I’ve been wanting to change my lifestyle & the products I’ve used for awhile now and for some reason I just kept putting it off. Maybe because I knew I was going to need to do quite a bit of research and to be honest, not all of us got time for that! But, I do think most of us are pretty aware at this point that the amount of plastic that we use on a daily basis is not good for the environment considering it takes approximately 450 years to decompose and we use A LOT of it. (No, it’s not just plastic that is harming the earth but yes, it does play a significant role).
Over the past few months, I’ve been taking some online courses on the impacts humans are making on earth and how changing to a more sustainable and eco friendly lifestyle is really what we all need to be getting on board with.
What I found interesting is almost all of the products we are using on a regular basis have some sort of an alternative eco friendly backup. So why aren’t more people making the switch!? I’m going to go with cost & the fact that some people don’t want to look for an alternative product when the one they're using works just “fine”.
I found that the easiest way to start making the change is to switch to something eco friendly as you run out of a product. This helps so you don’t just throw away what you have now to buy something more eco friendly because that would actually be more wasteful; it also helps with not overwhelming yourself researching information on multiple products at once. For example, running low on deodorant? Good time to start looking at some alternative’s. There’s several different types of deodorants made from essential oils that come in biodegradable, compostable and recyclable packaging instead of plastic.
If cost is your big issue, figure out what you spend on deodorant now and can you find something that’s better for the earth at a similar price? You may need to buy in bulk to save on shipping costs or maybe find the product locally like at a farmers market.
Soap/shampoo/conditioner are some of the other products I’ve switched recently. I now wash my body and my hair with hemp bar soap. I've found this actually cleans my hair better than any other shampoo I’ve used and the runoff isn’t harming the earth.
This switch was a no brainer for me because I spent $3.99 for a bar that came in compostable packaging compared to $5 body wash, $4 pump soap & $6 shampoo in plastic bottles which would all just end up in the landfill. I also use the same thing on my hair, but the conditioner bar was $6 compared to $8 bottle of conditioner. So this switch actually saved me money. Toothpaste. Another easy thing to switch that has several eco friendly alternatives! I decided to test out the tabs that come in compostable packaging. So far I like them & I don’t have toothpaste all over my sink! You just pop one in your mouth chew it up a bit, wet your toothbrush and brush your teeth as normal.
Dislikes: you don’t get that minty freshness feeling (at least from this brand) and they can be pricey depending on the brand. There’s also several different types of natural toothpaste and powders that come in glass jars instead of the standard plastic tubes which make for good options as well! You can always reuse glass jars.
These are just a few of the changes I’ve made over the past few weeks that I’m really happy about! My plan is to swap out or change at least 3 things I use monthly with something eco friendly and share my journey! I might switch up products as this is new for me so I’ll update the post on what works for me and what doesn’t. There are just so many small businesses out there (especially on Etsy and at local farmers markets) with sustainable & eco friendly products that I’m so excited to try!
Subscribe to the website to stay up to date on new blog posts :) https://www.blackgirlsgardeningco.com