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We are leaving the kitchen, because I wanna show you my basic zero waste beauty routine.
I’m so excited for today’s topic, it’s something I’ve been wanting to share with you for a very long time. The reason I decided now to talk about zero waste beauty hacks is actually Amy Galper’s and Christina Daigneault’s new book, Plant-Powered Beauty. It’s a great book that will help you create a waste-free beauty routine with a guide to basics, general tips, and recipes for every possible beauty product. So if you want to read a bit more about this book (and win a copy), and want to know how I reduced my plastic waste in the bathroom, and what’s my current zero waste beauty routine, just keep reading!
When I put Green to my name, Evi, it wasn’t mainly about my love for kale and spinach, but more about a general ‘green lifestyle’. I’m very passionate about trying to live as eco-friendly as possible, and trying to make the best choices in most situations. My love and respect for animals turned me towards veganism, and my love and respect for our planet made me wanna reduce my waste to a very minimal. Yes, I know, it sounds like some hippy bullshit, but it really isn’t. Listen, the earth is drowning in plastic waste, we have a massive environmental crisis, so I think it’s absolutely necessary for us all to be more conscious.
Zero Waste Movement
Okay, let me start with saying, I am not yet zero waste. I thrive for it, and made great progress in the past one year, but I have still a long way to go. That said, my bathroom is pretty much waste-free already, so I feel like it’s the best place to start to talk about this topic. 😉
I came across the zero waste movement first about 2 years ago. I’ve seen many blogs, posts, or videos about it before, but I didn’t really made an effort to look into the whys and hows. I was pretty happy with my recycling habits, so I thought this whole movement sounds a little bit too extreme for me. Plus I admit, most zero wasters I heard of were non-vegans, so I very quickly decided they are all hypocrites, given the fact that animal industry is a lot more destructive than plastic.
But of course, once I started to learn more about the zero waste movement, I was absolutely fascinated, and very quickly decided it’s the lifestyle I want to live.
I started with small steps, and slowly built a new everyday routine. At first I just simply refused unnecessary plastic packaging, then started to make sure I only get things that are reusable and truly needful, then gradually switched to sustainable, not single-use items, and so on. It would be ridiculously long, if I’d try to explain everything about ZW, and there are anyways 675231234 better resources than my little rambling speech, so if you are interested, you could read more about the movement here, here or here. I’d also highly recommend you to join the Zero Waste Vegans Facebook group, it’s my personal favorite place for any question or doubt, everybody is super sweet there!
My Zero Waste Beauty Routine
So let’s start with the bathroom, shall we?
I’m not a beauty guru, I think I had never even had a beauty routine before, I usually just bought whatever shampoo, face cream or deodorant had a cute packaging or was on sale. So some of the switches were pretty simple for me (like using a soap instead of a shower gel, or getting a solid bar deodorant instead of a spray one), while others were a bit more tricky (for example finding a good moisturizer). After about a year I feel like I found something I love in every category, so here’s a quick list of the things I use nowadays. Most of the items I use are from Germany, so you might not find the exact same ones, but you get an idea what to look for at least.
So, what are my zero waste beauty routine must-haves?
HAIR
- Shampoo – This was/is my biggest struggle, and I still haven’t found the perfect shampoo bar yet tbh. Nowadays I use 3 different ones, because switching between them keeps my hair somewhat happy at least. So no recommendations here, let’s hope you find one you like easier than me.
- Conditioner – Apple cider vinegar rinse. Your hair won’t smell bad, I promise! Occasionally, if I feel my hair is extra damaged I fill up a jar with conditioner in my local ZW shop.
- Hair mask – Sometimes I rub a bit of coconut oil to the end of my hair, then leave it on overnight. Next day after washing my hair, it’s silky smooth.
FACE
- Facial scrub – Sugar scrubs, flour scrubs, coffee scrubs, oats scrubs, the possibilities are endless! My current favorite is actually the Detox Facial Scrub from the Plant-Powered Beauty book.
- Moisturizer – Rose hip oil is my holy grail! It’s moisturizing, nourishing, and helps with acne scars, and blemishes. Check out this post for finding the perfect oil for your skin type.
