For so many young women, self-care is a crucial part of the day. The simple pleasures of taking a warm shower after a stressful day, putting on a face mask, and lathering on a soothing scented lotion, provide therapeutic stability and comfort. Social media has supercharged this, with influencers filling our For You Pages and making us want ever more products and ever more elaborate routines and rituals. The dark side of all this feel-good self-care is that it can lead to an unsustainable cycle of plastic waste.
The hygiene product industry is one of the biggest contributors to plastic waste pollution. Plastic Pollution Coalition reports that globally, the industry produces over 120 billion units of non-recyclable packaging every year, most of which end up in our oceans or in landfills. Additionally, they outline that in 2018, the United States produced 7.9 billion units of plastic packaging for personal care products, and these numbers have increased every year since. The problem is that most personal care products come in single use plastic packaging, meaning that once the product runs out, the packaging gets thrown away.
But don’t fret girlies. We can take care of ourselves and avoid overconsumption at the same time. Today, more and more people are waking up to the issue of unsustainability in the personal care industry and developing implementable solutions. Many of these eco-friendly alternatives are simple, easy, and can be affordable–even to busy university students.
One such way that students in St Andrews can make some of these sustainable switches is by visiting local business Naturity. Opened in March of 2021 by Carina Neubert, Naturity is a low-waste, organic health shop tucked away on South Street. Opened with the goal of providing residents with healthy and eco-friendly options in their day-to-day lives and where customers can find “all they need in one shop,” Naturity carries many environmentally safe personal care products. Let’s break them down, shall we?
Intro to Refilling
One way that Naturity helps reduce plastic waste is through the concept of refilling. Customers can bring in their own containers, purchase some there, or use the free donated ones provided. Once you have a container, you can go about filling with the number of bulk products displayed. When the product runs out, you simply come back and refill with that same container. This eliminates problems with single use plastic and can be a fun way to give a second life to old containers. Currently, my conditioner is in an old raspberry jam jar.
Haircare
Naturity has a number of hair care products, including in bulk. Their bulk shampoo and conditioner is from the West Yorkshire-based brand Alter/Native by Suma. If you are a scent-obsessed girl like me, you will be excited to hear that they have a wide variety of scents including lavender, rose and geranium, pink grapefruit, and patchouli and sandalwood. Unscented options are also available for the sensitive scalp girls. If you aren’t into liquid products, they also have shampoo and conditioner in bar form. Their products are cruelty free and great for dry, damaged, and colored hair. Let’s call it an Olaplex dupe.
Bodycare
Moving down from heads to shoulders, knees, and toes, Naturity has got your body care needs covered as well. In their bulk section they carry body wash from both Alter/Native and Dr Bronner’s. Dr Bronner’s, a German-Californian soap brand is known for their all purpose castile soaps that are clean and gentle. Just like with the haircare, body wash bars are also available if that is your preferred vessel. Many popular deodorant brands have been under fire recently for their use of aluminum (a known neurotoxin). While there are debates on how well natural deodorant actually works, debates that I admit I have contributed to, Naturity does have options if you are interested. They carry a natural Welsh deodorant from the brand Kutis that comes in biodegradable packaging. Look good, smell good, feel good.
Oralcare
No one wants to be the person in their tutorial whose breath smells strongly of the overpriced latte they just chugged. Naturity can provide you with all your dental needs, including floss, toothpaste, and toothbrushes. They have a variety of bamboo and plant-based flosses and toothbrushes. My personal favorite oral care product they have are toothpaste tablets, small tablets of concentrated toothpaste that you bite down on and brush with. Not only are they fun but they decrease plastic waste from toothpaste tubes. Plastic waste from these tubes, used toothbrushes, and floss are a massive contributor to pollution. A 2019 National Geographic study found that in the US alone, one billion toothbrushes are thrown away each year and if the rest of the world followed a similar pattern, 23 billion toothbrushes would be trashed. Investing in plant based oral care has the possibility to drastically change these numbers. So do yourself a favor and buy some floss to keep in your bag, you will thank yourself next time someone points out the Combini stuck between your teeth.
Obviously, Naturity is not the only place where you can make sustainable switches. The number of refill stores in big cities is on the rise, so I encourage you to do your own research. Maybe you are going somewhere for reading week or are heading home soon, it is as simple as a google search “___ city refill stores.” Who knows what you could find! Additionally, checking out these kinds of stores is a great way to support small and local businesses, something that is so needed in our post-pandemic world.
Lastly it is crucial to stress just how personal making changes to your routine can be. It is all about examining your routine, budget, wants, and needs and doing what works for you. Think about establishing sustainable habits as the intersection of two venn diagram circles: what you want to do and what you can do. As cliche as it sounds, what is important is that everyone does a little something because, while it is hard to quantify global impact, social impact is very real. If one person switches out regular toothpaste for tablets and tells their friend about it, that friend might go on to make that switch and then tell their friends about it. Think of it as one big game of telephone. A game of telephone that reduces plastic pollution and protects the world we call home.