Eco Friendly Beauty Regime
Reducing your plastic use can seem almost impossible when it comes to beauty products, everything seems to come in a plastic container!
We’ve done the DIY classes, scoured the internet, and spoken with eco-warriors, and we have found some simple beauty hacks that you can achieve at home.
By 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish, and beauty products are a large part of this problem. Over 129 billion pieces of plastic packaging are wasted by the cosmetic industry every year.
Most reusable beauty products are not only more environmentally friendly but also end up costing a lot less per use.
Here at Unpackaged our staff have been busy testing products and finding great zero-waste options that won’t break the bank.
How many shampoo bottles have you used in the last year?
It’s scary when you start to actually think about it.
Shampoo bars replace the need for plastic shampoo bottles and are super easy to use.
Made locally in Mount Gambier SA, Unpackaged’s shampoo bars are created with seasonal fruit, vegetables, and scents.
How to use: Just rub the bar over your wet hair, massage the lather into your scalp well and then rinse off.
Staff pick: Tammy recommends Lemongrass.
Its fresh scent is suitable for all and even my kids use it. A bar lasts for months, and we simply wrap it in a face washer when traveling. Make sure you let the bar dry out between uses and it will last even longer.
Most makeup wipes take over 100 years to break down in landfills!
We’ve found 100% cotton wipes that are made in SA, eco-friendly, sustainable, and compostable.
Our makeup wipes are perfect for eye makeup removal, or for whole face, makeup try a face washer. Also handcrafted and compostable, our washers don’t pollute the environment with synthetic threads.
Makeup wipes and face washers can be washed in your usual washing machine cycle (we chuck them in with our towels).
Staff tip: You can also use the face washers as cleaning cloths. Have different colours for rooms in your house i.e. red for the bathroom, green for the kitchen. Wash in your washing machine on a normal cycle. When they become tatty put them in your compost or green waste bin.
Make your own beauty products
You probably already have everything you need in your pantry to start making your own beauty products.
Coconut oil, cacao, olive oil, baking powder, apple cider vinegar - all of these pantry items can be used to create a multitude of beauty products.
DIY Dry Shampoo Recipe:
2 TBSP Arrowroot Powder
2 TBSP Cacao Powder
Mix together and place in a shaker jar (a spice jar works well). For lighter hair reduce the amount of cacao. For darker hair add in extra cacao.
It’s important to use cacao and not cocoa, as cocoa can turn into a sweet and sticky mess if it gets wet.
Grab a book from your local library on DIY beauty products, or join one of our workshops to find out how you can reduce your plastic footprint, create your own beauty products, save yourself some money, and reduce landfill.
Refill
About 9 million tons of plastic waste ends up in our oceans EVERY YEAR.
EVERY SINGLE YEAR.
Of this, about 130,000 tons comes directly from Australia.
Unpackaged has all your necessities in bulk, just fill up with as much, or as little, as you need.
Shampoo, Body Wash, Conditioner, Shea Butter…bring in your own container or grab one of ours.
Staff pick: Keisha recommends the coconut shampoo. Great for thick hair, a little goes a long way.
Stop washing your face in plastic!
“ Microbeads are minute pieces of plastic defined as 0.1 to 0.5 millimetres in size, used to give beauty products like facial and body scrubs a grainy texture for exfoliation. They're advertised as a healthy beauty advance, but in reality, they are an ecological nightmare hastening an already dire problem - the global pollution of our oceans from plastic.
Microbeads enter our environment washed down bathroom drains, and what makes them especially threatening is that they are already broken down into teeny-tiny almost invisible pieces of plastic.
Too small to be filtered by sewerage systems, microbeads swiftly flow into our oceans, rivers, and lakes where they float and absorb toxins, then are ingested by marine life because they resemble fish eggs. This makes them even more immediately dangerous than a discarded drink bottle!!
It is highly likely that humans then consume the toxins when they eat the fish or animals who have ingested the plastics.” One Million Women
Grab a facial cleansing bar, keep it dry between uses and it will last you months.
To keep your skin looking amazing try a facial clay once or twice a month. Depending on your skin needs Unpackaged have options to suit you; retain moisture, minimize pores, or reduce oils.