There was a time when I had a ridiculously large amount of toiletries. I'd never intended for that to be the case, but I had become very good at 'storing' them to the point where I'd actually forgotten what I had. It wasn't until I pulled everything out one day that I realised just how bad it had become. That was a few years ago now and since then I have worked through all of those products, as well as starting the process of experimenting with different types of toiletries to find the most sustainable items that fit what I need at the moment. Right now I'm still here in New Zealand, so a number of the items I have are New Zealand brands and aren't necessarily in keeping with how I'd like my toiletries to look just because I don't know enough about what's available here just yet.
So, this is what I have left, by category, and how I intend to have this category in the future.
Dental Care
I never thought I'd say this, but I actually miss my Georganic toothbrushes and toothpaste, they are just really good quality products and pretty much all of the packagings were re-usable or recyclable. However, it has been really easy to get bamboo toothbrushes here, which we've been composting, and I'll definitely keep buying wood-based brushes in the future. I love the Georganic floss that I've been using and will keep buying the refills (or equivalent if I can find it) as long as they keep selling them. The water where we're staying right now has fluoride in it, so we've been buying the fluoride-free Red Seal toothpaste. This toothpaste has a lot of good point about it, however, the packaging is still not great and I want to get back to either the pot based or tab based toothpaste I've used in the past as soon as I can. Time to do a bit more research on those, so if you know of any good brands please let me know.
Hair Care
I'm now down to just two brushes (I'm not entirely sure why I had so many before), one for wet hair and one for dry. I do seem to be having a bit of bad luck with my Kent Head Hog brushes though. The last one fell apart around the bristles and had to be replaced, and the end of the handle on this one has fallen off. Thankfully, I don't really need that part for the brush to function, but they still don't seem to be lasting as long as they used to with my first one lasting about 10 years before it gave up the ghost (when I dropped it down some concrete stairs).
The shampoo and conditioner are ones that I got here in New Zealand (you can read more about the products I've brought in New Zealand here). Whilst I do really like this shampoo I definitely prefer having a shampoo bar instead of the liquid soap as, not only is there less waste, but it's so much more compact. I still haven't quite found a bar that doesn't make my hair feel waxy after a period of use or have SLS, it seems to be an either-or thing, but I'm going to keep looking and hopefully have found some new items to test once this liquid shampoo runs out. I had stopped using conditioner for a while and, whilst the health of my hair overall pretty much remained the same, I had noticed that it got tangled a lot easier and was harder to brush through. I know now that I can live without conditioner and am only using it at the moment as I want to donate my hair in the future, but if I could find a bar conditioner in the future then I would keep this product as part of my hair care routine. So I guess I'll be doing some more looking here too.
Deodorant
Right now I'm down to only one deodorant and it's a natural one. I used to always have a couple of deodorants with me as I would use an antibacterial one for when I was at my job, but if I wore it every day it would stop working so I would wear a non-antibacterial one on my non-work days. As I can't go to work at the moment I'm not having to worry about that and have used up all my previous deodorants. I actually quite like just having the one, more natural deodorant and I'm hoping I can carry on doing so once lockdown is over. I might have to change that, but I'll just see how that goes.
Face Cleansing
Right now I'm still using the micellar water and reusable cotton rounds (which I removed the inner padding of as it was absorbing most of the product) I was using while we were still living in a tent. It is a quick and easy way of cleaning the makeup off your face but, as the flannel I now use to do my second cleanse shows, it doesn't do a very good job of getting my skin properly clean. Once I've used this up I want to go back to using oils to cleanse my face as I find they're the most effective without drying out my skin. I've used up all my face toners and I'm not sure I'll bother buying anymore as I haven't really noticed any difference in my skin since. Also, oil cleansing I normally use means I don't need the extra step to ensure I've removed all the dirt from my face. I also don't have any face masks or scrubs left and, whilst I don't really feel I need them that much, I do miss the Juice Beauty Green Apple Peel Sensitive Exfoliating Mask. I do have a problem with dry skin on my face, which does produce flaking patches, but I don't really like using physical scrubs if I can help it. This does a really good job at keeping that at bay and I only had to use it once every one to two weeks. I'll be on the hunt for that once I'm able to start earning money again and I'll just have to rely on the trusty face clothe for now.
Face Moisturising
Right now I am down to just one item in this category, and that's a mixture of the face night oil I make myself (a mixture of Jojoba Oil, Avocado Oil, Rosehip Oil, and Frankincense essential oil) and the Pixi Collagen & Retinol Serum which I threw in with my night oil as I didn't think they would let me take it in its non-seethrough packaging in my hand luggage on the plane. It has turned into an interesting colour and texture, but it seems to be doing the same job on my skin as when I put them on separately. I just can't double moisturise at the moment, which is fine for now but will become a problem if I'm still in New Zealand during their winter. I do really like the serum though, so I'll be rebuying it in the future, but only when I'm earning again. Fortunately, I still have a lot of the oils waiting for me at my parents' house in the UK so I can just remake my own night oil again once I'm home. I've used up all my morning oil, which was actually just Jojoba oil, and I'm beginning wondering if I really need to use it at all in the mornings as long as I make sure I moisturise my skin enough at night. Something to experiment with in the future and anything I can remove from my morning routine would be good. I've also used up all my eye cream and should probably look into buying some more of that as that is quite a delicate area for me. However, I do want to make up my own form with the oils I already have, so maybe I'll leave off buying anything for now and do a bit of research on eye oil recipes.
