Being in April, there's an upcoming holiday that should be noticed and that's Earth Day! Now, the lovely editors here at SOUP have officially decided that things needed to be eco-friendly for the month to honor our lovely planet. I don't know if any of my amazing readers have tried to turn their daily skincare routines to be more green and healthy for the environment, but it's not an easy thing to switch to I will acknowledge that. It's also a little heartbreaking to think of all that plastic attached to our toothbrushes, toothpaste, facial wash, shampoo, and even body soap! Those things get used every day by everyone! (Or rather they should be used that frequently, but we all know that doesn't happen all the time.)
We're going to focus this month's article on how to identify which parts of our lives we can alter to be more environmental friendly!
1) Candles.
A lot of modern-day candles are made with a wax called paraffin. This wax is found at the bottom of crude oil barrels, this is also before it's bleached and treated with other chemicals to become a burning candle. Already this is sounding like it'll be not very good for our lovely planet.
So, this brilliant fashion expert has switched over to beeswax candles.
Now, don't even think about flooding my Owlpost with tons of letters talking about how beeswax and honey harvesting is bad for the bees. This is the same argument that comes with farmers having livestock, it's only bad if you don't know how to properly handle the animals and go shopping at mass markets instead of locally!
Using beeswax candles helps to encourage the growth of bee farmers, which requires more beehives and more bees to populate those hives. More bees mean more flowers and key fruits that they help pollinate! So do some key research my friends and shop local honey and beeswax!
2) Toothbrushes + Toothpaste.
As I said in our introduction, these are items that people should be using on a daily basis. After doing a little bit of digging into the market I discovered a toothbrush that's made from bamboo! There's no plastic handles to end up in landfills!
"But Marsha, what happens when it's been six months and I need to replace it?"
Simple, you're supposed to cut off the bristles and then you can dispose of the handle however you wish. I suggest throwing it in your compost pile where it will naturally break down, as plants do, or you can just throw it in the trash. The handles will still break down in there.
There is a company surfacing that's selling circle tablets of toothpaste. You heard me right, they're like the Muggle's little ibuprofen circles, except these, you will bite into. The powder that you crunch off can be mixed with your saliva to brush your teeth with, so no more plastic tube to hold the toothpaste with! What makes this product even better is that all of these tablets are stored in a glass jar that can be refilled with a new pack of tablets that come in recyclable packaging.
If you happen to not enjoy these tablets then the glass jar can be reused to hold another item, like hair accessories or even a jar to hold your rinse water after you brush so we're not using those disposable Dixie Cups!
3) Soap.
This can be the soap you use to wash your hands or when you take a shower. We've been given a modern luxury where our soap comes in plastic bottles, except when we're done all of that plastic just ends up right back into those landfills. The simplest, and easiest, solution that I could find was to go back to an old invention. That's the bar of soap.
Today, bars of soap will come in cardboard packaging, this can either be recycled or reused for a different purpose. Then, inside of that box is a singular bar of soap. Just add water when you're ready to use the bar and you'll have all of the soap you could possibly need. Do you wanna know the best part of replacing plastic bottles of soap for a bar of soap? When you're running low on a bar you won't be fighting with a bottle to get those final drops, just add some more water and it's ready for immediate use!
I only recommend that you be careful when the bar begins running low because you can beak off that last little sliver.
I hope that these little tips will help you in making your daily routines just a little more eco-friendly, and if these options don't suit your exact needs then I'm certain there are more alternatives out there that can be tried.
Stay green, Slytherins, and stay fashionable!