Sustainable Sunday – February Edition

The second-ever Sustainability Sunday is here! In this February edition I’m dishing out a pretty exciting lineup consisting of three beauty regimen tips that are super-duper sustainable.

Are you ready?! Let’s go!

Reusable Makeup Remover Pads (DIY project!)
I was sick and tired of wasting money buying and then throwing away single-use cotton balls and disposable makeup removing pads or wipes, so I made my own makeup remover pads. If you didn’t see the post, check out “Save Money, the Landfill and Your Face: DIY Makeup Remover Pads.” Now that they are made, I simply use them with a bit of makeup remover. I keep a small mesh washing machine bag complete with a zipper in my linen closet. When I’m all done using the makeup remover pad for the day, I place it in the mesh bag and at the end of the week when its laundry day, I throw the bag all zippered up in with my towels or sheets to be washed. Easy peasy!
Bar soap
Believe it or not, something as simple as using bar soap over body wash can make a huge impact when talking about living in a more sustainable way. For one, bar soap doesn’t come in a plastic bottle which takes a lot of energy to produce and may or may not be able to be recycled. Rather, bar soap usually comes packaged in a box so opt for those brands over the bars wrapped in plastic. You can recycle the box and essentially shower zero-waste style. It’s worth mentioning that bar soap also is free of micro-beads. Which in case you’re unaware, micro-beads are teeny-tiny evil things that are incredibly harmful for our waterways and wildlife. I won’t get on my soap box about that (see what I did there? #corny) but here’s a great TedTalk if you want to learn more. Special shoutout to my awesome SUNY Fredonia Chemistry professor, Sam Mason, who’s groundbreaking research is helping our planet.

Another great thing about bar soap is that you can usually buy it locally. I LOVE goat soap and get it all the time from our local farmers market. If you’re feeling very adventurous, you can embark on the journey of buying molds and making your own! Word on the street is that its not that hard, although I have not tried it yet.

Goat soap photo: homesteading.com/goat-milk-soap
DIY Conditioner
I switched to homemade conditioner. Sounds scary? Not so much. I made it out of natural ingredients and I store it in a glass jar. Without spilling all the beans on the topic, I’ll lead you to the post explaining the process and the ingredients.