DIY Zero Waste Skincare

Reducing plastic from your skincare routine is easier than you might think, these DIY recipes are super easy and cost effective:

Facial oil

Jojoba oil works wonders on your skin. On its own it's a brilliant moisturiser and make-up remover, but adding essential oils gives it that extra boost that I've found makes my skin really glowy.

🌼Frankincense essential oil is an astringent meaning it strengthens skin and improves it's tone and elasticity. It is also anti inflammatory and antibacterial, so it is great at fighting blemishes and reducing redness. It is also used as an anti aging skin treatment.

🌼Lavender essential oil has antioxidant and antimicrobial properties, it is often used to relieve inflammatory skin conditions, and works to soothe irritated skin. These properties mean it's anti-aging and fights acne.

🌼Geranium essential oil is also an astringent and a great anti aging ingredient. It's known to increase bloodflow and promote cell renewal, meaning it's very healing for your skin and helps fight acne.

I add a few drops of these essential oils to my jojoba oil bottle so I get all their benefits whenever I moisturise (which is definitely less than I should!) I love essential oils, these are the three that I choose for my skincare but there are plenty of others with amazing properties that you could also use. Remember though that citrus oils can increase your risk of sunburn so don't use them on skin that will be exposed to the sun. It's also important that you always dilute essential oils with a carrier oil (like jojoba oil) and don't apply them directly to your skin. Make sure you use good quality oils too, if it's super cheap it's probably fake!

On a side note I love essential oils, and particularly find that diffusing them can really uplift and soothe my emotions. I in no way profess to be an expert but do get a lot of my essential oil info from draxe.com.

Facial toner

This is another super easy DIY. All you need to do is mix water and witch hazel (I did 50:50) then add a few drops of tea tree essential oil. Great at preventing and reducing acne. There are loads of fancy brands of witch hazel to choose from, but I got mine for about £2 in Boots - in a glass bottle, yay! I put my toner in a glass spray bottle (dark glass helps preserve essential oils from degrading in sunlight) and apply it after washing and before moisturising, when I remember too anyway, I can be pretty lazy with these things!

Spot cream

It's not really cream, but it's what I tend to call whatever product I choose to apply on my spots to get rid of them. Another one that is so easy - I literally mixed a few drops of tea tree oil to coconut oil, which made a balm that I apply to spots when they start to rear their ugly heads. Tea tree oil is one of the best spot treatments out there, as I'm sure you're probably aware, and coconut oil is an antibacterial carrier oil. I store mine in an old lip balm pot - a great way of reducing waste by repurposing.

When it comes to washing your face, there's really no need for all the fancy face washes in plastic tubes you can buy, most of which contain loads of weird chemicals and preservatives anyway, when you can just use good old natural, zero waste soap bars. I use an activated charcoal one from zerowastepathshop.com which is super gentle and moisturising.

I hope these DIY ideas help you reduce the plastic you use in your skincare routine. The great thing is that they're all completely natural and don't contain loads of ingredients that you dont know and can't pronounce. The skincare industry is always coming up with new "wonder" treatments and products to sell us, in reality they are all slight variations of the same thing they sold us last month, and none of it does what it says it will, even when it claims to be clinically proven it most often isn't. It's all fuel for our consumerist and wasteful culture, persuading us to buy products often only to discard them before we've even finished them because they don't work, adding to plastic waste building up in landfills and oceans.

Zero Waste Make-up Removal CLICK HERE






References

https://draxe.com/what-is-frankincense/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.stylecraze.com/articles/benefits-of-lavender-for-skin-hair-and-health/%3famp=1#ampshare=https://www.stylecraze.com/articles/benefits-of-lavender-for-skin-hair-and-health/

https://draxe.com/10-geranium-oils-benefits-healthy-skin-much/