Reusable Cotton Pads

If you use make-up a lot or use cotton pads or swabs to apply products to your face/skin, you sometimes might be using products that contain plastic fibers. And even when you use 100% cotton products, it’s important to remember the amount of water it takes to grow that cotton in the first place, only to be used as a single-use product. 

A good way to combat this is to use reusable/washable cotton pads! These small, round pads – preferably made from natural fibers – are usually machine washable, and come in a fairly generous pack to keep you stocked between washes. 

Using these in place of single-use, throwaway pads overall helps the environment – and your budget – a lot, depending on how often you use this product. 

Reusable Cotton Swab

Another small but impactful alternative is reusable cotton swabs! Whether you use them for makeup or hygiene purposes, using a washable swab eliminates an exponential amount of swabs since we tend to use them so frivolously. 

If you’ve seen the picture of the seahorse with the swab it has wrapped its tail around, you can use that image as a reminder of why it is important to consider making a switch with a product that seems so small and harmless. 

This is not a product I myself have gotten the chance to try out yet, but from looking into it further online, I have seen that there a quite a few options, many with decent and good reviews. And most of these seem to be portable, coming in a travel case so it’s not lost as easily, and you can take it with you when you go out. 

Metal Razor/Safety Razor

Another product I myself need to get on board with is switching to a metal safety razor. The company I mentioned earlier, WowE makes one with a bamboo handle, with a replaceable metalhead. (The image above is NOT from this company I mentioned – it is a stock image).

As you can imagine, our throw-away culture has trained us to buy disposable plastic razors that are very difficult to recycle (again, unless you’re signed up for something like TerraCycle’s program for this type of product). Besides being hard to recycle, these products end up in our landfills, as well as our waterways and oceans, causing their own kind of havoc on wildlife and these environments. 

So a good alternative here is a metal razor. However, this particular product may be off-putting for women, as we’re used to having our razors look and feel a certain way, especially if we tend to use the razors that have a layer of moisturizer around the razor head. And from what I’ve read about safety razors, there is a bit of a learning curve with them. And if you regularly shave in your bikini area, you’d have to be a little extra careful while shaving so as to not cut yourself. 

But, from my reading of people’s experiences of this alternative, once you get the hang of how to properly use this kind of razor, it is relatively easy thereafter. Once I’ve tried this product out myself, I will amend this section with an update of my experience! 

If you aren’t comfortable with this particular alternative, you can always at least switch to a razor that, while it may be a plastic handle, at least has a replaceable head. This will at least cut back on the amount of plastic being used for your shaving needs. 

Or, you could always try out waxing! Which while it may be painful, it is at least longer-lasting and generally a more sustainable alternative to shaving. 

Deodorant with Biodegradable/Compostable Packaging

Another switch I haven’t gotten to try out yet, as I myself only just discovered its existence, is deodorant that comes in plastic-free packaging. From what I can tell, most of these products are available only online and need to be shipped to you. But, they seem to have very good reviews, from ingredient quality to how well they work at keeping you stink-free. 

And if you’re like me, finding a natural deodorant that actually works for you is hard. I had to go through 3 different brands before I found one that didn’t cause me to smell after a couple of hours (when you take out the aluminum that clogs your pores found in most traditional deodorants, you tend to stink sooner when you’re not clogging those pores). So after finally finding a deodorant that I like, making this switch will take some time for me to get used to. 

But if I can be an example, that’s okay. As with anything I’ve suggested thus far in this article, finding products that work for you is important. And no one should ever feel pressured to make a switch, especially one they are not on board with. All that matters is that we’re willing to try. And in this case, I definitely am, I just have to go through more trial and error, depending on how well the product I try out works for me. I could get lucky on the first try, or I could have to go through a couple of different products before I find a brand that fits my personal needs – just as you may have to if you’re willing to go through with that trial and error. 

If you can find one that works for you though, great! The plastic tubes that deodorant comes in often are either non-recyclable or are very difficult to recycle. And while we don’t generally go through deodorant super quickly (I don’t anyway) keeping this plastic waste out of landfills is certainly beneficial nonetheless! 

