For many of us, buying beauty products is a part of everyday life. From shampoo, to makeup, to toothpaste, beauty products make up many of our daily purchases. Unfortunately, many of these products are harmful to our environment and its inhabitants. Plastic packaging, toxic chemicals, non-cruelty free products, and non-ethical ingredients are common features of mainstream beauty products. Luckily, incorporating eco friendly and ethical alternatives into a lifestyle is much easier than one may think.
The first step to using more sustainable beauty products is to use up what you already have. By using products you already have to replace with a more eco friendly option, you get the most out of products that have already been paid for, and you’re keeping plastic out of the environment until it is necessary to dispose of. The second step is to do research. A sustainable option is not necessarily more expensive than a non-sustainable option. By doing research, you can discover brands and products within your price range.
Sustainable beauty products are widely available and can even be found in a local grocery store or pharmacy. Here are a few products that are on my shelf.
Dr. Bronner’s
Dr. Bronner’s offers a wide variety of products ranging from soap, to toothpaste, to hair products. Dr. Bronner’s uses ethically sourced ingredients, is cruelty free, and uses 100% post-consumer recycled packaging. My personal favorite is their castile soap. The castile soap is filled with clean ingredients including coconut oil, olive oil, and hemp oil, and is available in a variety of amazing scents. The best thing about this product is that you can use it for essentially anything: face, body, hair, dishes, laundry, washing your pet, cleaning your house, and more.
Unlike other companies that package their products in plastic, send toxins to the landfill, and unsustainably use the earth’s natural resources, Dr. Bronner’s is committed to being climate positive. The company planted 122,560 trees in 2019, and they source coconut oil that is the first in the world to be regenerative organic certified. By reducing its carbon footprint, Dr. Bronner’s is combating global warming and keeping waste and toxins out of our oceans.
LOLI
LOLI Beauty is a natural skincare brand committed to being as environmentally-friendly as possible. LOLI is waste free, water free, toxin free, trash free, organic, vegan, and slavery free. LOLI’s belief is, “if it’s not sustainable, better for the people and the planet, it’s not for us.” LOLI’s products can be purchased on their website. Each product is sold in compostable bags or reusable glass jars. All ingredients are Earth friendly, meaning that they are not dangerous to our environment or wildlife friends!
All of LOLI’s ingredients are pesticide-free. Because they travel through the soil, pesticides are a huge threat to our water sources, and seriously affect aquatic life. It’s vital to our oceans, rivers, and lakes to start purchasing products that are pesticide free.
Lush
Lush carries shower, bath, hair, skin, makeup products, and more. Lush uses “naked packaging” meaning that products such as soaps and bath bombs are sold without any packaging. Lush advocates for ethical buying, is 100% vegetarian, and cruelty free, meaning that they don’t test any of their products on animals.
Lush’s refusal to use wasteful packaging reduces the number of plastics that end up in landfills and our oceans. Are you noticing a theme? Many of our beauty supplies are unnecessarily packaged in plastic. Unfortunately, plastics can take 1000 years to decompose, so even that shampoo bottle you used when you were only 8 years old is still out there somewhere. To combat the overuse of plastic, it’s important to support companies that choose to use alternative, more sustainable packaging.
Overall, switching to sustainable beauty products is easy. There are so many products and companies that believe in the mission of protecting Earth. Many of these products are widely available and are still affordable and budget-friendly. Let’s keep plastics out of our landfills. Let’s keep our oceans clean. Let’s use more sustainable products. Let’s start supporting them!