wellness and beauty
Taking care of your self shouldn't come at a cost for the planet but it often does.
The beauty industry is currently valued at over $532billion a year and it continues to grow. Suncare is a nearly $2billion industry in the US alone. It is estimated that 14.000 tonnes of sunscreen lotion reaches our oceans every year. Sunscreen lotion that contains chemicals that recent studies have found is a major factor in the bleaching of the coral reefs. Studies also show that these dangerous chemicals are absorbed by our skin where it remains in our blood for weeks.
The average American person uses 10 bottles of shower gel , 10 bottles of shampoo and 25 bottles of hand wash per year.
And do you take vitamins? Or supplements? Maybe both? If you do it is highly likely that they also come in plastic jars contributing to the 300million tonnes of plastic that is produced every year.
More than 12 billion pads and tampons are thrown out every year, and the average person with periods uses 11.000 pads, panty liners and tampons in their lifetime.
This all adds up to a lot of landfill. So how can you make your wellness and beauty routine more sustainable? Look for clean beauty with as little plastic packaging s possible-bars are the stars! Reach for aluminum or glass when possible. Subscribe to a refill program or find a local refill store.
The links below may contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through it, we may receive a commission at no extra charge to you.
hair, FACE & body care
Super Zero makes planet friendly hair care with no plastic, no bottle, no water (why transport water around?) no harmful packaging, no BS. Shampoo, conditioner, hair treatment and hand balm bars that are 98% plant based, entirely vegan and cruelty free. The packaging is recycled and recyclable, made from chlorine free cardboard material that is printed with non-toxic bio degradable inks and water based adhesives. Take their hair quiz and order your bars here. Trust us-You'll never reach for a plastic shampoo bottle again.
Plaine Products offers everything you need for planet friendly personal care- shampoos, conditioners, hand wash, body wash, body lotion, face wash and moisturizers, facial toners, facial oils, hair repair and beauty oil (for face, body and hair). All their products come in re-useable aluminum bottles that you can send back once they're empty. All products are manufactured in the US, the entire line is palm oil free, and contains organic non-GMO, vegan ingredients. They're all free of parabens, sulfates and toxins. Delivered to your door on a monthly basis or as you go. You can find them at Package Free Shop or shop the entire collection at Plaine Products.
Plastic free deodorant, lip balms, face oils and cleansers. Body soaps and shampoo bars. Meow meow tweet products come in aluminum jars, paper tubes or glass bottles (with plastic pumps you keep for the next refill). We love their face bar soaps. You can check them out at the Detox Market or Package Free Shop.
Plastic free- hair care, body care, skin care, lip care and concentrates as well as shampoos and conditioner for our furry friends and was, balms and bath milks for our human minis. Ethique is also Climate positive, palm oil free, cruelty free and vegan. You can find them on Amazon. And you can call Amazon to tell them to not send you any packages in plastic.
Plastic free deodorant made from all natural ingredients that are certified vegan and safe. Paper Cosmetic never use aluminum, parabens, silicone or sulfates. They also never test any products on animals. The packaging is a paper tube-Think popsicle! It is made from 99.98% FSC certified,
responsibly sourced paper and is fully biodegradable and recyclable. Find them here.
Alpine Provisions was born from the founder's love of the outdoors and their products reflect that. They are loaded with nutrient-dense, skin-loving ingredients, and are scented with sustainably-sourced, organic aromatherapy blends inspired by some of the founder's favorite places in the natural world. The packaging (apart from their hand soap and the lid on their relief balm) is plastic-free. Hair care, body wash and hand sanitizer in aluminum bottles, deodorants and lip balms in paper tubes, bar soaps wrapped in paper.
A portion of all their sales benefit a scholarship fund they created in partnership with the Colorado Outward Bound School that provides young adults with three-week-long outdoor leadership programs in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, Utah, Alaska, and Wyoming.
Their tag line is: 'Peach, not Plastic" and they make plastic free deodorant, hair care, body care and face care. Their deodorant is an Aluminum-free formula made with arrowroot powder and magnesium to help absorb wetness while providing long-lasting odor protection for up to 48 hours. Infused with nourishing coconut oil and microbiome-protecting probiotics, it’s non-irritating and kind to sensitive skin. Their bars are awesome.
beauty
Sustainable Beauty is a hard category to do by brand as there are so many options and we all want so many different things and our needs change with the season. . All Natural and toxic free but not all plastic free. You can browse their selection here. The Detox Market offers lots of different brands and they carry most of the brands we will mention below
Meow Meow Tweet is a small batch skin care company that makes vegan products with pure, all natural and organic ingredients. Packaging is done with the planet in mind using the least amount of plastic possible and all their products come in glass bottles or jars, (some with plastic pump) or compostable and recyclable paper tubes making them more sustainable than many of their competitors. Once you have your jars and bottles you can buy a bigger bulk version to refill them and Meow Meow Tweet will take back the big refill container to reuse.
