How to make your beauty routine more sustainable

Going zero-waste? Reduce, reuse and refill? Make your own? The truth is that we have options when it comes to making your bathroom a greener place.

The cosmetic industry is notoriously one of the most unsustainable. According to Zero Waste Europe, the beauty industry creates 120 billion units of plastic packaging every year. Most of the plastics are either not recyclable or not recycled and end up in our natural environment, getting into our oceans, and back into our food chain in the form of microplastics.

While companies are actively seeking solutions to this problem and we see more sustainable beauty brands appearing every day, one important part of the solution still lies with the consumer.

Minimise your beauty routine

A recent survey found that an average woman owns about 40 makeup products but in fact only uses about 5. That means that 35 out of 40 products end up in the landfill, sometimes barely used. Overbuying is a serious problem that needs to be addressed by everyone.

So, what can one do today??

A good place to start would be to survey all the cosmetic and makeup products you already have. Determine which ones you love and use and which ones you are not so keen on. If you find products that were lying around for some time, the best thing to do is to find a new home for them. Think friends, family, shelters, or charities that would take slightly used items.

Use this exercise to find out which products you need and which one you can probably live without.

Before buying anything new, make sure to use your existing beauty items until they are empty. And, when you are ready to replace an item, look for an environmentally friendly option.

Switch to zero-waste products

If you dig around a little bit you will find lots of eco-friendly and zero-waste options to replace your traditional beauty products.

But first, what is zero-waste?

Zero-waste means using items that can be composted, reused, or recycled and that don’t create waste that ends up in the landfill.

Think about reusable makeup removal pads, compostable toothbrushes, refillable dental floss, soap and shampoo bars, shaving bars, zero-waste toothpaste, sustainable period care, refillable cosmetics and makeup, and many others.

When buying products, look for ones with minimal packaging, reusable and refillable options, or at least recyclable packaging.

Put a recycling bin in your bathroom (and use it) — there is not much point in buying cosmetics in recyclable packaging if the packaging ends up in the landfill anyway.

Make your own

You will be surprised to know that some of your beauty products you can totally make yourself. Items like an oil cleanser or body scrub are very quick and easy to make and don’t require any special skills. You can buy your ingredients in bulk or even use the ones you already have in your kitchen.

Cosmetics that are handmade by you can be just as good as the store-bought ones. They are easy to make, they are cost-effective, you know exactly what you are putting on your skin and you can tailor the ingredients towards your needs.

If anything, beauty products made by you for your own skin will be better than the ones you buy.

Give it a go and the environment and your wallet will thank you for that.

Take baby steps

There are a lot of positive actions that we, as individuals, can take to reduce our waste, save our resources and preserve our natural environment.

But, it also could be quite challenging to change our habits that took years to develop. The key here is not to overwhelm yourself with trying to do everything at once, but rather take it one step at a time and see what works for you personally.

To make the switch easier you might want to set yourself some eco goals.

For example, try one new reusable product every month. You know yourself better than anyone else so find something that will work for you personally.

And remember, perfectionism is NOT a goal!

Do what you can, do what works for you, and feel good about the things you do!