5 Easy Ways to Make Your Beauty Routine "Greener"

Hello --

If you are like me, changing your beauty routine is like breaking a lifetime habit. In a world that is going "green", however, some of the beauty habits we women have are just going to have to change if we really want to do our part for the enviornment.

Let's face the facts:

A normal day-to-day beauty routine for some women can include blow drying, curling, soaps and suds, perfumes, bleaches, waxes, sprays, and the hundreds of other types of beauty enhancements. The good news is that all those products we use now have eco-friendly alternatives which have been some of this years biggest trends. Switching to organic beauty products and recycled packaging is definitely a step in the right direction, but there is still more you can do.

Below are five things you can do to revitalize your beauty habits so that they are "green". Don't worry, they are easy and will most likely help your budget!

1. Stop Blow Drying!

Every time you blow dry your hair you use tons of electricity. Instead of using heat to primp your tresses, roll your hair with Velcro rollers and let them air dry. This not only lessens the amount electricity you use, but it is 100 percent better for your hair. For the past month I have limited my blow drying to only one time a week. The results have been great and my hair looks healthier and still styles just as good with the use of rollers.

2. Dispose of your liquids in a safe way

All the chemicals that are used in self tanners, face washes, and foundations are extremely harmful to the enviornment. In in a story done by NBC's WOAI, they found a way to properly dispose of those types of liquids so that they don't end up in our natural enviornment. In their article, Tossing Old Medicines and Cosmetics May Hurt the Environment, they said emptying your liquids into cat litter is the best solution to the problem. After it absorbs into the litter, go ahead and toss it out.

3. Stop the long showers!

In the morning some of us linger in the shower as long as possible savoring the tranquil moments before our hectic day. As relaxing as it is, it is wasting water! Cut down on the water you use by brushing your teeth and washing your face while you shower, and try and keep the shower to 8 minutes or less. Even better, take a bath. You use a lot less water taking a bath than you do taking a shower, and you can lay in the tub as long as you want!

4. Buy Jumbo Size

There are multiple rows in our local stores filled with varieties of shampoos and conditioners. Making your hair routine "green" is easy now that you can buy biodegradable packaging and organic conditioners and shampoos. But let's face it, some of us don't want to change the products we already use, so why not just change how you use it. Instead of buying normal sized packaging, switch to the "family size" or "jumbo size". This will lessen the amount of times you have to buy the product, therefor reducing the amount of chemicals and packaging you are purchasing. You can also, buy products that have the conditioner and shampoo in one. It is an easy way to use the same stuff you love, but still reduce the amount you are using.

5. Use natural light when applying make-up

For some of us, our bathrooms are our only places of seclusion. We can shut ourselves off from the world only to enter the land of beauty. One thing you may not think about it the amount of lighting you use when your in your bathroom. Whether it is morning or night, many women use magnifying lamps or giants overhead lights to get the best light needed for the perfect makeup application. This is definitely one habit in your beauty routine you can easily change. Instead of locking yourself off in an electricity sucking bathroom, go to a room in your home that has great natural light. There you can avoid using electricity and also do a better job at making your make-up look natural. If you don't have another room, change the light bulbs in your bathroom to eco-friendly light bulbs. If you have some spare money, add a skylight or a window to your bathroom to create that natural light.


Hopefully these are some tips that won't throw your day-to-day routines into a beauty frenzy. Moving to a greener world is easy when we take small steps in the right direction, so use these five simple steps as a way to do the right thing! It may not seem like a lot, but when if more and more women make the change, it will definitely make a difference.

Talk to you soon,

Lauren