Washable Panty Liners/ Diva Cups

A switch I’ve had to make fairly recently is with feminine hygiene products – at least with underwear liners. If I can get personal here for a moment, I previously had not experienced a period since about 2010, when I first got on birth control, which was the shot I had administered once every three months. That shot adjusted the hormones in my body to the point where my periods went away entirely.

At the beginning of 2017, I switched to a different form of birth control called Nexplanon, which is a small rod they put in your arm that emits small amounts of a hormone that makes it so that you don’t release an egg that can be fertilized. The rod lasts for three years with a more than 99% effective rate, so you can get it and forget it. Since my hormones were being rebalanced and normalized, I recently started getting my period again. I hated having to buy pads again. 

That is until I discovered washable panty liners online one day. The product I got came in a multi-pack of liners made from natural fibers and is machine washable. They’re very soft and comfortable, and for the most part, stay in place. They do sometimes need some readjusting since there is no velcro or adhesive to stick them in place, especially if you’re being active, but they otherwise do a good job. 

Now so far I’ve had a fairly light flow, so using the washable pads has worked out well for me. However, for someone with a heavier flow, this may not be the best option for them. But, fear not, there is another choice that I’ve seen and heard people swear by, and that is the Diva cup. It is essentially a cup that you insert, collect your flow, and then wash out after use. They can apparently be left in for up to 12 hours, and they reduce the risk of toxic shock syndrome.

There is definitely a learning curve for the Diva Cups from what I’ve gathered on them, but there are also TONS of videos online from other ladies who’ve tried it out and want to help others learn how to properly use this product!

If you’re willing to make one or both of these switches, you’ll not only be doing something good for the environment, you’ll be doing something good for yourself – by keeping your lady-parts healthy!

By that, I mean that most pads/tampons today are made in part with synthetic fibers, which means, you guessed it – PLASTIC. So besides just the plastic inserter on a tampon or the plastic sleeve for a pad, you’re putting plastic INSIDE you. Which has it’s own health concerns. On top of that, that parts of those products that do have real cotton in them, have a high likelihood of having been sprayed with pesticides or other chemicals while the cotton was being grown. This means you’re putting those nasty chemicals in your body in the place that makes babies, should you decide you want children. Since these chemicals have been linked to certain cancers from exposure, it may be better to be safe than sorry when it comes to exposing your vagina and uterus to those kinds of substances. And since plastic is a hormone disruptor, it’s also good to keep that synthetic material away from there, so you don’t potentially risk your fertility.

All that being said, there is no exact determination on the long-term effects of these products on our reproductive health and the effects are still being studied, but with the way things are going and how agribusiness companies and other corporations care little for our health and more for profit, it may be best to just ditch their single-use feminine hygiene products altogether. Plus, you’ll save LOTS of money!

Washable Cloth Diapers

This last suggestion will probably be the hardest change to adopt, should you decide to adopt it. But if you have young children or are expecting your first child, hear me out on this last one before you click off this post!

When it comes to this option, there are many factors that are involved that you as a parent would want to weigh on. These primarily involve costs and personal preferences. As far as costs go, that in itself has several factors to consider, including how often you will likely be changing diapers, how long your child will be using them, what kind of products you want to get, and so on. When it comes to comparing costs on disposable versus washable cloth diapers, they seem to be roughly in the same ballpark depending on the differing factors. 

For instance, if you use disposable ones, the cost will depend on things like brand choice, whether you buy in bulk or not, and how often they’re changed. Washable ones will depend on things such as the quality of the diapers you invest in, how many you want to be kept on hand and in how many styles or sizes there are, and the costs of utilities used to wash the diapers or to subscribe to a pick-up service that washes the diapers for you. 

However, while the general costs are roughly similar, when you also count in the fact that the cloth diapers should last you a long time and can be used for more than one child, the savings for cloth over disposable start to tip the scale on which option may be better cost-wise. 

