What Is Sustainable Skin Care and Personal Care? Here’s Everything You Need To Know

As climate change awareness continues to intensify, consumers are striving to become as green as possible. Consumers are now searching for sustainable skin and hair companies that provide eco-friendly products that still provide great quality. Below we break down what sustainable skin care and personal care are and why you should make an effort to switch over to eco-friendly products.

Defining Sustainable Skin and Personal Care

A sustainable industry produces minimum waste and uses renewable resources when possible to create its products. It eliminates the use of harmful chemicals and minimizes its environmental impact, including during the final phase of delivering the product to consumers. From body cleansers and soap bars to hair and body oils and antioxidant serums, many products are part of sustainable skin care and personal care. 

Our hair and body oil is a great example of a sustainable product that still offers great results. This oil can be used on your skin post-shower to moisturize or whenever you want a tad more shine to your body. Not only that, but you can also use this on your hair to lock in moisture, smooth frizz and as a scalp treatment. The ingredients include vegan keratin to assist with hair fortification, desert date oil to help maintain your natural moisture barrier, jojoba oil to increase suppleness and prickly pear oil to weightlessly nourish. This sustainable product will soon turn into your go-to to stay moisturized! 

Another incredible example is our daily antioxidant serum that brightens, hydrates and protects your skin. This daily serum is made with vitamin C to brighten and even out your skin tone, hyaluronic acid that helps retain water and smooth your skin, and astaxanthin to help prevent environmental damage, wrinkles and inflammation. Our antioxidant serum has been reviewed by dermatologists and is ideal for all skin types, even sensitive skin. Adding this product to your routine is a no-brainer for beautiful, healthy and radiant skin.

Sustainable Packaging

Packaging practices are major concerns when it comes to the sustainability of personal care. Traditionally, most products are sold ready to use in single-use plastic containers that are then often double-packaged inside plastic bags or cardboard boxes. Sustainable approaches to packaging include minimizing packaging, using recyclable packaging and decreasing the weight of the product, thus decreasing the amount of energy needed to transport it.

Consider the case of shampoo. Traditional shampoo is a liquid sold in a plastic, non-recyclable bottle. Liquid shampoo is heavy because it is mostly water. A more sustainable approach is the shampoo bar, which is a solid block of shampoo. A three-month supply of shampoo in bar form weighs around 3 ounces and can be packaged in a tiny box made out of recycled and recyclable cardboard. 

Alternatively, a three-month supply of traditional shampoo in liquid form weighs 90 ounces and is usually packaged in three single-use, non-recyclable plastic bottles. In addition, since a diluted, liquid shampoo can break down, it often has environmentally unfriendly preservatives added to it. 

Why Choose Sustainable Skin Care and Personal Care?

Even if you are not very environmentally conscious, sustainable products are safer to use than traditional options. One aspect of sustainability is eliminating harmful chemicals and preservatives from the formula.

Two examples of sustainable products that are safer for both you and the environment are natural sunscreen and natural lip balm. Chemical sunscreens break down into compounds that can be carcinogenic to people, and when they end up in the water, they can harm coral reefs and other aquatic organisms. Sunscreens formulated from all-natural zinc oxide are safe for you and the environment.

A similar situation occurs with lip balm. Traditional lip balms are packaged in single-use, non-recyclable plastic, and they contain harsh preservatives like parabens, BHA and BHT. They are mostly composed of petroleum jelly, a fossil fuel product that does not biodegrade. Natural lip balms are packaged in recyclable paper, contain no harmful chemicals and are mostly composed of natural, biodegradable products like cocoa and shea butter.

Of course, one of the most important reasons for choosing sustainable products is to ensure that we can enjoy a healthier planet. Consumers can make a difference by prioritizing sustainability over waste when making purchasing decisions. If you can’t swap out every item you use for a more sustainable option, start small. Choose a few low-cost alternatives and gradually replace more items in your home. 

The Bottom Line

It’s important to choose sustainable skin and personal care, both to support your own health and to support the health of the planet. To sum everything up, here are the things to look for when choosing sustainable products:

• Minimal packaging
• Reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging
• Non-plastic packaging
• Certified organic labels
• Responsibly sourced, all-natural ingredients
• Cruelty-free and vegan labeling
• Fairtrade marks

Making the change to sustainable products for you and your family does not need to be overwhelming. Get started on a small scale and work your way up. At The Earthling Co., you can choose body care products that are eco-friendly, not tested on animals and made of high-quality ingredients.