Ready to give your beauty routine an eco-friendly glow-up? You can make a difference with small, mindful choices, from reusable cotton pads to cruelty-free cosmetics. Going green doesn’t have to mean giving up your favorite part of your morning routine or your evening pampering sessions. Let’s talk about simple steps you can take to be both glam and green!
Support Sustainable and Ethical Brands
It can be tempting to purchase the new hot product you see on TikTok or Instagram, but being aware of a company’s footprint can help you be mindful of your own. Symbols like the Green Dot or Leaping Bunny can help you identify sustainable products without any extra research. The Leaping Bunny is a cruelty-free program that tests the entire supply chain of a product for animal testing and is actually more selective than the commonly known PETA certification. You may also opt to use vegan products in lieu of those containing beeswax or lanolin to reduce demand for animal farming, therefore encouraging sustainable practices in the beauty industry. Even if you can’t go vegan, you have sustainable options. One of my favorite products is the Gisou Honey Infused Lip or Hair Oil which only harvests surplus honey, has 100% carbon-neutral manufacturing and packaging, and contains recycling instructions.
opt for Reusable Makeup pads
Let’s say to remove your makeup each night you use 2 cotton pads (in reality, probably a lot more). In one year you will have used 730 cotton pads, and if you made the seemingly earth-conscious choice to buy organic, you will have spent $65.70. You may use single-use makeup wipes, which are convenient, but tough on your skin, and contribute a significant amount of waste. Save your skin and the Earth by using a removal balm or cream and a washable microfiber cloth.
choose multi-use products
One of the best sustainable practices is to simply consume less. From buying in bulk, or purchasing multi-use products, you can cut down significantly on packaging waste and emissions occurring throughout the supply chain. As busy college girls on the go, we often don’t have time in the morning for every step of our routine, so a multi-use product can come in handy when being earth-conscious, budget-conscious, and time-conscious. For one thing, a combined SPF and moisturizer helps to cut down on products I need to buy and the length of my morning routine. You can even keep up with trends, like using your black honey lip stain as a blush.
We’ve Reduced and reused, now let’s recycle
How many of your beauty product containers are made of plastic that takes hundreds of years to decompose? Reconsider dumping your trash and reuse those containers yourself at home. Numerous companies even offer a take-back program that can clean and sort your empty bottles to ensure they’re actually recycled instead of being dumped in landfills. Look into whether your local retailer, such as Nordstrom, offers take-back programs, or whether your favorite cosmetic brands provide prepaid shipping to mail your empty beauty bottles. If this isn’t an option for you, take the correct steps to properly clean and recycle your containers, or be mindful while you shop in the future for biodegradable packaging or brands that offer refillable containers.
Hopefully you’re feeling inspired to add a little sustainability to your beauty routine. Keep the planet green and yourself gorgeous!