My Plastic-Free Beauty & Hygiene Routine
If you open up the medicine cabinet or top drawer in your bathroom, chances are you’ll find lots of plastic. Your beauty routine is an easy place to start when finding ways to reduce your plastic footprint.
Before I dive into my beauty routine, let’s rewind a bit. Years ago, I used to have a bathroom full of plastic. Here are some of the plastic items that I used have:
- shampoo bottle
- conditioner bottle
- shower gel bottle
- loofa
- shower hairbrush
- toothbrush
- toothpaste
- floss
- mouth wash
- face wash
- toner
- acne medication
- face moisturizer
- body moisturizer
- deodorant stick
All of it, made from or contained by plastic. After starting my plastic-free journey, I slowly got rid of or replaced all of it.
Before you dive in, the best thing you can do is ask yourself, “Do I really need this?” I stopped using specialized face wash, toner, acne medication, dedicated moisturizer for my face. And to be honest, my skin has never looked better.
I also decided I didn’t need a loofa or a special brush for my hair in the shower. After getting rid of the things I didn’t need, I turned my attention to find replacements for the things I did need.
Dental Care
My dental care routine is straight forward. I brush my teeth in the morning and scrape my tongue. I’ll also wash my face with water in the morning. At night I brush and floss my teeth and give my tongue another scrape.
I use a bamboo toothbrush which you can find at most stores. However, most bamboo toothbrushes still use black nylon (i.e. plastic) bristles. If you use these toothbrushes, pull out the bristles with pliers prior to composting or recycling the handle.
I’m too lazy for this, so I buy bamboo toothbrushes with boar hair bristles so the entire thing can be composted.
For toothpaste, I’ve made my own using baking soda, coconut oil, and peppermint oil, but I didn’t love the consistency. If you’re curious, the recipe is in this post:
Now, I use David’s Toothpaste which comes in a metal tube that can be recycled. It still has a plastic lid but for me the consistency is way better than baking soda and coconut oil.
For floss, I’ve used both Dental Lace which is made from silk:
And a vegan charcoal bamboo floss I get from Marley’s Monsters:
I got my metal tongue scraper from Marley’s Monsters. It’s the best one I’ve used!
I stopped using mouthwash, but I’ve tried mouthwash tablets that you dissolve in water. I’m too used to the burn of Listerine, so I don’t feel like it cut it for me. Why can’t they go back to selling Listerine in glass bottles? Remember the good old days?
Bathing
My shower routine is pretty simple. I wash my hair 1 – 2 times a week and wash my body with a bar of soap every day. I use shampoo and conditioner bars from LUSH and get my bar soap from Whole Foods.
All the bars are package-free when you buy them at the store! I love things that are package-free. It’s one thing to come in paper that’s recyclable but it’s another to be completely naked! It’s glorious. 🙂
For more information on how to use shampoo and conditioner bars, check out this post:
Other popular shampoo bar companies are Ethique:
And HiBar:
Another option is to purchase refills in-store or online. There are refill stores where you can bring your bottles and fill them up with liquid shampoos, conditioners, bath soap, dish soap, laundry detergents.
I’ve ordered dish soap from The Refill Shoppe in Ventura but they also sell shampoo, conditioner, and body gel refills.
They send you pouches of whatever liquids you order with a return envelope. When you receive your package, you transfer the liquid to your own bottles and put the pouches into the return envelope and drop it in the mail. The shop then cleans and reuses the pouches! For more on purchasing refills online, check out this post:
Another option is to try one of the hair care brands that package in metal bottles, such as Plaine Products:
These bottles can be recycled when you’re finished. They sell an original version with a pump attached and then refills with a metal cap.
Finally, you can try a no-poo (no-shampoo) option and just skip shampoo all together. Check out this post for more details:
I tried this for a while and while I didn’t stick with it, I definitely decreased the amount of times I washed my hair per week.
Moisturizers
For moisturizer, I use sunflower oil both on my face and my body. Since it’s an oil, it’s greasy and takes a few minutes to soak in. But I remember reading that the sunflower oil is close to the makeup of the oils in our skin and it doesn’t clog your pores. Coconut oil is also used as a moisturizer but it’s more likely to clog your pores. To make things more efficient, I’ll probably switch to olive oil since I already have it in the house for cooking. It’s another natural moisturizer that doesn’t clog your pores.
If oils are not your jam, you can use a moisturizer bar. I’ve used several versions from LUSH and have loved them all. They’re also called massage bars. The Each Peach version is my favorite:
You can also try the refill option from the Refill Shoppe:
I’ve also ordered refills from the Good Fill in Nashville.
For lips, I use a lip balm in a metal tin. My favorite kind is a Strawberry flavored lip balm you can find online or at Sephora. It smells like strawberry heaven!
For other options check out this post:
Hair Removal
Over the years, I’ve waxed, shaved, and plucked. And since I’ve plucked over all those years, I basically have very little or very fine hair left. So, I have a pack of plastic razors that I bought more than 5 years ago, and I have a few left. I mainly pluck but in the rare occasion I need a quick shave, I’ll use one of the few I have left. I probably shave only twice a year and thus I’ve been using this one razor for at least a few years.
So, I know that’s not super helpful for you, but that’s what I do. For some more applicable options you can try a safety razor which has refillable metal razors. Since I’ve never used one, I don’t have an specific recommendations.
Or try sugaring. Sugaring wax is similar to traditional waxing but less painful. Plus, since all the ingredients are natural, you don’t have to worry about mystery chemicals irritating your skin. For more on sugaring check out this post:
Deodorant
For deodorant, I use a few different options–not for effectiveness but because in the process of writing about plastic-free deodorants, I bought LOTS of deodorants. So, I’m still working through some of the options.
That said there are two that I use on a daily basis. Both are meant to create an inhospitable environment for skin-dwelling bacteria that cause you to stink when you sweat. So, I use a crystal rock which I found out the hard way, comes in a thick plastic bag:
And a package-free bar from LUSH:
I’ve had the crystal rock for years, and it doesn’t seem to get any smaller. And I’ve had the LUSH bar for at least a year. For more options, check out this post:
There you have it. That’s my plastic-free beauty routine and then a few other options you might want to try. What do you think? Can you make one or more of these swaps?
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