Their sustainable product range covers everything for the face, body, hair and sun care. Find them in Package Free Shop or find them at the Detox Market.
Sustainability has always been a pillar in Kjaer Weis' makeup philosophy. The metal compartments of their makeup is meant to be re-used over and over with minimal packaged refills. Her line includes everything you might need from pressed and liquid foundations to blushes, mascaras and lipsticks. See them at the Detox Market.
Axiology is an American natural beauty brand that is completely vegan and cruelty free. Their ingredient list is 10 ingredients long-the shortest in the industry. And all of them clean. Their lip stick tubes are made from post consumer plastics, the boxes are handmade from recycled trash by a woman's collective in Bali. Their Balmies are our favorite- 100% zero waste packaged crayons to use on lips, cheeks and eyelids. Tear the recyclable wrapping paper as you go and recycle the (handmade from recycled trash) box when you are done. Maybe the most sustainable beauty product there is.
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You can find them at Axiology Beauty or from the Detox Market. And with all the colors they have to choose from you will find yours.
Aether Beauty is formulated with only the cleanest ingredients and infused with crystals for the shimmer and glow. They removed the magnets and mirror inside their make up compartments, because let's face it-who ever used them? Doing this made their packaging 100% recyclable. Aether Beauty is also part of the 1% for the Planet Foundation and donate 1% of their sales to environmental organizations. You can find their products at the Detox Market.
La bouche rouge is a French make up brand with a long list of chemicals and additives that they won't use in their formulations. Microplastics being one of them. There is enough of that in our oceans already, no need to add them to our makeup. The make up is refillable, with some (recyclable if your county does it) plastic elements but a majority of paper and glass. The formulations are vegan but refill cases are either leather (made from the final meters of the existing leather production from prestigious Tanneries du Puy in France) or vegan leather (made from a unique recycled fiber material created by Stella McCartney) Lipsticks, lip pencils, bronzers, highlighters, eye shadows, mascara, eyebrow pencils and eyebrow serums and brushes are available from Detox Market.
sunscreen
Raw elements was created by an ocean lifeguard to create the safest most effective sunscreen on the planet. The ingredients are clean and reef safe (non-nano zinc oxide, beeswax, black tea, candelilla wax, cocoa butter, coffee, green tea, hemp seed oil, mango butter, rosemary oil, sunflower oil, and vitamin E) and they have plastic free packaging both for their face and body tin, tinted face tin, and baby + kids tin (aluminum). They also do sunsticks in compostable paper tubes. You can find them in the Package Free Shop or the Detox Market.
EiR was born in the Montauk surf community as a better and greener alternative to what was on the market. In terms of sunscreen they do Surf Mud, a sunscreen balm in an aluminum tin, and Surf Mud Pro and Snow patrol sticks in paper tubes. Ingredients are clean and natural and they're all reef safe. (non-nano zinc oxide, beeswax, cocoa butter, cocoa powder and vitamin E oil) They also do skin, body and hair care, ranging from face mists and hair and beard oils to muscle relief balm, most of which is in glass , or aluminum bottles. You can find out more about them at the Detox market.
Raw Love uses 100% plant based ingredients (cold pressed unrefined coconut oil, raw shea butter, non nano zinc oxide, sesame oil, beeswax, jojoba oil, vitamin e oil, carrot seed oil, and lavender-, peppermint- and eucalyptus essential oil. The Raw Love sunscreen is made in Hawaii, is reef safe and comes in a metal tin. It can be bought from Well Earth Goods.
All Good Sunscreen is ALL good. Reef safe, plastic free and great sun protection. SPF 50+ it is also Water Resistant (80 Minutes), UVA/UVB Broad Spectrum Protectant, Cruelty Free, Paraben Free. You can find it at Sun and Swell and on Amazon.
Surf Dirt is a reef safe mineral based sunscreen made in the US and created by two women from California. Surf Durt contains the safest possible ingredients (non nano zinc oxide, cocoa butter, coconut oil, jojoba oil, avocado oil, beeswax, beeswax derivative, mango butter, vitamin E and iron oxide pigment in the tan color). A straight up, better sunscreen for you, your skin and the oceans. There's two colors-white (and it goes on white) or natural tan to choose from. The jar is made from bamboo with an aluminum liner. You can get yours from Amazon or directly from Surf Durt here.
Meow Meow Tweet makes a silky smooth everyday sunscreen with SPF 25. The sunscreen is for both face and body and is a reef safe mineral based lotion. The active ingredient is non-nano zinc oxide and it smells amazing from geranium. It comes in three sizes: 1 oz in a glass jar, and 2.7 oz and 10.5 oz in aluminum bottles. order the bottles with our without pump. You can check them out at the Detox Market and Package Free Shop.
