Trying to ensure that the products that I use on a daily basis are as ethical as possible is still very important to me and a process that I will continue to work on. Whilst I was in New Zealand there was a lot of research I needed to do as I wasn't familiar with the products there, but now I'm back in the UK it's been a little easier as I've been able to go back to the items that I knew whilst researching others. These are what I'm using at the moment.
Dental Care
This hasn't changed much since the last time I wrote about the toiletries I'm using. My toothbrush is the beechwood toothbrush from Georganics, along with their refillable dental floss (old packaging). I've been able to go back to toothpaste tablets now for my toothpaste, which is not only less wasteful but I actually now prefer using them. The tin is actually from Eco Living, which we originally got the tablets from and which I would really recommend, but I've refilled them with tablets from Georganics as it was the only place we could get 6 months worth in one go at the time (everywhere else was sold out). We're not as keen on the Georganic ones, so we'll probably go back to Eco Living once these are finished. I'm quite happy with how my dental care is at the moment, so I don't see myself needing to change anything any time soon.
Body Wash
I've used soap as my wash of choice for quite a while now, going for companies who produce cruelty-free, vegan, SLS free, and hand made products in recyclable packaging whenever I can. Right now I'm using the Faith in Nature Lavender Soap. It's a really nice product and I will buy it again, but really any soap that fits into this criteria would suit me. I can't see me using anything other than soap from now on.
Face Wash and Moisturiser
When I'm not wearing makeup I just use the bar soap for my body to clean my face. I know that's not something people usually recommend, but my face tends to be quite dirty after work so the bar soap is what's needed. When I do wear makeup I use jojoba and avocado oil with a flannel to remove it, and then second wash my face with the soap. I can't see me changing this any time soon.
As for moisturising, I still use the oils that I make up myself (my recipe contains jojoba oil, avocado oil, rosehip oil, and a few drops frankincense essential oil). I mostly get these oils from Naturally Thinking as I like the ethos behind the company (vegan, paraben-free, cruelty-free, grown local products) and I can't see me changing this anytime soon. I have been finding that I need some extra moisture for my face at the moment, which is not unusual for this time of year. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find exactly what I looking for right now (mostly due to lack of stock), so I just picked up this face cream from Aldi whilst I was shopping. It will help my skin until I can find something else, but it's not really something I would normally choose - though it is cruelty-free. I'm thinking of something like the Pixi serum I've used before, but we'll see what I can find.
Sunscreen
This tends to change all the time and is based on what I can find with the finances I have at that moment. Right now I'm using the Holland & Barrett Nature's Block 100% Natural Mineral Sunscreen. It's vegan, cruelty-free, and (very importantly when it comes sunscreen) reef safe as it doesn't contain Oxybenzone and Octinoxate. My face hasn't reacted to it, which can sometimes be a problem when I'm using a generic sunscreen on my face, but it is quite thick and does need to be rubbed in quite well. It also leaves a bit of a white cast on your face. Otherwise, it's pretty good and I would think about buying it again when I need to get more sunblock in the future.
Lip Care
Right now I'm still using the Ecostore beeswax lip balm I got from New Zealand, and my Mum got me a Burts Bees lip balm for Christmas, so I'll use this next. Once these are both gone I'm going to look for a lip balm that's in more sustainable packaging. I don't really put lip balm on during the day, usually just before I go to sleep, so having to use my fingers isn't really going to be a problem for me and means I could probably go for something in a metal tin.
Shampoo and Conditioner
I've now used up the shampoo and conditioner that I brought in NZ and have been looking for products with a lot less packaging. However, I still want them to be SLS free, hopefully vegan, made in the UK and are cruelty-free. I had gotten a shampoo bar from Gruum, which I wanted to try once my liquid shampoos were gone, and really liked it. It cleaned my hair without drying it out and hasn't left that weird waxy layer that some bars do. So, I decided to order the conditioner as well to see how that works (I've actually never used a conditioner bar before) and it does seem to be working pretty well. I don't see me changing this any time soon and, even if I don't use these particular products, I think I'll stick to shampoo and conditioner bars rather than liquid versions.
Body Moisturiser
I had started looking for a more ethical moisturiser once mine had begun to run out, but then I realised that I still had quite a bit of jojoba and avocado oil left for items I was going to make but never actually got round to. These oils do go off so I decided it would be a good idea to use them up. These were the same oils from Naturally Thinking which I use to make my face oils. So, after mixing them together into one bottle, I am now using it to moisturise my body. If I'm honest, it doesn't really give me the full amount of moisture that I need for these winter months, but that has just meant that I have to moisturise much more often than I normally do. Once this is used up (which might be a while - it's a big bottle) I'll start looking for a thicker moisturiser, similar to the body bar I got and really liked from Lush. I do have a separate hand moisturiser (also thanks to my Mum), but once that's gone I probably won't get another one straight away and just use my body moisturiser. Whether I stick to that will depend on how my hands fair, as they do sometimes need something thicker. In which case I might just get the Welsh Lavender Ltd Farmers' Hand Cream I had before.
Deodorant
At the moment I'm still using a normal deodorant for when I'm at work as I just can't find a natural deodorant that works when I'm doing this amount of physical exercise and I'd rather be able to wash my clothes less. I do have a more natural deodorant I like by Bull Dog (it's a man's deodorant), but I only wear it on my days off. This one is still a work in progress and I'll keep hunting until I find a good one.
Hair Removal
Waxing is my usual method of hair removal, but that isn't really an option at the moment, so for now, I'm using wax stripes to remove most of my unwanted hair. This really isn't the most waste-free way of doing it and I'm hoping to be able to change this as soon as I can by buying a pot of wax with re-useable stripes (once we have a place of our own). I do also use a razor and, for this, I've been able to be a lot more sustainable as I use a safety razor where I only need to change the blade. I've recently brought this blade container by the Zero Waste Club that should take up to 300 blades before I can put it in the recycling with all the blades safely inside it, which is an additional plus. I do want to look into laser treatment for something more permanent (and with a lot less waste), but that will need to wait until our finances are a bit more stable.
And that's it. My toiletries are very close to being where I want them to be, with only just a few changes in the future to have a fully functioning, as sustainable as possible 'beauty' /hygiene routine. I'm hoping it won't take me too long to get there, perhaps just one more cycle of some of the items I'm using, so this time next year I should be able to show a complete routine. Apart from the deodorant, I think we might still be a little while on that.
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