Once again, I’ve gone down a rabbit hole…this time, with plastic in skincare products. Everyone knows plastic is HORRIBLE for the environment since it’s not bio-degradable (meaning it does not break down, it just clogs up the landfills and ends up polluting nature.)
Plastic is also horrible for our health as plastic contains many hormone disrupting chemicals that leach into our food (in plastic packaging) and products (in plastic bottles.) BPA is not the only toxic chemical in plastic…it’s just the most well known one.
Finding sustainable skincare products has transformed my skincare routine! These products are of much higher quality and have much stricter standards than products you’ll find in the drugstore, the dermatologist, or stores like Sephora and Ulta.
In this post, I’ll cover…
What is sustainable skincare?
What is the most eco-friendly packaging for skincare?
How do you choose eco-friendly skincare products?
What are some sustainable skincare products?
Let’s get into it!
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What is sustainable skincare?
When I look for sustainable skincare, I look at their packaging first. Anything in a plastic bottle is not sustainable. I don’t even like products with a plastic seal if I’m being honest. The more we can cut out plastic, the better!
I also look at the ethics side of it too. Where was this product made? Does it have any certifications for ingredient quality or ingredient sourcing? Is it made ethically? These are all things I look for.
What is the most eco-friendly, sustainable packaging for skincare?
There are multiple eco-friendly packaging options. For my facewash, I prefer a facial bar with no packaging or paper packaging. For anything that requires a bottle, glass is the way to go. Glass, like plastic, takes hundreds and hundreds of years to fully bio-degrade in the environment. Glass can be recycled (like plastic).
There are a couple big differences which make glass eco-friendly. First off, glass does not leach toxic chemicals into the environment (or our food, or our products.) Also, around 80% of glass can be completely recycled and reused whereas only about 7% of plastic can.
There are other materials that can be used for skincare jars and bottles too such as bamboo!
What are some sustainable skincare products?
I love the companies Clean Circle and Crunchi Cosmetics for all my skincare needs!
Clean Circle
Makeup Remover: I love the Clean Circle reusable makeup remover pads! All you need is water to completely remove your makeup! For tough eye makeup, I use a little bit of coconut oil and wipe my eye with the makeup remover pads. When I’m done, I put them in the organic cotton drawstring bag (which is included), wash and reuse them!
They come in a cardboard container which I store mine in! Clean Circle also uses OEKO-Tex® certified bamboo fabrics which do not contain any toxic pesticides.
*Use code Sarena15 for 15% OFF your Clean Circle purchase!
Cotton Balls/Cotton Rounds for toner application: I love the Clean Circle reusable skincare pads. They are so soft and luxurious and are great for pressing toner into dry spots. After using them, I stick them in the included organic cotton drawstring bag, wash and reuse them! These also come in a cardboard container which I use to store them in. Again, these are made with the OEKO-Tex® certified bamboo fabrics.
Exfoliator: The Clean Circle Konjac Facial Sponge is my go to! It comes in a small cardboard box. The Konjac sponge is made from the konjac plant sourced from local Asia farms. The sponge is 100% biodegradable too! It’s gentle enough to use daily.
Crunchi
Face Wash: Crunchi Facial Bars are my go to and have been for 3 years now. The facial bars come wrapped in paper and they do not contain any toxic chemicals.
Toner: Crunchi Clarilight is by far, the best toner I’ve used. It comes in a glass bottle and the bottle is packaged in a cardboard box. Again, there is not a single toxic chemical in Clarilight.
Moisturizer: I use Crunchi Daylight in the morning and Crunchi Nightlight before bed. Daylight comes in a glass bottle with a pump, while Nightlight comes in a glass jar. No toxic chemicals are in either moisturizer!
Serum: Crunchi Goldenlight comes in a glass bottle with a dropper and it is shipped in a cardboard box. Goldenlight does not contain any toxic chemicals.
Daily SPF: Crunchi Sunlight comes in a glass bottle with a pump as well and does not contain any toxic chemicals.
Crunchi’s Sustainability
As a company, Crunchi does not use any plastic as primary packaging. Where plastic is necessary (such as for pumps and lids), their plastic is BPA, BPS, and Phthalate free. Crunchi is certified plastic neutral through 4ocean which means for every pound of plastic that Crunchi uses, 4ocean pulls one pound of plastic from our oceans.
Crunchi also third party tests for heavy metals and their products contain certified organic ingredients and eco-cert ingredients. They have the highest ingredient and packaging standards of any cosmetic company I’ve researched. Crunchi’s products are Made in the USA except for their wooden pencils (which are made in Germany.) The reason for that is because cosmetics manufacturers in the USA who make “wood” pencils (for lip products, eyeliners, eyebrow pencils, etc.) are actually using plastic and making it look like wood. To get the best quality wood for their pencils, Crunchi has to have their pencils made in Germany.
Use my link for $10 off your first Crunchi purchase (when you see my name in the upper right corner.)
How do you choose eco-friendly, sustainable skincare products?
If you’re at the store looking for eco-friendly skincare products, look first at the packaging. Is it in plastic? How much plastic? Is only the lid plastic, or is the entire bottle plastic? Try to find products in glass bottles or for face wash, try to find a face wash bar (that’s not wrapped in plastic.)
Next, I look at the ingredient label. Are there toxic chemicals in the product which could be detrimental to the environment? If there are any toxic chemicals, I avoid the product.
My skincare routine used to consist of a lot of plastic bottles and containers that would end up in the garbage.
The toxic chemicals in some skincare products weren’t good for my skin and it’s not good to let these chemicals contaminate the environment either. Also, I was searching for the best products to help my acne (because I had severe cystic acne), so I would buy different products, try them a few times, and when they didn’t work, they’d end up in the trash. These skincare products were always in plastic bottles and (lots of times) they were almost full.
Now that I have ingredient standards and sustainability standards for my products, I’ve found better skincare products that work better than any of the toxic products I used to use! And my current skincare products include ZERO plastic containers!
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