My Zero-Waste Beauty Routine

A while back I wrote a post on how college can change you. One of the changes that I have seen in myself that I mentioned is that I am trying to go more zero waste. Since that post I have done more and more research. Watched tons of videos, read blog posts and have already decided that zero waste is not for me. Hear me out. The whole point of going zero waste is to reduce the amount of plastic you use. That’s basically it. yes, they will compost and different things to not have a trash can, but the goal is to not have any waste products. That’s impossible. Because even if you are buying your food in bulk, there was waste for it to get there. So every decision you make will cause waste. So it is absolutely impossible to make zero waste. But you can make a smaller impact. Choices you make can make a smaller to lower impact on the Earth and the environment and many zero waste “leaders” have realized this have started using the term low impact. ‘But Lacey,’ you say, ‘the title of this post is your zero waste beauty routine!’ Yes. Its called clicks people. Anyone researching this topic is going to know what zero waste is. They will be searching zero waste and the term low impact hasn’t grown as big yet so fewer people are searching it. so…… this is my zero waste/low impact beauty routine!

This is not going to cover my shower routine. I can do that in another post, this is just going to be my routine when I first wake up and get ready for bed.

MORNING TIME

1. washing my face

The first thing I do both morning and night is wash my face. In the morning I use cold water because if I use anything warmer I want to go back to bed but the warm water shocks me awake. And I use this bar of soap which sits on this dish on the counter. (it used to be the top of a jar I now put pencils in on my desk) it is from Chagrin Valley Soap and Salve Company. I use the Sea Buckthornand Tea Tree. I really like this company because none of their packaging is plastic, even when they ship stuff, like none of the filling stuff is plastic. Its all organic, non-GMO and cruelty-free. Most of their items are vegan. It’s the good stuff. So the bar comes in these card stock boxes and everything I have gotten from them smells amazing. Even my roommate loves smelling all my soaps guys. Anyway. I wet my face with water, get the bar wet and rub it gently on my face until I have enough and then just rub that soap around for like 30 sec or so, rinse, and pat dry with a washcloth.

2. ACV toner

I make my own Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) toner from just normal ACV from the grocery store. My mom bought what I have now so its in a plastic container but when I buy the next one (which might be a while) Ill buy glass. My toner is about ¼ ACV and ¾ water and I put that in an old salsa jar that I saved. Then, after I wash my face I take a reusable cotton round, pour some toner on it until it is wet and rub it on my face and I let it dry.

3. Brush my teeth

This may seem a bit out of place because literally everything else is for my face but I am not a patient person. And the ACV toner you are supposed to let it air dry. And I hate that. Just waiting for something to dry? Its like waiting for a cake to cool before icing it. so instead I use this time to brush my teeth. I use a bamboo tooth brush that I can compost when I get a new one (not that I can compost while living in a dorm room but…) and I make my own tooth paste. I found a recipe somewhere that I follow and I honestly don’t know where it went. But the basic idea is coconut oil, baking soda, and peppermint oil (which is completely optional). I don’t know how much of each but if you do a quick Pinterest search you will probably come up with a million different recipes. And I just put that in a mason jar. Please note: if it is warm and your coconut oil is not a solid all the baking soda will be at the bottom of your container. Making it ineffective because you need the baking soda so make sure you dip down far enough to get some. I don’t suggest keeping it in the refrigerator because that makes the coconut oil very hard and you have to then melt it before using it.

4. Moisturizer

After my toner is dry I put on moisturizer. I use a lotion bar which is also from Chagrin valley. Some people can just use coconut oil, and that’s great but if I use it my entire face just becomes like this one giant pimple. Its awful. And for a while I was just using a commercial lotion but when that ran out I decided to find something else. So I use their three butter lotion bar, which is great for dry skin and I need that. Because my face it weird. I have a very oily T-zone but everywhere else gets dry and flaky. So I use this directly on my skin. It melts with the heat from the body and I can feel it on my skin for about a minute afterwards before its completely absorbed.  Its make from cocoa butter, shea butter, coconut butter, and mango butter. And I know I just got finished saying I cant use coconut butter on my face but I guess the ratio is low enough it doesn’t affect me as much? Idk but this stuff works so I’m going with it.

5. Deodorant

I know there are all kinds of different ways to make deodorant but I got a stick from chagrin valley and I really like it. I use their coconut stick summer rain and yeah. That’s really all I have to say…yep. Here’s a picture. 

OH! yeah the tube is 100% paper so yay!

That’s everything I do in the morning so here is night (it’s a lot of the same stuff FYI)

1. Makeup remover

I might wear makeup 1x a week and I haven’t run out of anything because of how infrequently I use it so none of it is low impact, vegan, cruelty free stuff. But I take it off with coconut oil. I just melt a little bit between my fingers and rub it on my face. I use another cotton round to remove the makeup and move on. Because I wash my face immediately afterwards I don’t find that this breaks out my face.

2. Wash my face

Same as morning except, in the evening I tend to use warm water. NEVER USE HOT WATER ON YOUR FACE! Seriously, it just dries it out and does no good. At all.

3. ACV toner

4. Brush teeth

5. Moisturizer

6. Tea tree oil

I only use this at night because it is specifically to help keep my breakout down and I honestly only need it once a day now. I got this jar of tea tree oil years and years ago as a gift and still have about 2/3 left. What I do is immediately after my moisturizer, before it has absorbed completely, I put one drop on my forehead and one on each cheek and I rub it all over my face. I do not put it near my eyes and I do not put it anywhere there was no moisturizer. The moisturizer is how I dilute it. you HAVE to dilute it somehow. Before I got the lotion bar I would mix it with my lotion to put in on my face but that is not an option anymore with the bar.

hope you guys enjoyed this post,

Love God, Love People, Love Disney 

~Lacey