If you want to reduce the number of chemicals and the amount of plastic waste in your self care routine, as well as sticking to a budget, there are many frugal, low waste beauty products that you can make yourself.
However, like many busy people, I don’t have time to spend hours making complicated potions using lots of different ingredients. Keeping it simple when it comes to looking after my hair and skin is key. With this in mind, I have been researching some low waste beauty products that are easy to put together and won’t break the bank.
Why should you bother to go for low waste beauty products?
Your health
According to this article in the Guardian, the average American woman uses an average of 12 beauty and personal care products containing around 200 different chemicals.
However, having a huge choice of toiletries and make up items may come at a price. The organisation EWG, which monitors chemicals in cosmetics, says that cancer, infertility and allergies are on the increase and suggests that chemical overload may be an underlying cause.
Even if one chemical is tested and judged safe (and not all of them are adequately tested), the consequences of mixing hundreds of chemicals together on your skin aren’t clear. Nneka Leiba from EWG says:
“A big unknown is how chemicals interact with each other in the body after they are absorbed through the skin. We are talking about how phthalates may combine with parabens, for example, because they’re both endocrine-disrupting chemicals.”
Reducing plastic waste
As well as the cocktail of chemicals that may end up in our environment and in our bodies due to our use of toiletries and cosmetics, they are almost always stored in plastic tubs and bottles, often inside cardboard boxes which are sealed with plastic film.
When you consider that even the most low maintenance of us is still likely to have a cupboard full of products, that equates to an awful lot of packaging waste. Making some of your own low waste beauty products can help you to minimise your plastic waste.
I have posts to help you reduce your plastic waste here and here.
Your wallet
There are alternatives available now but, even if you can cut your way through the green wash and work out whether they are genuinely better for you, more natural products frequently come at a higher price. They also often still come in plastic packaging.
But it’s not essential to spend a lot on personal care. By reducing the number of products to the minimum, using it all up before starting another (yes, we have all been guilty of having half pots of stuff building up because we can’t wait to try the new one) and making some of your own items, you can still have good quality, low waste beauty products that won’t bust your budget.
You might find you already have some ingredients for my suggestions below in your kitchen cupboard. You may not need to buy a lot of different items either as one product can often be used for many purposes. For example, coconut oil and cider vinegar both have a range of self-care uses, and if you have some leftover you can always use them in cooking!
Here are some ideas to make some frugal, low waste beauty products with minimal effort and fuss.
Low waste beauty products that save money too
No poo
Many people have embraced the so-called ‘no poo’ methods of keeping your hair clean, without commercial shampoos.
Shampoo contains many toxic chemicals, even those labelled as containing natural ingredients. They may include coconut milk, orchid extract or avocado, which sound good enough to eat. However, other more threatening ingredients are also likely to be in the mix, such as oxybenzone, synthetic fragrance, benzyl salicylate and formaldehyde releaser.
It is possible to get rid of shampoo altogether and still have clean, healthy hair. For more information on this and how to get started, check out thenopoomethod.com.
I have just begun using Natco Gram Flour* to wash my hair, so will do a follow up post to let you know how I get on!
Hair conditioners
There are alternatives to commercial hair conditioners too. Argan oil*
You can make your hair shine with a lemon and cider vinegar rinse. You can see how to do this and use chick pea flour to clean your hair at Fairyland Cottage on YouTube.
You can also give yourself a rich hot oil treatment using olive oil. My instructions on how to do this can be found here.
Other DIY hair products
Frizzy hair? This linseed oil hair gel from Fairyland Cottage is so easy to make and tames frizzy locks.
Instead of commercial dry shampoo, Sodium Bicarbonate*
Caster oil*
Skincare
Reusable bamboo cotton pads are a cheap, low waste beauty product essential. If you want it to be even cheaper, you can make your own from an old cotton T shirt or towel, such as these ones.
This post from Root and Revel explains how to create a home made skin tonic using just three ingredients: rose water*
Root and Revel also have a lovely, gentle looking cleanser recipe, here.
A soothing and moisturising low waste face mask recipe – based on coconut cream – can be found at Fairyland Cottage. You can read the recipe and watch the video instructions here.
If you are a coffee drinker and have leftover coffee grounds, how about transforming them into a coffee body scrub? You can find simple instructions at the Home Remedy Shop.
This post for a Rich lip balm from A Blossoming Life uses shea butter*
You can also use coconut oil as a shaving balm – who knew? You will find instructions at Healthline in this post.
As mentioned previously, argan oil is well known as a hair conditioner. However, according to this article, it is great for skin care too and can help diminish age spots and heal acne.
Oral care
If you make the linseed hair gel, you can use any leftover grapefruit seed extract*
You can find many recipes for toothpaste which are based on bicarbonate of soda. However, I have found these rather abrasive. One to try as an alternative is this one, based on coconut and arrowroot powder. Another one from the excellent Fairyland Cottage.
Deodorant
Commercial deodorants contain a range of chemicals, including aluminium (linked with Alzheimer’s) and parabens (implicated in breast and prostate cancer).
If you want a more natural alternative, baking soda can be brushed under your armpits as a natural deodorant (and is also good sprinkled into smelly shoes). However, this can be too harsh for sensitive skin. It is possible to make your own deodorant, of course. This recipe from Holland and Barratt combines a little bicarbonate of soda with moisturising shea butter and coconut oil for a gentler option.
These are just some ideas for easy, low waste beauty products that will save you money too. Let me know in the comments if you have found some good swaps for commercial toiletries.
This post contains affiliate links marked with *. If you click through and make a purchase, I will earn a small commission. Many thanks!
Sandy says
Thank you the post I have been waiting for