Shifting Away from Plastic Packaged Beauty/Hygiene Products
I am the first to say that I am FAR from being zero waste. I do what I can to shop with consciously and explore ways to reduce my carbon footprint- you can too!
I have explored 4 ways to decrease my plastic/waste consumption when it comes to hygiene/beauty routine: 1) shampoo & conditioner bars 2) bar face soap 3) menstrual cups (which honestly has been a really frustrating process for me because I have not found a cup that works yet) and 4) bamboo toothbrushes.
See below for my eco-friendly bathroom switches and let me know your experiences by commenting below!
1. Shampoo & Conditioner Bars- Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics
I traveled to the Philippines in April and brought with me this awesome shampoo bar that not only is plastic package free BUT also #crueltyfree ! This shampoo lathered well and I would definitely recommend it.
*A big plus for me is that you can take this shampoo traveling and you don’t have to worry about liquid restrictions!
I bought this conditioning bar (on right) at Lush as well but to be honest it did not do the trick for me. My hair was super tangled after my showers (I have long thick hair), so I am in the search for another conditioning bar. Let me know if you know of any good finds!
2. Face Routine- Move away from bottled face wash to bar soaps
A couple weeks ago I went to the Mar Vista Farmer’s Market and ran into the Soaptopia stall.
I know the face is a sensitive area for many people so I asked about which soaps could be a good option and walked away with this pretty sweet bar! So far I love the switch to a bar rather than my previous plastic packaged face wash. Bars at the market at $5. Try it out! Learn more about Soaptopia here.
3. Menstrual Cups
Oh menstrual cupssss! I REALLY wanted to make this switch but I haven’t had much luck with getting these to work. 🙁 . To the right are Lunnette cups Model 1 and Model 2.
Lunette customer service had been really kind and supportive in my attempts to put these cups in every which way BUT I still have major leakage issues so can’t say that I’ve converted or excited about my period- yet . Hopefully I’ll find my happy end of disposable menstrual products soon!
PS: Maybe your OBGYN can help you figure out of you have a difficult time figuring out if you have high or low cervix.
4.Bamboo toothbrushes instead of plastic
Did you know that it is estimated that 1 BILLION toothbrushes will be thrown away this year in the US alone?! The American Dental Association recommends we swap our toothbrushes out every 3 to 4 months.
Toothbrushes can take up to 500+ years to “break down”! Mind blowing! Switch to a more friendly option today! I ordered a pack on Amazon and it was more affordable than buying plastic toothbrushes.
Click here to learn the history of when we started using toothbrushes in the US. Interesting stuff!
I hope you choose to venture out to make some of these switches today. It took me time to starting moving away from bathroom plastics, but is was just one swap at a time and suddenly I’ve made multiple changes. Also, I’ve found that it is more affordable than what I was doing before, so it’s a “win-win”!
Thanks for taking the time to check out this blog post. Keep up the awesome work in living more consciously!
Peace and love,
xoxo Jo