How we look and how we feel starts with how we care for ourselves. Even a simple personal care routine helps increase levels of confidence, lift up your mood, and feel loved (from within!). Caring about ourselves and caring about the planet should go hand in hand, as both acts are about love and kindness after all.
However, as convenient as popular personal care products appear, most of them are just unhealthy chemicals and petroleum based products wrapped in layers of plastic. The way these products are currently packaged (small amounts in an unnecessarily large container) contributes to air pollution during the delivery process as well.
Many personal care items could've easily been reusable or offered in a reusable or eco-friendly packaging, but instead they are all disposable. Disposable items are simply made of a much cheaper quality so we can think it's okay to dispose of them. But is it okay for those products to then lay in the landfills polluting the planet nearly indefinitely? Think about it, thanks to marketing efforts we are convinced that buying poor quality products on a regular basis and constantly disposing of them is better than purchasing a good quality product that would last a really long time. This barely seems logical, but this is the result of marketing in the world where corporate profits matter most. Our society is engaged in constantly producing and marketing stuff, working late nights instead of enjoying what life has to offer, mainly for us to stay in the "use-dispose" circle.
To wrap up all the above points, disposable products or products that come in disposable packaging pollute the planet:
a. during the manufacturing process - think about all the resources used to make the product;
b. then during the delivery process - by adding all the CO2 emissions to the atmosphere;
c. they then remain an object of pollution either in the landfills or in our oceans. Keep in mind: even "recyclable" plastics are currently recycled at the rate of just 9% and can only be recycled 2-3 times in their lifespan.
Yet, we are never reminded of this through any of the endless marketing efforts of those products.
Caring for yourself and caring for the planet are both important and both make you feel good. So how do you balance the two? Luckily, there are many products out there that are way more sustainable than the ones we are used to, and so there are many habits that could change your self-care routine for the better. There are many solutions that would make it beneficial for your wallet too, others would benefit you in other ways, but here I'm going to start with those that are going to financially reward you for your switch to a guilt-free self-care.
My journey on learning more about eco-friendly products started with simply adding a word "eco-friendly" in the search box when shopping online. I found it very helpful and I certainly recommend it, as I might not cover something very specific that you might be using. You would be pleasantly surprised by the eco-friendly alternatives available out there. Meanwhile, here are some of my favorites:
1. Safety razor over disposable or electric razors.
The switch from safety razors to disposable razors is a clear result of marketing and manufacturers' attempts to increase their sales by getting consumers addicted to the convenience of disposable plastic razors. However, is the marginal convenience of throwing away an entire razor versus simply changing a blade on the conventional razor really worth polluting the planet? Also, is it rational for your wallet?
You can find a very-good quality safety razor that would look much more elegant than the disposable plastic ones. Replacing a blade is as easy as twisting the handle, wrapping the used blade in the wrapper that it came in and disposing of it, then placing a new blade on to the safety razor. Stainless steel, the material the blades are made of, is non-toxic, and it is so much less wasteful than the disposable razor or even the disposable razor head made with plastic.
A safety razor, which could last you a lifetime (starts at as little as $20) and blade replacements ($10-20 per 50 pieces), which would last you 1-2 years, as a replacement to constant purchasing of plastic disposable razors could save you thousands of dollars over your lifetime.
2. Reusable silicone earplugs over disposable foam earplugs.
Living in a big city and with a noisy cat, I personally find it impossible to sleep without ear plugs. They are my life savers... or rather sleep savers. The original solution, that I found years ago on a pharmacy shelf, was the well-marketed disposable foam earplugs. They helped me a lot, but I didn't like the idea of disposing a pair after each night, and disposing of the plastic packaging they'd come in. The latter can be recycled but the foam ear plugs are not recyclable, so what is the sustainable solution? Reusable silicone earplugs! They work just as well as the disposable ones, are easy to clean - just wash them after each use with soap, and are easy to store, as they usually come with a little box. Service life, according to my research, is a few years per pair, and I personally didn't have to dispose of any yet!
A pack of basic reusable ear plugs (under $10 per 4-8 pairs), which would last you many years if not a decade instead of spending $70 every year on disposable ear plugs. Time to pocket those savings!