- Make up remover – I recently started to do oil cleansing, and I love it! You can read about it more here. Since doing the oil cleansing method, besides moisturizing and the occasional face peeling I don’t do anything else.
- Facial masks – Okay, I actually also use face masks sometimes. They are just fun little treats every now and then. I always make something new (depending on the ingredients I have at home), yesterday for example I tried the Deep-Cleansing Facial Mask with matcha and blueberry from the Plant-Powered Beauty book.
BODY
- Soap bars – The easiest switch I made. I don’t have a specific brand I love, I just go with anything that has the vegan and CF logo, and comes without excess packaging.
- Shaving – Safety Razor ❤️ Guys, I was so afraid of this one, but actually it’s the best thing ever. I get a very close shave with it, without ever cutting myself. On my good days I use coconut oil as a shaving cream, but when I’m
nastylazy, I just use my soap bar. - Perfume – I still have some left, which will take a while to use up, but once my bottles are empty, I want to create my own fragrance. I am sometimes experimenting with different essential oils, they are amazing!
- Body Scrub – Just like with the face scrubs, there are endless options here. My new favorite is the Body Scrub for Dry Skin with shea butter and almond flour from the Plant-Powered Beauty book.
- Lotion – I love shea butter! I use it all over my body, sometimes adding essential oil to it to make it smell good.
- Deodorant – There are infinite homemade recipes for this one on the internet, but I just love my Lush Aromaco, super easy to use!
- Period products – My favorite ZW find was probably my menstrual cup. It’s absolutely life changing, everybody with a period should get one! Here you can find a test to help you figure out what’s the best cup for you.
TEETH
- Toothpaste – I get a big jar of toothpaste tabs from a nearby package-free shop (the brand is called Denttabs). When they don’t have it, I buy the Lush charcoal toothpaste tabs.
- Mouthwash – I made a mix with water, alcohol, menthol and eucalyptus oil. When I travel, I use Lush tabs.
- Floss – I use a waterpik/water flosser. Absolutely loving it!
I upcycled old little jars and bottles to store these products, and apply/remove them with reusable towels and cloths.
Sounds all pretty simple, doesn’t it?
Well, I will admit, at first it seemed all very, very, very overwhelming, but with time these little changes became every day habits, that nowadays feel just as easy as to grab any beauty product at a store. Plus it’s actually so much fun to experiment with different ingredients, recipes, and scents. I mean seriously, don’t tell me it’s not rewarding to create your own lipbalm or mouthwash!
Plant-Powered Beauty
To show you how easy and simple it is to create your own favorites instead of buying mass-produced beauty products, I want to introduce you to a wonderful book by Amy Galper and Christina Daigneault. Plant-Powered Beauty: The Essential Guide to Using Plant-Based Ingredients for Health, Wellness, and Personal Skincare is an amazing guide for all things you need to know about natural, plant-based cosmetics.
The book starts with the basics, like how your skin and in general beauty products and labels work. Then comes a massive beauty ingredient chart, covering possibly every single ingredient you could use in your homemade products: Essential oils, waxes and butters, herbal infusions, clays, fruits, veggies, grains, and many, many more. When I say massive, I really mean it – over 100 pages of pure information, it’s awesome!
My favorite part of the book is, of course, the recipes. Plant-Powered Beauty contains over 50 recipes, from facial scrubs to cleansers, from bug sprays to foot masks, from hair pomade to eye gel, you will definitely find here what you’re looking for. Some of the recipes I tried and loved are the Deep-Cleansing Facial Mask, the Detox Facial Scrub, the Body Scrub for Dry Skin, the Massage Oil for Sore Muscles, and the Cellulite-Buster Body Scrub.
What’s so great about these recipes, that they all require just a few simple ingredients, there are no crazy long ingredient lists or hard-to-pronounce components here. All natural and healthy. My only problem with the book first was, that some recipes use honey or beeswax, but I discovered, that I can simply use candelilla wax instead, and omit the honey.
I can honestly recommend this book to anyone, it’s such a great read and the perfect guide to help you create a more simple, eco-friendly beauty routine. Whether you try to reduce your waste in the bathroom, or just simply want to switch to more natural products for your health, this book is going to be a great help, I promise you’ll love it!
