In a world increasingly focused on sustainability, zero waste beauty has emerged as a powerful way to reduce our environmental footprint while still caring for our skin and hair. By making your own beauty products, you not only cut down on single-use packaging, but you also have complete control over the ingredients you put on your body. DIY beauty recipes are a fantastic way to embrace a more eco-friendly routine, using natural ingredients that are as kind to the planet as they are to your skin.
In this post, we’ll share six simple zero waste beauty recipes that will help you create a personalized, sustainable beauty regimen while reducing waste and harmful chemicals from your daily routine.
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Tips for Reducing Waste in Your Beauty Routine
- Buy less. The beauty industry never stops trying to sell products to women. You might think you're immune to marketing at this point, but are you really? As customers grow weary of certain marketing tactics, brands will always come up with new ones. It's easy to get influenced and think you need the latest foundation or moisturizer to feel young again, but that's far from true.
- Use up what you have. The trend cycle has us buying new stuff when we already have enough stuff - and that's true not just for makeup. Half-used lotions you can't pump out of the bottle anymore or eyeshadow you used once before it expired (impulse buy?) are bring trashed, and most likely end up in the landfill. It's better to use what you already have before buying something else, even if what you have is packaged in plastic or could otherwise be considered wasteful. Plus, it saves you money.
- Make your own. A simple solution for when you don't want to buy new beauty products is to make your own. Why spend money on a sugar scrub (packaged in plastic) when you can make your own with real sugar and coconut oil? DIY beauty can go as far as you want - you can even make your own makeup products, serums or eye cream. This is also a good occasion to customize your skincare products to perfection.
- Refillable products. A lot of waste-conscious brands now offer refillable products, including Lush, RMS Beauty, but also a lot of non-natural brands. Refillable means less waste. There are programs that recycle makeup packaging, where you bring the empty bottles or cases back to the store (although it's a good idea to check whether a certain company is actually recycling or just greenwashing).
- Multi-use products. Instead of buying lip gloss, blush and eyeshadow, you can find a product that does all three. You save money and you save packaging. You also save space in your suitcase when you travel or in your everyday purse.
- Mind the packaging. Of course, how beauty products are packaged makes a difference. Look for glass, cardboard and aluminum containers, which can be recycled, and avoid plastic packaging. Get unpackaged products when you can, and switch to solids when they're available (e.g. shampoo, soap, lotion all have solid, paper-wrapped versions these days).
6 Zero Waste Beauty Recipes You Can Make at Home
1. Soap bar
Switching to bar soap is an easy first step to a more sustainable beauty routine. This easy and luxurious chocolate mint soap smells amazing and won't leave you missing your old hand soap, face soap or shower gel. And just like that, you reduced waste by not buying plastic bottled soap and getting a multi-use product.
2. Body balm
You can use this 4-ingredient body balm as your secret weapon against chapped lips, ragged cuticles, rough elbows, and flyaway hairs. Talk about multitasking! It keeps well in reusable metal (or glass) containers and it's made with ingredients you'll definitely use again - no throwing away an expired bottle of a strange ingredient you only used once.
3. Shampoo bar
Boost volume without boosting plastic waste - with a sea salt, cocoa butter and essential oil based solid shampoo. Take the opportunity to also erase sodium lauryl sulfate from your haircare routine, as it's been shown to irritate the skin, eyes, and lungs in the long term. For those in-between days, you might also consider making dry shampoo, you probably already have the ingredients.
4. Reusable cotton rounds
It would be a shame to go through all the trouble of making your own makeup only to wipe it off with those plasticky makeup remover wipes. Opt for reusable cotton rounds or take it one step forward and make your own from fabric scraps. Use with a homemade makeup remover that suits your skin type for the best results (and the least waste).
5. Multi-use salve
Made with just 5 ingredients, this rose salve acts as perfume, lip balm, highlighter, moisturizer, cuticle oil, frizz fighter, blush, beard balm, and more. It's exactly the kind of product you want in your arsenal if you're trying to reduce the number of beauty products in your bathroom.
6. Scrub bars
Inspired by Lush scrubees, these scrub bars act both as an exfoliant and as a moisturizer. You're killing two birds with one stone, and reducing the packaging for both. If you're looking for less exfoliation, you can also try solid lotion bars.
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