back and forth shipping. But until that happens (or maybe until I build one? lol just kidding) I’m happy to support a small business in Nashville trying to further the zero waste movement!
P.S. A tornado hit Nashville last week and they were luckily spared, but they have instrumental in helping their community rebuild. If you’d like to help them, please support them with your purchases (and no this isn’t a sponsored or gifted post—I purchased everything with my own moneys).