GIVEAWAY is closed!
To win a copy (or e-book, if you prefer) of Plant-Powered Beauty: The Essential Guide to Using Plant-Based Ingredients for Health, Wellness, and Personal Skincare all you have to do is leaving a comment below to tell me which beauty product you could never give up. I for example can’t live without my rose hip oil (moisturizer) anymore. For extra love points you can also subscribe to my FREE newsletter, like my Facebook page and follow me on Instagram and Pinterest.
This giveaway is only open to people living in the US and Canada, 18 years of age and over. The competition will close at midnight on Monday 6th August and the winner will be selected at random from those who commented. Winner will be notified via email by me within 24 hours of the closing date, and have 5 days from the date of notification to respond to confirm they wish to claim the prize. Good luck!
Giveaway is sponsored by BenBella Books. All opinions are my own.
If you liked this topic, let me know! I would absolutely love to show you how I try to reduce waste in my kitchen, at cleaning, in my make up bag, etc. ❤️
I’m using homemade coffee scrub because I think is the best option and it’s practically free (by product of making coffee). With the rest though, I’m not ready to make a change. It’s great you are doing this, well done!
I love coffee scrubs! Unfortunately neither my BF or I really drink coffee, so we only have leftovers when guests come over 😀
I use apple cider vinegar for my hair too, sometimes coconut oil, but mostly castor oil and black cumin oil. What kind of shampoo bars did you use?
I actually just started to use castor oil recently, they say it does wonders, but I still kinda hate the extra thickness of it 😀
Regarding shampoo bars, I have one for dry hair from Lush (I think it’s called Govida). It’s supposed to be moisturizing, but somehow it makes my hair even dryer. Then I use one I got recently in Barcelona from a vegan shop, no idea what’s the brand, unfortunately (it’s shaped like a doughnut, it’s on a picture above). It’s actually not too bad, but still doesn’t compare to regular shampoo.
My favorite so far is from a brand called Golconda….But yeah, still looking for the dream shampoo bar!
Do you have any recommendations?
I could never give up my Living Libations face oils!!! Every product I’ve tried of theirs has been a winner!!
Also I wouldn’t want to give up baking soda. I use it to wash my face and it’s so cheap and works great!!!
Oh, I didn’t know you can wash your face with baking soda, I only use it for cleaning the house. Is it good for dry skin too? Have to give it a try 😉
Also, those face oils sound great, I’ll check if they are available near me. Thanks for the tip!
Thanks for this post, I hope all your readers make what changes they can. But buying the supplies comes with packaging too right? So my first goals have been to decide what I really need and leave off the rest, and never shop for entertainment! That has really made a difference in our household economy.
I use baking soda to clean my hair, at first I was dissolving a teaspoon in a little water but now just rub that teaspoon of soda into my (short) hair, you might need more, rinse, follow with a 50-50 vinegar/water rinse. I use white vinegar from Costco, it’s a darn plastic jug but big. I can’t really see spending for ACV for topical use.
For deodorant I mix equal parts baking soda and corn starch, use a piece of cotton wool ( from vitamin bottle) to puff on. I use baking soda that says for “swimming pool use” but Costco here in North Carolina puts it in the baking aisle and it’s a 13 lb. bag.
For face, I found in my 30’s that the less I did the better my oily skin behaved. I think doing masks and things was actually irritating it. So wash at night with soap & water; in the summer wash again in a.m. but winter a.m. is just a rinse.
I really struggle to find ways here in a rural-ish town to eliminate plastic and packaging, even our food co-op packages up flours, nuts, etc that you probably find in bins. But if we each try our best hopefully this will make a difference and be a good example for others to change. And remember it’s Refuse, Repair and lastly Recycle! All the best, Liese
Hi Liese,
Thank you for your post, you have so many great tips, I’ll definitely try out baking soda for my hair!
I’m actually pretty lucky, since I live very close to a ZW shop, so I can get a lot of things without packaging (food, cosmetics, etc). There are also countless second hand shops in my near, where I can also find a lot of great things. Plus luckily supermarkets in Germany are also more and more conscious nowadays, with many ZW options. But I know it’s not that easy for most people…many can only choose between plastic packaged from a local supermarket or plastic-free shipped from the other side of the country (usually still wrapped in plastic).
