The one with the zero waste beauty routine

I've had a lot of requests from friends for zero waste beauty swaps, so let's go. Personal care is an area where we are always using up and replacing products, so it is a great place to make some plastic free swaps. 

My (mostly) plastic free swaps

Here's a little update of where I am in my journey to plastic free personal care. I am still definitely a work in progress.  Note that this post includes my affiliate links to some items because my classroom can always use more books. You'll pay the same price either way, but if you use my links, Amazon will have to share some of the money with me 😎

Dental Care: 

I've already written about dental care options. I still love my biodegrade-able dental floss and bamboo tooth brushes. Since that post I found some toothpaste tablets I like. Weldental Chewtab Advanced Whitening Toothpaste Tablets with Nano Hydroxyapatite They come in paper packaging and get stored in a metal tube. They use nano hydroxyapatite instead of fluoride for remineralizing tooth enamel and they are also a pretty good whitening agent. I linked to a lit review about it above. 

Hair Care: 

And, I am still loving my shampoo and conditioner bars that I wrote about in March. At the time I was ordering them directly from The Earthling Company, but I found out you can also get them from Amazon. Which, I admit is more convenient for me. 

I don't really use any other hair care products. Today I posted a bunch of samples on our local gifting group because they have all been sitting in my drawer since before I started this blog and I just won't ever use them. It was nice to get the space back in the drawer. 

Skincare: 

Skincare has been the most interesting low-waste adjustment, mostly because I had, okay still have, lots of back-stock and samples. I really went a year without buying any more sunscreen for my face in plastic bottles and I still have some of that left. I decided I really wanted to try out some sunscreen in glass packaging before I ran out of my existing stock. I told myself I needed to find out what I liked and what would work for me. 

My favorite face sunscreen that comes in glass is from The Mad Hippie. It has a glass bottle with a plastic pump on top. I checked their website to see if I could order refills without the plastic pump. You can't, but they do partner with Terra Cycle where you can order a free small take back bag to send back any plastic parts from Mad Hippie products. (I just ordered mine.) The sunscreen itself is great. You have to shake it before you use it, but it goes on really well. It's thin, more like a liquid than a cream. I like that I can buy this at my local Sprouts grocery store. 

My second favorite sunscreen packaged in glass is ECLIPSE Sheer Mineral Sunscreen from Earth Harbor. Their products are available from Amazon or their own website, but the sunscreen is not on Amazon. One thing I like about this one is you can order refills (only through their website) that come without the plastic pump. Then you just move the pump from your empty bottle to the new bottle. The glass bottle is recyclable of course. This one is thicker, more like a traditional sunscreen, and I think it made me break out more, but that was not a well controlled experiment. 

Face Wash:

In either case, if you are wearing sunscreen during the day, you need to wash your face at night. I've been using the same bar from The Earthling Co. for an embarrassing number of years. Yeah, I mean the exact same bar. The thing just lasts forever. It's their tea tree and oatmeal facial soap. And now I'm worried because I can't find it on their website, so I guess I am glad that it looks like I still have a few years left on it. I keep it on a wooden soap dish and I never pick it up. I just run my wet hand over the top of it and then wash my face. A gentle bar of facial soap can last years longer than anything that comes in a package. Since Earthling co. doesn't seem to carry mine anymore, I'm going to suggest these are a close dupe. They come in a two pack so give one to a friend. 

Face Serum:

As a woman of a certain age, face serums are often part of my routine. I've tried some from Mad Hippie, and I really like Celestine from Earth Harbor, but the one I keep coming back to is Good Genes by Sunday Riley. It comes in a glass bottle with a plastic pump. It is pricy, (for me) but I think worth it. 

Make Up: 

Let's talk make up. I don't wear a lot. The less you wear, the less you need to buy. Two things I need (or think I need) are mascara and lipstick. Mascara most often comes in a plastic tube. My first solution was from Lush, and that was great until they changed their take back program for mascara. (Very disappointed in them for that one.) But with a little research I found Izzy. Their mascara comes in a metal tube, and in a re-useable mailer. Every three months they send me a new one and I send back the old one for reuse. Reuse is even better than recycling, so I'm feeling like that's a win. They also have a lot of other zero waste cosmetic solutions. 

For lipstick I still have a back stock, and I have a favorite that comes in a small plastic tube. I don't know yet if I'll be able to give that one up. I am pretty sure I will rationalize my way to buying more with a justification that I have cut so much other plastic packaging out of my life already. But I'm still considering options.

