Welcome back!
In an effort to be more eco-friendly, we're taken the opportunity to swap some of the self care products we use to low waste products. Your daily routine is a great opportunity to make some changes that can add up to make a huge difference. Reducing the plastic in the products you use every day is a great way to reduce your footprint.
It's totally easy to start small too! You don't have to go completely zero waste right off the bat. We've put together a list of products we've started to use in order to get started. However, these are just the products we've switched out. There are tons of options for creating less waste!
hair ties
I recently invested in these all natural, biodegradable hair ties and I've been loving them! They are super high quality and can be composted, rather than thrown into the landfill like plastic hair ties. The packaging they use is made of recycled material and is biodegradable as well. Hair ties are a super small thing to think about in terms of the environment, but when I try to think of how many hair ties I've lost or thrown away in my life, I can't think of how many it is! And they're all going to sit in landfills!
https://packagefreeshop.com/products/compostable-hair-ties-pack-1
face and body wash bars
A really easy switch to make is to swap face wash and body wash for bars of soap. These options typically come in recyclable cardboard or paper packaging and dissolve in water at the end of their life, creating no extra waste. There are lots of options for face wash bars depending on your skin type to make them accessible to people with all kinds of skincare concerns. This is hugely important because a lot of face wash and body wash come in non-recyclable plastic containers. Even worse, exfoliating body washes that are very popular use microplastics to do the scrubbing, which then pollute waterways once they go down the drain. There are also reusable products that exfoliate! Using these in combination with your bar of soap can get the squeaky clean feeling of exfoliating body wash, but you can reuse the sponge for years. We've linked an all-natural loofah sponge from Package Free Shop as well.
https://packagefreeshop.com/collections/skincare/products/tea-tree-charcoal-facial-bar-soap
https://packagefreeshop.com/collections/all/products/natural-loofah-1
shampoo & conditioner bars
This is a swap I didn't expect to be as easy as it was. I was skeptical of how bars of soap could get my hair feeling clean and soft, but I was pleasantly surprised. There are lots of options on Package Free Shop (and other websites as well) for different hair types and haircare goals. This makes it way easier to make the switch. In terms of using them, it is definitely an adjustment, but just as easy as the shampoo and conditioner that comes out of plastic bottles. And it feels really good to not have to throw anything out when you run out!
bamboo toothbrush
One of the original low waste swaps is to trade your plastic toothbrush in for a bamboo one. Bamboo is an all-natural, renewable resource and it is biodegradable. From personal experience, I notice no difference in how clean my teeth get, and I never have to dump a plastic toothbrush into a landfill again! This is a super easy swap to get you started (it's the first swap I made) and can be a catalyst for other low waste switches, like using it in combination with toothpaste tablets or after flossing with biodegradable floss.
https://packagefreeshop.com/collections/oral-care/products/bamboo-adult-toothbrush
We also wanted to include some items we haven't tried yet, but are doing really good things for the earth. I'm definitely looking forward to giving them a try very soon, and hopefully you'll consider making the swap too!
toothpaste powder or tablets
mouthwash tablets
sunscreen in aluminum containers
biodegradable floss in refillable glass containers
As you can tell Package Free Shop is our go-to for low waste alternatives, but we linked some other online stores below! Zero waste products like shampoo and conditioner bars are becoming more and more common in stores too; Trader Joe's sells some! And of course, supporting any small brick-and-mortar businesses that sell eco-friendly products is always recommended! This is a great resource to finding locations near you: https://www.litterless.com/wheretoshop
Let us know if you make the switch to any of these products, or tell us what your favorite low waste swaps are if we didn't include it! Shoot us an email or a DM anytime!
See you soon!