3. Reusable cotton rounds over disposable ones.
This sustainable swap is so convenient and pretty, it saves so many resources and a great money-saver, that I hardly understand why I still see disposable cotton rounds wrapped in plastic containers on the store shelves. Here is a little about the reusable cotton rounds:
they are made of cotton fabric layered for proper thickness;
offer same uses as disposable ones: to apply a toner, remove make up, etc;
available in very soft or exfoliating fabric;
usually come with a mesh bag and a bamboo or cardboard container for easy cleaning and storage;
in my opinion, they look much nicer on your bathroom shelf in that sustainable cardboard or bamboo box, than disposable ones in a plastic bag;
you can wash them and dry them with your other towels so they don't use extra water, detergent, or electricity;
washing half-full bag would help in getting rid of all the stains;
they can last for years, depending on your usage;
you can wash them before first use and rest assured that they are always clean as you'd wash them between uses too. To the contrary, I'm always skeptical about the disposable ones as I don't know exactly how they are produced, and there is no "sterile" label on their packaging.
As promised, the reusable cotton rounds come with some savings too. The cost varies across different brands, but you can find a pack of reusable ones at the same price as 3-pack of 100 disposable cotton rounds, so they recover its cost within several months, and all the following years of usage are at no additional cost to you.
4. Reusing pump dispensers.
One of the many items available for sale that I have hard time understanding is plastic pumps. There are so many products that come with pumps already - there is no need to throw them away. Some residual product that remains in the pump can be easily cleaned by placing the pump into a bottle with clean water, and pumping out any remaining product. I usually reuse mine for a similar product, for example using a pump from a hair care routine for a new hair care product, etc.
Many products that come with a pump, such as lotions, shower gels, shampoos, are often also offered with just a cap and without a pump. If you save those pumps from prior products, you can opt for getting a new product without a pump. Doing so, you'd save so much plastic from going to the landfills (yes, landfills! - plastic that contains any residual product does not get recycled).
The same applies to plastic bottles for personal care or cleaning products. Just keep a container from the previous product you used. I give a preference to the glass jars - glass is so much better for the environment, for your health and is visually more appealing.
How is it financially beneficial for you? I'll let you be the judge! 😉
5. Buying in bulk (if less packaging is used), or buying only what you would use.
If the product has a long shelf life, and you are confident that you would use it all soon or later, it makes sense to rather buy that product in a larger bottle/ container than getting several smaller containers. Needless to say, less plastic is used to store quarter gallon of product than 4 bottles of 8 ounces of product each. The latter would also take up more space when we consider the delivery process, so a product purchased in a larger container would've added less CO2 into the atmosphere during the delivery process. With this trick you can also reduce your expense, as per unit price of a product sold in bulk is usually much less.
However, keeping in mind how much of the product you would use is also important. Buying in bulk just because the price per unit of product is less, doesn't make sense if you won't use it all. But this is where marketers often trick us again - product sold in bulk is often offered at such a great deal that we choose to get it "just in case" since it's so much cheaper. Don't get fooled. If the likelihood of using the product is low then do your wallet and the environment a favor and stick to a smaller container.
6. Don't fall for "Gift with purchase", or "BOGO" promos.
Just as the previous item in this article, this advice applies to more than just personal care. How many times have you been influenced to make a purchase because the "gift with purchase" or "BOGO" promos appeared to be too good of a deal? Now, how many times have you wound up never using that product? I used to be a victim of this promotion quite often and would get a bag full of products with my order at Sephora or Ulta Beauty. Then I realized I wouldn't use more than half of those products.
On my path to a sustainable lifestyle, I learned to not get fooled into these types of promotions. Not only it is sustainable, since you're reducing waste, but it is also great for your wallet. This may seem counter-intuitive, but I have a couple reasons for why that is the case:
Is the purchase necessary in the first place? This is what you need to ask yourself before you make that purchase. Marketers are the gurus of human psychology, and it's easy to fall for their spell. If you don't need the product to begin with, getting it with a gift, or getting it at a "3 for a price of 2", is still a theft from your wallet, so watch out!
If the seller runs these types of promos, there is a high chance that this seller at other times would run a promo offering a discount on your purchase. If you indeed need a product, but the gift with purchase lures you into buying it sooner, just hold off and wait for a "% off" promo instead.
In other words, be smarter than the tricky marketers. Make your own choices on what you want to buy without any influence from the outside.
Hopefully, this is a good start for your sustainable personal care journey. It makes it so much better to go eco-friendly when it rewards you with spare cash, but as I transitioned into a more sustainable lifestyle, I also learned that making sustainable choices makes you feel so good that you would slowly start to care less about overpaying for them. If you want to stay within the line where it's not burdensome for your budget that's totally fine. Perhaps you wanted to keep some extra cash for your experiences. 😉 (see "Experiences" section of my blog)
Making some eco-friendly choices is better than making none. Don't worry about things you're not doing sustainably (yet), concentrate on those that you do and find helpful, and feel free to spread the word to your family and friends.
I have some more really great sustainable swaps to share with you. They maybe not as rewarding for your wallet, but they are actually quite cool. If you're already hooked, stay tuned for part II! 😊
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