Making simple switches to more eco-friendly products in your bathroom can have long, positive impacts on the marine environment, and your own health, without adding much change to your normal routine. Plastic and any other pollutants are currently one of the biggest threats to our oceans and all marine life within them, so it’s important to eliminate waste wherever we can in our lives! Below are some products along with tips and tricks on how to make your bathroom more eco-friendly.
TIPS & TRICKS
WHEN SHOPPING FOR TOILETRIES/EVERYDAY COSMETIC PRODUCTS
1. Choose a product that comes in plastic free/waste reducing packaging. For example, when getting a new face wash, can you get it in a glass bottle instead of plastic? Can you use a shampoo bar instead of a plastic bottle? Moral of the story, TRY AND BUY A PRODUCT THAT COMES IN ANY OTHER MATERIAL OTHER THAN PLASTIC.
2. Make sure the ingredients in your products are all natural! If you’re using products that have known toxins in them, these toxins head down the drain, into our water system, and into oceans, rivers, and lakes, which negatively effect wildlife and the surrounding environment. Not to mention, that the chemicals and toxins in most everyday products are leading causes of diseases and a list of other nasty problems. Download the “think dirty” app, which rates products on a scale of 0-10, with 0 being the cleanest ingredients, and 10 being the most toxic. You will be SHOCKED at how nasty some of the stuff you use everyday is.
3. Can you use something you already have? For example, that coconut oil in your cabinet can be used as a body moisturizer or makeup remover. By using natural products like this for multiple purposes, it saves you money along with eliminating other bottles and materials it would’ve taken if you bought these products separately.
SUGGESTED PRODUCT SWITCHES
1. Shampoo & Conditioner: Try switching to shampoo and conditioner bars to eliminate the plastic bottles and packaging they normally come in. Some people find it hard to switch to a conditioner bar, and if that’s the case, just make sure you’re investing in conditioner that is made with all natural ingredients.
2. Deodorants: Traditional deodorants come in a plastic covering, but cardboard deodorants are on the rise! Keep an eye out for these the next time you’re buying a new deodorant.
3. Makeup Remover: To reduce your waste and eliminate makeup wipes that would otherwise be thrown out quite frequently (along with their plastic packaging), switch to reusable cotton pads that can be throw into a laundry bag and into the wash when they’re dirty! You can find these anywhere online. 
4. Teeth
Toothpaste: Find a toothpaste that’s all natural and comes in a non-plastic tube. You can find tablet toothpaste, which is literally small tablets you chew on that foam into a tooth paste! These normally come in a glass jar, eliminating the plastic tube! You can also keep an eye out on tooth pastes that come in metal tubes rather than plastic.
Floss: Dental Lace is a company that creates 100% mulberry silk dental floss, that comes in a refillable glass container! So when you run out, you buy just the floss without the container to refill it!
Toothbrush: Bamboo toothbrushes are the latest trend that everyone seems to be switching to (and for good reasons)! Every plastic toothbrush that has ever been made is STILL 
lingering out there in a landfill or the environment somewhere, since plastic never fully degrades.
5. Razor: Switching to a safety razor eliminates the use of a plastic one where you toss out plastic blades every couple of months for! All you have to do is switch the metal razor blades instead of plastic ones.
6. Soap & Sponge: For the most sustainable soap option, ditch the bottled body wash, and use a bar of soap 
that lacks any packaging around it (and also lasts longer)! This one’s kind of a no brainer. As for a sponge, switch to a honeycomb sea sponge, which is 100% compostable, since it used to be a living sponge that was dried out!
7. Brush: Just like the toothbrush, switch to a bamboo based brush rather than a plastic one. A simple fix that causes no changes to your normal routine!
8. Lotion: Similar to shampoo/conditioner bars, try switching to lotion bars! These are just bars of lotion that melt onto your skin when you rub them on you. They normally come in a metal tin as well which eliminates plastic bottles.
It’s important to always remember that ANY switch you make to an eco-friendly choice is better than nothing! If you’re just starting out, start by switching something that you use most often (for example, you use makeup wipes everyday but throw out your razor blades once a month; switch the wipes over the blades first). Don’t feel like you need to ditch everything you have in your bathroom, because that itself is wasteful; use up what you have before switching! And make sure to not just give up on a product so fast if you don’t like it! There’s so many different eco-friendly brands and options out there, and it might take sometime for you to figure out what works best for you. And finally, always remember just how much of a positive impact you are having on the environment by making any of these switches. Good luck!