So yes, refuse, reduce, reuse, repair, and recycle, all the way. Such a simple ‘mantra’, but as you say, if we all just do a little bit, it will make a huge difference at the end. 🙂
I wash my hair twice a week; I use a rye wash every weekend (I got the tip from Venusian glow blog) and around midweek I use a Lush shampoo. Rye wash also really brings out highlights in my hair; you might give it a try.
Hi there! I heard already about using rye flour as a shampoo, but it sounds so scary to me. Somehow I always imagine there’ll be dough in my hair and then down the drain…but I guess it’s not the case 😀
I’ll definitely check out that recipe, thanks a lot for the recommendation!
wow this sounds like a great book. While i have thought about zero waste in the context of the kitchen, i never considered the bathroom product side of things. Thanks for opening my eyes. I really need to win this book so that I can learn more plant based approaches.
I’m so happy to hear this, Jacquie! I totally know what you mean, it was all so new to me when I first heard about this…I mean these things in the bathroom just seemed like absolutely necessary things, and could not imagine what else you could use instead 🙂
I seriously cannot live without my moisturizer, I don’t even want to know what my skin would be like without it.
Hahaha, I totally understand you, I would probably cry every day without that 😀
I use 100% pure aloe gel on my face which seems to be the only think that keeps it moist. That would be the one I couldn’t give up.
Along with the face cream I use which contains hyaluronic acid (not really an acid) and baking soda to scrub, that pretty much keeps my facial skin the way I like it.
I already subscribe to your newsletter which I love but have closed facebook for privacy and security reasons.
Thanks for these tips, Cate! I’ll definitely try the aloe gel on my face. I love using fresh aloe when I get sunburned, but I didn’t know it also helps moisturizing. 😉
I really just dont think I could give up standard shampoo! But definitely trying to reduce my plastic usage in other areas.
Hahaha, I totally understand you! It’s a big struggle of mine too…my hair is just so much used to liquid shampoo.
Love Aveeno products – so good for my eczema x
Happy to hear you found something that works for your eczema! 🙂
I could never give up on my tea tree oil, it kills my redness and blemishes from my face.
I love tea tree oil! Whenever I wake up with a nasty pimple tea tree oil makes it go away in a few hours 😉
I could never give up on my shampoo.
🙂
Could not give up toothpaste 🤣
Hahaha, agree 😀
I know I cant enter the giveaway because I live in Hungary, but still, I love this post! I will get this book ASAP. Most of my girlfriends all try to make their beauty products, so we often share our knowledge but this post is full of good tips!
What I would never give up is my hamdmade bodybutter made of shea butter, cocoa butter, coconut oil and olive oil. It took me some time to figure out the amounts, but now it’s smooth sailing 🙂
Szia Zsófi!
Please share that body butter recipe with me! 😉
I’m super lazy and usually just use shea butter by itself, but I’d love to try a proper homemade recipe. 😘
I use argan oil in my face as a moisturizer, and I absolutely love it, my skin is soo clear and healthy and glowy since I use it. My other favourite thing is rose water as a toner. It’s perfectly gentle to my sensitive skin.
I also love both! I just recently started to use rose water, but it’s truly magical 🙂
I think I’d have to pick olive oil – I use it to moisturize my face. Thank you for this giveaway, I need some natural skincare recipes!
I’m with you on this totally, I could never give up on moisturizers!
Toothpaste 😀
True 😀 😀
Nice post and very helpful to all the girls. I would like to share it with my sister so that it can be beneficial to her so that she can save the environment at the same time. We can also make use of a bamboo toothbrush. Keep sharing such useful tips with the readers.
Thank you so much! And thanks for the reminder, I totally forgot about bamboo toothbrushes 😉
I know it’s beginning to sound cliche, but I honestly couldn’t do without my unrefined coconut oil. It serves so many purposes, from moisturizing my face and body, conditioning my hair, softening the tough heels of my feet, oil pulling for fresh breath and dental hygiene, and adding so many nutritional benefits and energy when added to my coffee!
No, it’s not a cliche, I really love it too! Never tried it with coffee tough, have to give it a try once 🙂