How to live life more sustainably in 2020

Beauty & Hygiene Edition

2020 is the year of change. There is no better time than the present to start making changes that can make an impact. Although it can seem like an overwhelming task, there are lots of small changes you can make to start living more sustainably, and over time these changes can have a great effect.

To help start you off, we’ve put together a list of some of the sustainable beauty and hygiene products you can make the switch to, in order to do your part to save the planet. Where possible, we’ve also taken recommendations of UK based small businesses. 

Face Wipes & Cotton Balls

Honestly, just ditch them. Not only are face wipes terrible for your skin, but they’re also not usually biodegradable. In addition to that, face wipes contain preservatives that are designed to prevent micro-organisms from contaminating the wipes, but these can cause irritation to the skin. If that’s not enough reason to get rid,  they often just move makeup around rather than removing it from the skin. How often have you used toner or another product after removing your makeup with a face wipe, only to find that there’s still lots of foundation coming off? That’s because face wipes don’t get it all. Being a single-use item, and only a few brands being biodegradable, face wipes are one product you can easily ditch to help start your new journey into sustainability. The same goes for single-use ‘cotton balls’. Try using some reusable cotton face pads, like these ones from environmentally aware small business The Chemist’s Daughter. 

Sanitary Towels

Whilst these can take a bit of getting used to, one of the hot new trends is reusable menstrual products - cups or pads. Cups are just that - they are a tampon replacement product that fits snugly inside your vagina to collect the menstrual blood, and then is removed, washed, and reinserted. Cloth pads come in a variety of different patterns, and they help to reduce the waste caused by standard single-use sanitary products on the market. Just make sure to rinse them in cold water after use and you’re golden. Users report them being more comfortable than disposable sanitary towels too. They come in a variety of different sizes for all types of flow and the patterns can be incredible. For example, UK handmaid children’s clothes company Sew Little have branched out into these, and as seen on their Facebook page some of the designs are out of this world.

Shampoo Bars

Arguably popularised by UK based cosmetics retailer Lush, solid shampoo and conditioner bars are the future. Whilst companies aim to reduce their packaging, manufacturers of these types of bars have just removed the packaging completely. They’re used like a bar of soap, but for your hair - lather them up until you have enough suds, massage through your hair like normal, and then rinse. It’s as easy as that. Lush claim that ‘one lorry full of solid shampoo bars holds roughly the same number of washes as fifteen lorries filled with liquid shampoo’ which means that using these bars will dramatically reduce your carbon footprint. An added benefit is that you can take it with you when travelling, without having to worry about using up precious liquids space!

Masks

In a world containing the coronavirus pandemic, face masks have become a staple of everyday life. Instead of using disposable paper masks, why not invest in a fabric one. Bristol-based The Patchwork Bunny makes these to order, in a variety of different patterns so you can choose your favourite or buy a whole bunch to accessorise every outfit, whilst ensuring that you’re staying safe.

Toothbrushes

Although toothbrushes aren’t a single use item, they’re still usually made of plastic, which does not biodegrade. Bamboo toothbrushes are a sustainable option. It is sustainable because it is so fast growing, and it biodegrades. This means that rather than adding a toothbrush to a landfill every three months, to sit there for the rest of time, you can swap to eco friendly toothbrushes. They work the same way as plastic toothbrushes but the cost to the environment is so much less that it’s a no-brainer.

Deodorant

Each year the UK uses around 600 million aerosols, which is equivalent to about ten cans per person. Although in theory these can be recycled, in practice it is not that simple. The UK government website states that ‘many’ local authorities are successfully including collection of aerosols in their kerbside or mixed waste collection schemes. This suggests that not all of them are. In addition to this, the aerosols need to be completely empty, clean, and dry to be recycled. This isn’t necessarily realistically achievable. Even roll on deodorants come with their own plastic packaging. A sustainable alternative to this is a solid block of deodorant. For example, UK business The Good Soap offer their solid deodorant bars in four classic scents, boasting that they are ‘made using oils and ingredients that are kind to your skin, [and are] designed to keep you fresh and pong free’.

Please note: we have not tested the products listed here, but they have come recommended by friends and family members. We do not make anything from you using these links.