VITAMINS & SUPPLEMENTS
Seed
Seed is one of the sustainable wellness brands that we are the most fascinated by. From a sustainability standpoint we have yet to discover another brand with the same high standards. Seed makes probiotics, but beyond what you would pick up in your local pharmacy. They have a lot to say about probiotics so I'll let them tell you here. But in terms of sustainability-Seed works as a monthly subscription (that you can end at any point) and the fist delivery arrives in a glass jar that you will continue using for as long as you subscribe. The tray it ships in is made from renewable ingredients-starch, natural fibers, and water, and is produced energy efficiently. It is fully recyclable and home compostable. The shipping box is constructed from ecological paper made from algae that would otherwise damage fragile marine ecosystems. The box is recyclable. The refills comes in home compostable bio based pouches and to protect the monthly refills during shipping they use an entirely natural and unique insulator made from US grown non GMO cornstarch. It is biodegradable, home compostable, edible and dissolves in water (seriously-try it!)
You can learn more here:
We may be partial to Moon Juice, because it is around the corner from our LA office-we love their adaptogenic supplements, juices, milks, tonics, and treats. Excluding treats their bottles and jars are made from glass and from June this year they are transitioning in to lids made from only plant-based lids that will fully break down in industrial compost after six months or your backyard compost after one year. We also got pretty stoked when they announced that they were starting to use compostable PLA pouches for their Super Refills- and that they are working on transitioning more of their packaging into compostable materials. The world needs more composting facilities and less landfills. We stay chill with their Super You. .
Gem's products are vitamins you eat not take. Superfoods, vitamins, minerals, probiotics and more in each whole food bite. Their products are food-first, plant-based, and minimally processed. No animal products or by-products, no dairy, no soy, no artificial colorants or unnecessary binders or filler.
The packaging system is designed to eliminate single-use plastics and use recyclable, compostable, and reusable containers to reduce our footprint for sustainable self-health. First order comes with large tin and travel tin and refills are shipped in a compostable pouch. You can find out more here.
Period care
Discovering period panties a few years back was such a revelation for us. Reusable period panties that replaces your tampons, pantyliners and pads. You wear, you rinse and you wash them in the machine. They're comfortable, they don't leak and they prevent single use menstrual hygiene products from ending up in landfill. It sounded too good to be true and it turns out it was. One of the biggest brands Thinx recently settled a lawsuit claiming the panties contains PFAS and other potentially harmful chemicals. Thinx denies the claim.
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If you have been using these panties you may be eligible to a claim. Find out more here.
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If you want to know more you can read more on the Sierra Club-written by the woman who was writing a piece on which period panties were the greenest and least toxic. Jessian Choy had the panties independently tested and discovered the PFAS. Also on more on NPR, in the Washington Post, or Good Morning America.
The Ruby Cup is a menstrual cup made of 100% medical grade silicone making it soft and easy to use. It has 3x the capacity of a tampon and can be worn for up to 8 hours at a time.
The silicone material is hypoallergenic, non-absorbent and contains no harmful additives or chemicals. You can reuse a Ruby Cup for up to ten years and save 10kg of plastic from disposable products from ending up in landfills.
Since 2012, every single Ruby Cup sold is accompanied by another cup that is donated to a girl or woman who struggles to gain access to safe and affordable period products. Get yours here:
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Since Diva Cup started in 2002 they have supported those in need, with menstrual products, financial gifts, in kind marketing support and advocacy. They are committed to advancing the Menstrual equality movement through Education, Advocacy and Access and are working with partners like Period, The Ali Forney Center, The Native Youth Sexual Health Network, Diva day, Operation Courage is Beautiful, Be a Rose, Womens Voices for the Earth, and Womens Environmental Network towards that goal. The Diva cup creates less waste than using traditional pads and panty liners over a lifetime of periods (300 pounds less to be specific), it is more economical and made from medical grade silicon (in Canada) it is free from BPA, plastics, chemical and dyes. the Diva cup is inserted in the vagina where it collects the blood in the little cup, you can wear it up to 12 hours, take out, empty, rinse and re-insert. You can find it at Earth Hero
The Saalt silicon cup is a reusable soft silicon cup made in the USA from 100% medical grade silicone. No BPA. No Latex. No chemicals. The cup is inserted in the vagina where it collects blood rather than absorbs it like a tampon or panty liner. Once it is filled, take out, rinse and reinsert for up to another 12 hours of protection. Saalt is a certified B-corp and from every purchase Saalt gives 2% to donate period care to areas where it is needed the most and funds initiatives in menstrual health, girls education and sustainability. You can buy it from Well Earth Goods or Earth Hero
The worlds first plastic free pregnancy test comes from Lia. It is FDA cleared and over 99% accurate, 0% plastic and 100% biodegradable. You can flush it or compost it
Easy to use, just pee, see, flush. Pretty groundbreaking if you ask us. Find out more about it here.