The Ultimate Guide to Sustainable Personal Care

Sustainability is so much more than just recycling or picking up trash. It’s something that can and, I believe should, be part of a daily routine. Personal care is something that can create a lot of waste… like a lot of waste. Although it may seem that some of these things have a higher price tag, and some do, I have found that a lot of them balance out in the long run. Others are a slight increase, but, for me, it’s a small price to pay to be better for the environment. This post is specific to personal care, so I’m going to break it down by category and tell you about products I personally use and love.

Sustainable Swaps for Your Personal Care Routine

Shampoo Bars

A lot of people I know have been hesitant to use shampoo bars because they feel like they’ll be harmful to dyed hair, won’t lather or just won’t clean the same way. I’m here to tell you, I’ve used a handful of shampoo bar brands and I won’t go back. In the U.S. 550 million plastic shampoo bottles are thrown away annually. And that’s only in the United States! The shampoo bars that I recommend not only create zero plastic waste, they actually create zero waste in general if you recycle or compost. Also, all the brands I mention below also have conditioner bars!

HiBar Shampoo Bars

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HiBar Shampoo is my new favorite shampoo bar. They have different shampoo (and conditioner!) bars for different hair types. I have very fine hair, so the volumize bar and it makes my hair feel and look so much fuller while not leaving it oily and flat! Plus, the scent is so refreshing.

Superzero Shampoo Bars

Superzero’s shampoo bars are aromatic, leave my hair feeling fresh and clean and are oh-so-wonderful for the environment. The production of their bars is 80-90% lower carbon footprint than liquid shampoos and they contribute to carbon off-set projects to get these bars down to carbon neutral, which means I get to wash my hair guilt free!

J.R. Liggett’s Shampoo Bars

These shampoo bars are my original go-to and I still use them frequently! Especially since they’re currently easier to find around town. These shampoo bars don’t leave my hair feeling quite as un-oily (I have naturally oily hair), but, as I said, I do still love these bars. Many of these bars have a more herbal hippie scent, which I love. I especially love these while traveling because they have mini sizes for shorter trips and travel packs to put them in!

Add These Shampoo Bars to Your Amazon Shopping Cart

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Deodorant

By Humankind Deodorant w/ Refillable Dispenser

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My favorite thing about this deodorant is that it is “so natural you can eat it!” I love using products that I don’t have to fret about not understanding what’s in it. Like other By Humankind products, they have reusable holders and the refills are in compostable or recyclable containers.

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Dental Routine

Let’s talk about the waste our dental routines create annually. In the U.S. alone, over 400 million toothpaste tubes are thrown away each year. Dental floss containers take about 500 years to decompose and the standard floss you buy at the store is nylon, read plastic. Also, 175 million pounds of plastic are thrown away in the form of toothbrushes each year, worldwide! Now days, though, there are so many alternative options for your dental routine that produce significantly less waste!

By Humankind Toothpaste Tablets

These toothpaste tabs create zero plastic waste. The tablets themselves come in a compostable wrapping and when you first purchase By Humankind toothpaste tablets they come with a class container and silicon lid that you can reuse over and over when you need to refill the tablets. Now, I will say, the flavor of these aren’t as vibrant as normal toothpaste, so it does take getting used to the flavor, but it’s so worth it.

By Humankind Mouthwash Tabs

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I didn’t mention any specifics above about the plastic waste mouthwash creates. Those containers typically can be recycled, but these cut out the plastic waste all together, since we know recycling isn’t foolproof. By Humankind’s mouthwash tablets come in the compostable packets and with a contain that holds the tablets in one section and then a water cup to use to create the mouthwash all in one convenient location. It’s also mildly flavored, but isn’t as big of a shock on the first-time use as the toothpaste.

By Humankind Dental Floss

Dental floss was one of those mind-blown moments for me. I knew the container was wasteful, but I didn’t think about the fact that the floss itself was plastic. By Humankind’s dental floss is, once again, plastic free and the floss is made of silk. It doesn’t have chemical-filled wax around the traditional nylon floss, instead it has vegan floss and jojoba oil to sooth gums as you floss. These also use refillable containers and compostable packaging.

Bamboo Toothbrushes

Like I mentioned above, toothbrushes create 175,000,000 pound of plastic waste annually. That’s a lot of waste. Bamboo toothbrushes eliminate that waste. Plus, bamboo is biodegradable and it grows significantly faster than trees meaning the material to make these toothbrushes doesn’t contribute to deforestation. Brands like By Humankind also have bamboo toothbrushes.

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Toilet Paper

Cloud Paper – Bamboo TP

Did you know that 20% of deforestation comes from traditional, tree-based toilet paper? Cloud Paper did so they created a bamboo-based toilet paper. In addition to the toilet paper itself being exponentially more sustainable, their packaging is compostable and 100% plastic-free! Zero trees are harmed. Zero plastic is used. I love this stuff! If you have a supremely pampered toosh, like my husband, this might not be for you, as it is a bit coarser than brands Charmin. However, my toosh loves Cloud Paper.

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Cosmetics + Skin Care

Loli Beauty Skin Care

Loli Beauty has the most amazing mission. They say if it’s not sustainable or better for people or the planet, it’s not for them. That’s all it took to get me on board! They sent me their Date Nut Brûlée, Matcha Coconut Paste, Arnica Elderberry Jelly and Pank Plum Elixir and I love that my face feels unbelievably fresh, clean and healthy. I also love that many of the products can be multi-purpose for face or chapped lips, cleansing or moisturizing. Their products are food grade, so they recommend using their yogurt-style-jars for food storage. The re-user in me loves this!

Mad Hippie Skin Care

Mad Hippie Products are vegan, cruelty-free and use natural, high-quality products that leave your face feeling fresh and natural in the very best ways. They sent me a whole routine of Cream Cleanser, Vitamin C Serum and Face Cream that I’ve truly fallen in love with using. Mad Hippie also donate $1 of every website sale to conservation. Plus, they use *bioresin sugarcane plastic tubes, recyclable boxes and they’ve partnered with Terracycle for the plastic components that they haven’t been able to eliminate.

Add These Sustainable Skin Care Products to Your Amazon Cart

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Like the quote goes, it doesn’t take one person doing sustainability perfectly, it takes a million of us doing sustainability imperfectly. I’m nowhere near perfect, but I am grateful for brands and products that allow me to live just a little more sustainably. While personal care can be unbelievably wasteful, even switching to one of these things will help the environment over the course of a lifetime.

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Although these products were gifted, all opinions, as always, are my own.