In an article on The Simple Dollar entitled “Cloth Diapering: A Real-World Analysis” [https://www.thesimpledollar.com/cloth-diapering-a-real-world-analysis/] by Trent Ham, we see a fully detailed break down of many of these costs by the author through his own personal experience. In general, the author concluded that cloth was the better, more effective choice between the two when it came to cost, as well as the benefit of being better for the environment and possibly more healthy for your baby. I would highly recommend checking out Trent’s breakdown and see for yourself if the numbers help you to make a decision. 

And if only for the environmental aspect of it, consider that many disposable diapers are made with synthetic fibers which means they’re plastic. Diapers won’t break down and degrade in landfills very well and can take hundreds of years to do so. On top of that, there is also the problem of toxic waste potentially seeping into the ground and into groundwater over time as a result of disposable diapers sitting in landfills for so long. And, diapers often have various chemicals like bleaching agents and dyes that also seep into the ground and enter the environment. 

Of course, this change is not as simple as most of the others are in relation. It’s more than a simple product change, it is a lifestyle change too. You have to decide if you prefer throwing away diapers when they’re done being used, or taking it a step further passed simply changing the diaper to also cleaning it as well. The opportunity cost of this change is that you might save money and help the environment, but you have to put in a little more work. You have to wash the diapers in a way that best sanitizes them while also preserving their quality and longevity. You may also decide that when you do wash the diapers, you want to use specific cleaning agents for the task, which may add to the cost. 

If you can commit to this change, that is awesome! But if not, I don’t want anyone, especially a mother, to feel any pressure about what they should or should not do when it comes to anything regarding their children. Do what you feel is best for you and your child! There are plenty of other options that I have listed and will continue to list for you to make changes to help fight the plastic crisis! 

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Thanks for reading!

I hope you have enjoyed the first part of this series and have already thought of a couple of suggestions I’ve made that you’re willing to adopt into your life! The journey towards being plastic-free may be hard, but it is not impossible! And each step toward becoming plastic-free starts with you! Don’t forget to lead by example, and share your experiences of moving away from plastic with others, especially when the opportunity to do so arises! Remember, knowledge is power! Pass it on! 

If you are low on funds but want to start going plastic-free, I do have a suggestion, but there is a take-away from what I’m about to recommend. Also, I would like to say that this is NOT an endorsement of the company I’m about to suggest. It is a suggestion. One that I don’t personally wholely agree with myself after doing some research into it after I made my own initial order. There is also the argument that this company feeds into the unnecessary consumerism that plagues our world and thus the environment through wastefulness. But I feel it’s good to at least mention an alternative option for those with low funds but high commitment to change.

Some of the products I’ve bought in bulk (so I can gift them to friends easily) have come from Wish. If you haven’t heard of the site, it’s a marketplace where things are sold super cheap because of where they come from and how they’re made. They also have a likelihood of coming in a lot of plastic packaging, which definitely hinders what the purpose of using plastic-free products is attempting to fulfill. And, there is a likelihood of it being made by cheap labor. Possibly even slave labor. But many people are on a budget, and some products can be very expensive (like the underwear liners and diapers I mentioned). And since many other products we buy in our everyday lives have the possibility of being products of slave labor, I think it’s fair to at least let people know there is an affordable choice, despite the negative drawbacks of that option. It’s up to each of us individually whether or not we choose to contribute to certain things. And unless you’re also going to throw out your electronics (i.e. your cell phones and such), I hope you don’t come after me suggesting this company. I personally am much more wary of buying from them now that I’ve learned the implications of doing so.

So my suggestion for this is to 1) do as much research and product/price comparison as you can, 2) decide what works best for you, your family, and your budget, and 3) decide what opportunity costs you’re willing to weigh for the products you’re looking at.

Also consider that getting from legitimate zero-waste stores usually does mean better quality, less packaging, and even some extra benefits – some companies make donations to charities or they plant trees in thanks for your purchase. So while they might be more expensive, they’re usually better all around.

You can also think about requesting these types of products from people for birthdays and holidays as presents instead of materialistic things you might get bored of quickly or eventually throw out.

Do what works best for you AND for the environment AND the world!

Join me next time where I will continue the series by breaking down a couple of ways you can reduce plastic waste in other areas of your home and life!