YOUR GUIDE TO A ZERO WASTE BEAUTY ROUTINE

We all love our beauty routines – taking a break from life to nourish our skin (and our souls) is important at any stage of life. But lurking in the background of our skincare routines is a whole lot of plastic and a whole lot of pollution of our beautiful Earth (many beauty products aren’t recyclable unless they have a specific programme!)

So here’s a group of NZ businesses that prioritise their products being zero waste, recyclable, or offer refills so you can love your beauty products without harming the Earth.

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Cleansers

A cleanser is the first step to your routine, and a pretty important one too. You want your cleanser to wash off all the dirt, oil, sunscreen, sweat, and makeup from your skin to leave it prepped and ready to absorb all the goodness from the rest of your routine.

Using a cleansing bar is surprisingly much the same as using a regular cleanser.

Wet your hands, lather the bar up and apply to your face making sure you spend a little extra time on places where there might be stubborn makeup, rinse off and voila!

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Serum/Oils

Serums and oils are your specialty products, allowing you to target your specific concerns.

They do the heavy lifting in your skincare routine.

Most serums will come in glass dropper packaging but if you’re going out on a limb and trying a bar, make sure you warm it up in your hands first before trying to apply it to your face. Getting the amount right especially when using a bar can be hard at first but starting off by warming it between your hands and applying that in a patting motion to your face will give you a good starting point, adding more in the same way if you need.

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Moisturiser

A good moisturiser is a must whether you have oily skin, dry skin or anything in between.

Moisturisers lock in all the good stuff from your serums to help them do their job.

Zero waste moisturisers are among the easiest products to find low waste – look for glass jars and cardboard packaging. The moisturisers listed below go above and beyond that, offering refills, home compostable packaging, and recyclable packaging!

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Exfoliator

Exfoliators help remove dead skin cells to brighten and smooth your skin.

Use 1-2 times a week for best results.

Exfoliators are those nice-to-have steps in your routine! Using what you already have is the most sustainable thing you can do but if you are on the lookout for a new exfoliator these ones are great sustainable and eco-friendly options.

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Shampoo

Your hair is your crown they say, so look after it (and the earth) with a lovely bar shampoo.

Bar shampoos (and powder-based shampoo) take a little bit of getting used to but we promise you will never turn back to a plastic bottle again.

Just run the bar along your hair and then use your hands to lather it up, or lather it up in your hands and apply to your hair.

For powder shampoos its even easier, pop some powder into your hands, add water and you’re away!

Conditioner

Conditioners to nourish and leave your hair silky and smooth.

Much the same as a bar or a powder-based shampoo, there are a few different ways to use it.

Try out rubbing it directly on your ends, or lathering it up in your hands first, and try types of zero waste conditioners such as the ones listed below to see what suits you and you won’t go back to those pesky plastic bottles again.