SPF
Right now I'm using the best sunscreen I could find here in New Zealand for the budget we have (see the blog already linked). However, in the future, I want to go back to the types of SFPs I was using before, namely more natural, coral safe, and reliably cruelty-free. I'm also just using a body sunscreen for my face, but I've heard people say that you shouldn't really do that so I'll need to see if that's really the case and if it really makes that much of a difference. I know the old faithful I like back in the UK, but if I'm going to be here a while longer I'll probably need to look more at the products I can get in New Zealand. The main issue here is the price of the more sustainable ones. Definitely need to keep looking.
Body Cleansing
This one's pretty simple, it's soap and it'll stay that way. I'll keep using soap that has no SLS, is cruelty-free, and the most natural I can find. Thankfully this is becoming easier and easier to do so I doubt I'll have any trouble sticking to this.
Body Moisturising
I brought a pretty big tub of moisturiser here in New Zealand and it's working pretty well, however, I do have to put it on pretty regularly to keep my skin healthy as it's usually the thicker, less absorbent types of moisturiser that work for me. That's the type of moisturiser I'll actually look for once this is finished. One of the ones that worked really well was the moisturising bars that you get from Lush. I was also much easier to carry around and used a lot less packaging, so I'll look for something similar to this in the future.
And then there's hand cream and lip balm. The lip balm is a new one I'm trying from Ecostore and it was the only one I could find at the time. So far it's working pretty well, it's also cruelty-free which is good. I'm down to just one lip balm, with no duplicates, and that's how I'm planning on keeping it. I am purposely working through the hand cream, not because I have duplicates as this is now the only hand cream I have, but because I've had it for a while now and don't want it to get old before I've finished it. I'm also not really sure if I will need to separate hand cream if I find a good body moisturiser, but I guess I'll see how that goes once I start working again. It might be that I need something more intense to use on a daily basis to counteract the drying effect that manual labour always has. I also want to see if I can find more solid, possibly tin-based versions of these products in the future, just for ease of travel and reduction of packaging. The Welsh Lavender Ltd's Farmers' Hand Cream is in a tin, but as it's of a more fluid texture it can get a little bit messy if it ends up on its side. I do really like it though and, if I need to buy a hand cream again, the messiness wouldn't necessarily put me off.
Hair Removal
I would still be using my safety razor at the moment if it wasn't for the fact that I've used up the last of my refill blades and haven't been able to find replacement ones here in New Zealand yet. That means that I've had to resort to buying a pack of disposable razors for now, but I'm going to keep looking for the blades so that I can go back to my safety razor once these are gone. Lockdown, budget, and tent living have also meant that a trip to the beauty salon or the use of an 'at home' tub of wax and reusable cloth stripes for waxing hasn't really been an option, meaning that the humble waxing stripe has now become my main form of hair removal. They're definitely not my favourite way of removing hair because of the amount of waste they produce so, once we're more settled, I definitely want to go back to either the tub and reusable cloth stripes or budget in regular beauty salon visits again. It all depends on the budget.
Sanitary Products
These are still the same as before and I will keep using these for the foreseeable future. They are, of course, the Mooncup and the reusable sanitary pads from Bloom and Nora, which I only really use for emergencies. Not only are these much more sustainable products, but they've also meant that I've had to carry far fewer products with me when I travel and have spent no money on sanitary products since purchasing them.
Tools
These are pretty simple and I don't think they've changed too much recently. I still use, when I remember, the dry body brush to help exfoliate the skin, help with circulation, and deal with ingrowing hairs (a real problem when you're dry skinned like me). I've had these Tweezerman tweezers for years and they're still going strong, though I do need to finally get them sharpened now (if I can work out how to do that). It's definitely a good example of spending a bit of money on something that will last a long time. Then there's the pretty standard nail scissors, file, and manicure tool, though I actually don't use the manicure tool that much so I'm thinking of getting rid of it in the future. I do have cotton buds, which I've been able to find with bamboo instead of plastic, but I always feel bad about using these and I really need to find an alternative in the future. Any advice on that would be much appreciated. There's also a brush for my eyebrows as they go completely mad if just left to their own devices and, of course, a flannel (this one's from The Body Shop and is pretty cute but not of great quality).
And that's it, that's all my toiletries for now. There are some things that I have used for ages and will continue to do so, but there is definitely going to be changes happening in the future to a much more waste-free, sustainable selection. I basically want to have as little bulky, liquid containers in my toiletries bag as possible, especially as it's likely that I'll still have quite a nomadic lifestyle for now depending on the work I am able to get during this time. It has been interesting though, having a period where I've been without certain products for a little while. It's definitely shown me what items I can do without and what items have really made a difference to the health and appearance of my skin, hair, and teeth. Hopefully, by the end of this year, I'll have a core set of toiletries that I use completely and nothing more. I let you know if I manage it.
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