How to make your skincare more sustainable

We recently celebrated Earth Day. A whole day set aside to celebrate our wonderous planet, learn about the environment and to promote conservation too. Which got me thinking, there are so many ways we can become more sustainable by making tiny tweaks to our skincare routines alone.

So today I’m going to share the eco-friendly changes I’ve made to my habits, that can easily slot into your daily routines too!

#No.1: Cut out cotton wool and wipes

In all honesty, I’ve never been the biggest fan of cotton wool as the texture gives me ‘nails down a blackboard’ type chills. Although cotton wool is technically made from natural fibres, it becomes contaminated with use by the likes of mascara or even nail polish remover. This means microorganisms can no longer break it down and it becomes almost indestructible.

As for face wipes…Well, they’re pretty much considered the devil of the skincare world and of course the environment too. Although they may seem like a quick makeup removing option, they are highly ineffective and take over 100 years to break down in landfill. I think that’s what we call a lose-lose situation!

Fortunately, it’s so easy to cut both out of our routines by opting for reusable options like our Ultra-Soft Face Cloths instead. Not only do they deliver far superior results than the disposable versions, but they’re super kind to the planet as you only need to buy them once and as a bonus, they save you a fortune over time too.

#No.2: Opt for glass packaging wherever possible

When I was developing BASE, fully recyclable packaging and glass bottles was one of my top priorities. Unlike plastic bottles, glass ones can be recycled endlessly without any loss in quality or purity. Glass bottles are also non-toxic, free from chemicals and remain safe and stable when broken down.

This means even if they’re not recycled, they release no harmful chemicals into the soil and therefore cause minimal damage to the environment. Our goal is always to be as kind to the planet as we are to your skin, and we continue to commit to this goal going forward.

#No.3: Swap your face scrub for AHAs

We all know I’m not a fan of face scrubs in general as they tend to be far too aggressive for our skin. They create millions of microtears across your complexion causing the skin to become red, inflamed and irritated. But did you know, these scrubs can also be disastrous for the planet too?

Many of them are made using plastic microbeads. These microbeads are non-biodegradable meaning that once they’re washed down the drain, they enter into our streams, lakes and oceans and remain there for hundreds of years being ingested by our precious sea life and eventually, us humans too. To put this into perspective, showering just once with a body scrub releases 100,000 microbeads into the ocean.

The best way to avoid all this damage is to exfoliate with AHAs instead. AHAs are naturally occurring, gentle acids used in skincare to effortlessly remove dead skin cells and decongest your pores. We use 5 AHAs in our Exfoliating Cell Renewal Serum and by applying just a few drops each evening, you’ll wake up to clear, radiant skin every single morning.

It’s skincare with a conscience!

#No.4: Turn the tap off

This one is similar to turning the tap off when brushing your teeth and will save more than 200 gallons of water per month.

When you’re cleansing your face, I advise applying our Hot Cloth Cleanser to dry skin and then emulsifying it with a touch of warm water. Once it’s emulsified, the tap can go off and you can gently give your skin a good massage for a minute or so to lift all the impurities from your pores. Once complete, turn the tap back on to soak your Ultra-Soft Face Cloth, then turn it back off and let the cloth remove everything for you.

The water should run for no more than 10 seconds in total, and you’ll still get the best cleanse of your life. It's one little action every day that makes all the difference over a lifetime.

#No.5: Reuse, repurpose & recycle your jars

Sometimes it’s all too easy to throw products out once we’ve finished using them, but if we put our minds to it, the packaging can be reused for many other purposes. For example, so many of you send me messages to say you use your old Proactive Age Kits to organise your dressing tables. You use them as storage for your all your beauty products to keep everything neat, tidy and easily accessible when you’re in a hurry.

I’ve also seen clients using old BASE jars to store jewellery such as earrings and rings and one lady even took them to a refill store, to house her cooking spices! All are absolutely genius and so inventive, so if you’ve got your own creative uses for them, please do let me know so I can share with the group

And those are my easy ways to make your beauty routine more sustainable, kinder to the planet and in fact, kinder to your skin too 🥰

Amy x