Occasionally, I need some concealer and I found some good options on Etsy. Just search Etsy zero waste makeup for lots of options. You'll find everything from organic herbal eyeshadows, to foundations and mascaras. You name it, someone on Etsy is making a small batch organic version of it. I got my concealer from River Organics. I think I got the full size, but I recommend the sample size if you don't use it that often. It comes in a cardboard dish like thing. it's far better to support small businesses than the larger beauty industry anyway. 

Body Wash: 

LOL, I'm still using up soaps I've brought home from hotels over the years. Someday I may actually get to buying soap for myself. There are lots of ways to buy soap package free, from the farmers market to my local Sprouts and even some nice options at Lush. Soap is not a problem. 

The challenge of zero waste and personal care is just the sheer volume of personal care products stashed in my bathroom. For years I subscribed to one of those services that sends you samples ever month. I used a lot and gave away many, but there is still a lot left. All of it needs to be used up, given away, or trashed as I simplify what I keep and what I use. 

I added a compost collector to my bathroom so that compostable things like hair, q-tips, and my favorite dental floss don't need to go in the trash. 

I switched the family to bamboo toilet paper (that's not wrapped in plastic), first through Grove and then Amazon. It's way better than buying a giant plastic bag at Costco that had six smaller plastic bags of toilet paper inside it. 

I still use up some plastic packaged item every few weeks and then I look at my options. Do I need to replace this product? (Sometimes I really don't.) Can I make a version of it myself? (I'm looking at you sugar scrub.) Is there a plastic free or refill alternative? Often the answer to one of those questions will keep me from buying another plastic bottle. I hope some of the options above will help you do the same. 

The one with the shampoo bars

 In 2021 I did a favor for a friend. It involved getting up early, waiting around, and then managing a tricky delivery. I also watered some plants in the process. But none of that is the important part. 

The important part is that my friend thanked me for this favor by sending me a great starter set from The Earthling Company. This is definitely up there in list of great gifts I was not expecting. The set included, a body bar, a face bar, a shampoo bar, a conditioner bar, a cute little wooden soap dish and a sisal soap saver bag. 

Note: That link above will get you $10 off your first order over $30. 

Conditioner, shampoo, body bar on 8" soap dish. 

Thus was my introduction to the concept that shampoo could come in a solid form. Okay, I already knew that, but I certainly had never seriously considered trying it. I loved it. That shampoo bar lasted months, and then I ordered four more. Those carried me through the rest of 2021, all of 2022, and I just started using the last one here in the beginning of 2023. So five bars have been all the shampoo I needed for the last 21 months. When the Earthling Co. says their bars last 3-4 months, they are't lying. 

And the conditioner bars last even longer. I bought equal numbers of shampoo and conditioner bars, but now I am on my last shampoo bar, and I still have two extra un-opened conditioner bars ready to use next. (One will be on the soap dish next week. The current bar is almost done.)

I am exclusively using and specifically recommending the bars from The Earthling Company. I was gifted a shampoo bar in a store from a brand whose other products I really enjoy. That shampoo bar was not a good fit for me. I did try it for a few weeks thinking any high quality shampoo bar should be the same as another. It was not  and I went right back to my Earthling shampoo bar. My hair was so much happier when I did. 

Tips: 

-I keep my bars on a long soap dish just outside my shower. See picture in this post. This keeps them drier and I think that helps them last longer. 

-I've heard people say to lather your hands and not apply the bar directly to your head. I rub the bar all over my head. It's fine. It rinses clean. 

-I don't have to wash my hair as often when I'm using this shampoo bar. I went from almost daily washing, to going at least three days and sometimes four between washes. My scalp just produces less oil. (There are actual chemical reasons for this based on the ingredients in the bar.)

-Eventually my shampoo bar always breaks in half. I keep using one half and the other half becomes my "travel size" bar. I wrap it in a scrap of fabric and throw it in my toiletry bag. It dries quickly after a use. 

-The shampoo bars travel well. I tend to not travel with the conditioner bars. They are softer and can melt in a warm car. I have a spray on, leave in conditioner that I use when I travel. 

Trash: 

-None really. The bars come in small cardboard boxes. I store them in those until I'm ready to use the bar and then I recycle the little box. I love that I can store a year's supply of shampoo and conditioner bars in less space than one shampoo bottle used to take up. 

-I am usually able to use up a bar completely. Eventually it does break into small pieces. But I just keep rubbing those around on my head until I loose them. 

A post like this should probably include a hair picture, so here is mine. I washed my hair last night and went to bed with it slightly damp. The only products I've used on it for the last two weeks have been Earthling Co. shampoo and conditioner bars.