For the environment: How to make your beauty routine more sustainable
There's more to a green beauty routine than just using eco-friendly cotton pads. Balancing environmental friendliness with effectiveness isn't always easy. We have a few tips and tricks to help you bring your skincare routine up to a sustainable level.
Fortunately, sustainability is no longer a foreign concept in the beauty industry. We can actively influence it through conscious consumption and the right purchasing decisions. Many aspects contribute to a more sustainable cosmetics routine: not wasting products, paying attention to packaging, (short) transport routes, and clean ingredients.
Sustainable wherever possible
Let's start with cleansing: Here, we look for rich textures that melt velvety in our hands and dissolve dirt, sebum, and makeup. If we need to give ourselves a helping hand, we don't use disposable wipes, but reusable washcloths that we simply throw in with the next load of laundry. We can also do something good for the environment in the shower: Of course, we turn off the water while soaping and shampooing. Tip: Many companies now offer refill packs for shampoo, conditioner, and shower gel – this saves plastic and packaging waste at home. Speaking of waste, we naturally separate it: cotton swabs in the household waste, plastic packaging in the yellow bin, and cardboard boxes and empty toilet paper rolls in the cardboard waste.
Refill instead of throwing away – the refill trend is taking over the beauty world and making bathroom shelves more sustainable. The L'Oréal Group is setting new standards with a wide range of refillable products. There are a variety of options, especially for shampoos: The practical refill bags for L'Oréal Paris Elvital and Garnier True Treasures reduce plastic consumption by an impressive 60%. In the premium segment, Kérastase and L'Oréal Professionnel also offer sustainable refill solutions for well-groomed hair without a guilty conscience. The environmental benefits are enormous: With La Roche-Posay Effaclar, over 70% of packaging material can be saved – a major step for environmentally conscious skincare. Luxury brands like Lancôme enable sustainable glamour with refillable premium jars for anti-aging products. Even perfumes from Prada, Yves Saint Laurent, and Mugler are available for refilling – the elegant bottles remain, only the fragrance is renewed. Best of all, refill products are not only kind to the environment, but also to your wallet. A win-win situation in every respect – #JOINTHEREFILLMOVEMENT here !
The next (optional) step in your skincare routine would be facial water, toner, and/or essence. All three product categories are very liquid and are therefore often applied to the face with a cotton pad. However, this results in us wasting about half the product on the pad per application ! With cotton pads, it's even more, because they absorb more. We can do better!
Form a small bowl with your hand and pour the product into it. Now, with your free hand, gradually scoop up the liquid and apply it all over your skin. It takes some getting used to, but it's super quick. And you'll immediately notice that you need much less product ! You can use this trick anywhere the packaging says "apply with a cotton pad." This includes chemical exfoliants like BHA and AHA.
Care: Get the best out of your products!- Sustainable care begins with how you use your products. To ensure your skincare lasts as long as possible, you should only use clean fingers or a disinfected spatula to dispense creams from jars. And very important: The pipettes in serums should not touch your skin! This allows bacteria to enter your bottle. This causes your cosmetics to spoil more quickly – and if you continue to use them, this can result in rashes and blemishes.
- A simple tip that we all too often forget: Use up your products! Of course, sometimes something won't work for your skin. So, do your research beforehand, read reviews, and buy consciously. If you don't like a face cream, you can either give it away or use it on your body. Just don't forget it in your drawer!
- How you store your cosmetics is crucial. If you like using a vitamin C serum, for example, don't leave it in front of the bathroom window. UV rays will render it ineffective . With a vitamin C serum, you can tell by its color: If it's darker than it was when you first opened it, the product's effectiveness has been lost and is useless. So, make sure you buy it in dark, opaque packaging.
- An innovative and particularly safe form of packaging: the "airless dispenser." This protects the product from air and oxidation, allows for hygienic dispensing, and ensures not a single drop is wasted.
The most important thing if you want to make your skincare routine more conscious, cleaner, and more sustainable is to take a close look at the products you choose – because we can all do a lot for the environment with small steps.
Brigitte
