Instead of liquid cleansers in little bottles that are hard to recycle, you could switch to Face Bars.  Made with certified organic vegan ingredients, no palm oil or other nasties, right here in Western Australia.  To use simply lather on wet hands or a cloth, cleanse face with gentle circular actions and rinse off.

Oily Face Bars assist with balancing oil production and clearing problem skin.

Mature/Dry Skin Face Bars nourish, moisturise and gently cleanse skin.

Baby Soft Face/Body Bars are for the most sensitive skin.

The reusable alternative to cotton wool balls or cotton rounds.  Made with super soft fabric, they can be used to cleanse, tone or remove makeup gently.  Once used they can be hand washed or added to the laundry for use again and again.

There are plenty of recipes on the internet for making your own makeup remover.  

One of the easiest is to put a little Coconut Oil or Olive Oil on a reusable facial wipe to remove makeup and then cleanse as usual.  Another is a mix of 1/2 Jojoba Oil and 1/2 Witch Hazel Extract.  Yet another is 1/4 cup Jojoba Oil melted together with 1 tablespoon of Beeswax.  Each have their pros and cons depending on what your skin responds to best and how much effort you want to put in.  

The joy of being part of the Wasteless Pantry community is that you can easily grab just enough of each of these ingredients to try it out.  If it doesn’t suit you there is no waste, and if it does suit you, you can tweak to your hearts content.

Many exfoliators of the past contained microbeads.  Little bits of plastic that you would rub against your skin and then wash down the drain.  This would then end up in the oceans, where they entered the food chain and came back to us in our seafood!

Microbeads are unnecessary when we have lots of options for natural exfoliators in our pantries.  Mix salt, sugar, quick oats or used coffee grinds with your favourite oil to a thick paste for a quick and easy scrub.  Depending on how fine your scrubbing ingredient is (castor sugar has a more gentle action than raw sugar granules) this can be used on both face and body.  Due to the oil in your scrub, once rinsed off skin will also already be moisturised too!

A favourite zero waste beauty ritual for me is using a clay mask.  I buy clay in my own container from Wasteless Pantry which I mix up with either water, oil or cooled herbal tea depending on whether my skin needs clarifying, moisturising or soothing the most.  Leave on for 10 minutes and then rinse.  Skin is silky soft and there is no packet to throw away!

If clay doesn’t suit your skin, another alternative is raw Spray free honey, which you can also get from Wasteless Pantry.  Raw honey is an active product which is said to hydrate and treat troubled skin.  It’s a little messy to apply but the results are worth it.  Plus if you happen to get a little in your mouth, you wont be complaining.

1/3 Apple Cider Vinegar or Witch Hazel Extract and 2/3 water or Rose Water

Add essential oils if this is your preference.

Great for tightening pores and brightening your complexion.

Too easy!

We are very lucky to have a thick luxurious Organic Moisturiser available from The Family Hub Organics, made locally, vegan and palm oil free.  Particularly beneficial for dry, damaged or aging skin this amazing moisturiser is gentle enough for those with sensitive skin including those with dermatitis & eczema.  Scented and unscented options are available.

Apply to clean, dry skin on the face or body & gently rub in until absorbed. 

We ask a lot of our moisturisers and this one doesn’t disappoint! Just bring your container in to refill so you can try just a bit without the waste.  Our moisturiser is in the league of those brands that package in a 50ml bottle and have words like anti-aging, revitalising, sensitive and regenerating in their ads, but with organic ingredients that don’t harm the earth and at a fraction of the price.

The Family Hub Organics have created a lightweight Body Lotion for us that is soothing, hydrating and leaves skin feeling well cared for.  Palm oil free, vegan, locally made, made with organic ingredients and zero waste; so it ticks all the boxes.

Apply to clean, dry skin & gently rub in until absorbed. 

Another great win for waste reduction! We have a few varieties of scoopable Deodorants containing only natural, aluminium free, palm oil free ingredients that are made locally in Western Australia.  You get to smell pretty all day long and nothing has to be disposed of in landfill or the recycling bin.  We even have a Bicarb Free Deodorant for those with sensitive armpits.  Natural deodorants generally come in a 30ml tin and you only need a little so this lasts a couple of months.  Just put a little on the end of your finger to wipe on each clean armpit.

Not strictly for your skincare but still helpful to look beautiful.  Getting the plastic free alternative to our usual tools of the trade is a great investment when your old plastic one starts to fail.  Old plastic brushes are not able to be recycled and so are only destined for landfill, whereas bamboo is a renewable resource that can be composted in a hole in your garden!

One of the things I missed when swapping to a zero waste beauty routine was pore strips.  I know they aren’t important in the scheme of things and so I gave them up without too much fuss.  But then Wasteless Pantry started stocking Activated Charcoal and I was able to have fun with this again. YAY!

The recipe is simple: mix 1/3 activated charcoal with 2/3 gelatine powder or agar agar powder and keep in a little jar.  Be careful with the activated charcoal as it can stain clothing and bench tops. Then when you want to make your strips simply mix in a little hot water to make a thick paste.  Use your finger tip or a small brush to apply over a small patch like your nose or chin and allow to dry.  When it is dry simply peel off and rinse dry.  It is so gruesomely satisfying to see all those little blackheads stuck to the peeled off mask.

All these ingredients are available at Wasteless Pantry so you can just grab what you need to try it out without having to invest in big quantities of hard to find items!

I’m adding this one in just because it is lovely to have a scented bath at the end of all your primping and preening. 

To make Bath Tea, simply add whichever petals and herbs of your liking to a small bag (like the ones we have available for using with soap nuts), pull closed and steep in your bath with you.  Much easier to clean up than throwing the petals directly in with you and you can always add a handful of epsom salts for good measure too.  My favourite combination is rose, lavender and chamomile as it is so calming before bed.  Wasteless Pantry have a range of aromatic herbs and petals in our Spices and Herbal Tea sections as well as rock salt and epsom salts if you want to DIY bath salts too.