Your beauty routine is your ritual, and what makes you feel like you. Whether it’s getting ready for the day or winding down at night, it’s a regimen that is important and essential for overall well-being.
Did you know that your beauty practice is also a great place to start if you are looking to make sustainable lifestyle changes? We all want to do better for the planet, but we don’t want to leave out our favorite product essentials. The good news is that you can continue to use your forever-favorites while reducing your waste and your impact on the environment. Plus, you will find that these sustainable swaps are beneficial to your wallet, too.
So, sustainable beauty swaps are good for the planet, but why?
It’s hard to face it, we get it. But, most of us use and waste a lot of products and product packaging. Day to day, we may not realize just how much. However, we all generate roughly 300 million tons of plastic waste each year, globally. Most of this is due to product packaging and single-use items; or items that cannot be reused.
Unfortunately, even with recycling efforts taking place across the globe, only 1 in 5 individuals claim they recycle all of their product bottles, packaging, and items. Plus, recycling can only mitigate waste to a certain degree; about 60% of all single-use items and plastic packaging still find themselves in landfills or the environment.
This is why the best way to do our part to reduce waste, is by making sustainable swaps!
Your beauty routine doesn’t have to be sacrificed to be sustainable. Here are our top four suggestions for sustainable beauty products that we know you’ll love.
Makeup wipes and single-use cleansing pads can be swapped for reusable bamboo cleansing pads. The reality of makeup wipes and other single-use makeup removers and cleansers, is that they are wasteful. Dermatologists and skin care aestheticians have come to conclude that makeup wipes are also abrasive and irritating to the skin, which may make your skin more susceptible to breakouts. Plus, they are made from and packaged with non-biodegradable materials and plastics.
Bamboo is a sustainable material that grows quickly. It is also gentle and soft on the skin. Reusable bamboo cleaning pads can be used to remove makeup, apply serums and creams, etc. They do what your makeup wipes do, only better. Plus, they are reusable and washable, so a single investment in a reusable bamboo cleaning pad set is sure to last you much longer, and save you money!
Facial cleansers rinse off makeup and build-up from the day. They are a staple in a self-care/skincare routine. Unfortunately, most facial cleansers are distributed in plastic bottles and packaging that continue to perpetuate the plastic pollution crisis.
Changing your plastic facial cleansers to plastic free cleansing bars is a great way to reduce your plastic waste. Facial cleansing bars should be kept dry in a reusable tin or container when not in use. The best part is that when your facial bar runs out, no plastic packaging is left behind.
When your makeup runs out, the normal habit is to go out and purchase a new package of your go-to product. The empty product will be tossed in the garbage, on its way to the next landfill or incinerator.
While some makeup packaging is recyclable, most is discarded as mentioned above. However, there are some innovative cosmetic brands out there that want to change the way we use and buy makeup — for good. ZeroWasteStore offers makeup from various brands that offer refillable and reusable makeup products to help combat packaging and plastic waste. An added bonus is that the makeup ZeroWasteStore shares are formulated with non-toxic ingredients.
We hope these tips will let you build a beauty routine that benefits your wallet and the environment, without sacrificing on quality!
