5 Ways To Make Your Daily Beauty Routine More Eco-Friendly

Okay, we’ve got some beauty news for you, and we’ll start with the bad: Products that make your beauty routine easier are often made out of synthetic materials and packaging that can’t be broken down. Time-savers like makeup cleansing wipes, facial sheet masks, and portable deodorant sticks end up piling up in landfills or in our oceans, polluting the environment for centuries. Ugh.

But now for the good news: There are friendlier, more sustainable options. Take VEOCEL™, a special fiber of botanic origin derived from renewable wood sources and compostable under a variety of conditions: industrial, home, soil, freshwater, and saltwater. VEOCEL™ fibers are used in a range of beauty care products and are not only friendly to the environment, but they are also super gentle on even the most sensitive of skin.

VEOCEL™ wants everyone to know that #ItsInOurHands when it comes to making the world a better place, so opting for more sustainable options whenever we can is extra important. That’s exactly why we’re serving up simple tips for you to make your beauty regime a little bit more mindful. They’re small and easy to do, but if we all get on board, they’ll pay off in a really big way.

1. Look For Reusable & Refillable Packaging

Lots of hair and skin care brands now offer refillable pouches or containers for their products. These alternatives use much less plastic than their original bottles and can be decanted into other reusable containers. If you’re open to trying something new, go completely plastic-free and try a shampoo bar, which typically comes wrapped in recyclable paper and is often formulated with biodegradable ingredients.

Packaging in makeup is evolving, too, with refillable palettes, blushes, eyeshadows, and more. Buy the compact once and it’ll last you a lifetime — just use refills when you run out.

2. Rethink Sheet Masks & Makeup Wipes

This will surprise you: Most sheet masks and makeup wipes are made from nylon, plastic microfiber, or polyester — all of which can’t be recycled or composted and must be tossed after use. The individual fibers in these products can also separate after they are disposed of, resulting in aquatic life-harming microplastics (and posing a health risk for us humans, too). Clean things up by looking for makeup wipes and sheet masks made of only VEOCEL™ fibers. These fibers biodegrade quickly in soil and water, while plastic and other synthetic materials can take up to 500 years. Crazy, right?

3. Hit Up Your Local Recycling Center

Recycling can be really freakin’ confusing. Call or visit your local recycling center to see what kind of plastic, aluminum, steel, or glass packaging they’ll recycle, then bring your used bottles and beauty packaging to them directly. (FYI: caps, pumps, and droppers may be difficult to recycle because they're made with multiple material types, so don't forget to ask about those, too.) We recommend dedicating a separate trash pail or box just for used beauty stuff, then going through it when you’re ready to recycle it all. And always have a zero-waste mentality: If it comes in recyclable paper, compost it. Glass bottle or jar? Give it a second life and use it to house something else.

4. Mix Up Your Own Treatments

Look to nature (and your kitchen!) for the most effective and sustainable solutions. For a nourishing, shine-boosting hair mask, try avocado and olive oil; to nourish your skin, stir together some honey and Greek yogurt; and for a moisturizing and renewing body scrub, fold brown sugar into a little bit of coconut oil. And just like that, you’re a holistic goddess.

5. Shop In Person

As if you didn’t have enough to think about, shipping contributes to a lot of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, not to mention the amount of packaging that’s used to actually get your products to you: Boxes, bubble wrap or protective padding, paper inserts, stickers… the list goes on. Instead of shopping online, stock up on your beauty essentials in person to help cut down on all the excess trash.