Eco Simple challenge: march swaps

It's swaps time! This year I've committed to swapping five items for more eco friendly, non toxic and zero waste options each month. Rolling into March, I'm still so excited about what the rest of the year has to offer. So far, it's been pretty easy to find alternatives for some of my most-used items. Best of all, none of the items I've swapped so far have been a dud. I've really loved each item I've changed out and it hasn't impacted my life negatively in any way. So, if you're considering making some swaps, do it!

This month, I focused mostly on my beauty products. Because I use these daily and on my body, it felt important to start looking for more non toxic options that are also eco friendly and zero waste. You'll notice that Lush was my brand of choice. Before we dive into my swaps, let's talk about researching brands before you buy. 

Lush is a zero waste angel. Many of their products are package free, which means taking your beauty routine zero waste is pretty simple. While they're champions at being zero waste and pretty eco friendly, they aren't necessarily the most non toxic. Lush does a great job at clearly outlining what's in their products, which makes it easy to spot which items have non toxic no no's like fragrance. It's super important to research what's in the products you'd like to buy so you know you're choosing options your comfortable with. While there aren't a ton of non toxic Lush options I feel comfortable with, my swaps this month include three products that fit the bill. ​

Honestly, you can pry dry shampoo out of my cold, dead hands. I love it so much. The classic dry shampoo options out there come in aerosol cans, filled with added fragrance and chemicals: So not eco friendly, non toxic or zero waste. I had been using Suave's Natural Refresh Dry Shampoo. Just because "natural" is in the name doesn't mean it's good for you, sweetie. 

Lush's No Drought shampoo falls into my comfort zone of non toxic and is more eco friendly than an aerosol can. While it's not exactly zero waste, all of Lush's packaging is made from 100% recycled, BPA-free plastic produced near their factory. That feels pretty good to me!

This dry shampoo is white, so pro tip for brunettes: Use it before bed. When you massage the powder into your roots and then sleep on it, you wake up with grease-free locks, but no white residue. 

You can find No Drought in Lush stores, or order it online here. ​

It was super important to get this item swapped as soon as I could. I wash my face twice a day, so anything with toxic chemicals is getting a lot of opportunities to negatively effect me. I have been using Bliss Pore Patrol clay-to-foam cleanser. Let's just say, it did not rate well on the EWG skin deep app.

Once again I turned to Lush and their Angels on Bare Skin face cleanser. This is made with all natural ingredients and super effective, plus it's great for all skin types. It's lavender scent is so amazing. 

This product comes in a pot, so while not zero waste, Lush has an amazing recycling system with this packaging. You can bring your pots back to a Lush store to recycle. When you recycle five pots, you get a free face mask pot. Nice!

You can find Angels on Bare Skin in Lush stores, or order it online here. ​

This was the product where I finally hit the trifecta with Lush: Non toxic, eco friendly and zero waste! Their Full of Grace moisturizer bar is so gentle, effective and comes as a solid with zero packaging. I highly recommend getting a tin to keep the bar in, because unlike other Lush solid products, the moisturizing bar can get on everything if it isn't contained.

Before using this product, I was using Bliss Drench to Quench cream to water moisturizer. While I loved this product, it was rated really poorly on Skin Deep, plus it's packaging was horrible. The product was 70% plastic package, 30% moisturizer.

I'm so glad I made the swap. Using a solid moisturizer was not the learning curve I thought it would be, it so straight forward. Plus, a little bit of this product goes a long way. 

You can find Full of Grace in Lush stores, or order online here. ​

I was in serious need of a new hair brush. This is going to sound super gross, but I'd had the same hair brush for more than ten years. Yes, I cleaned it, but it had so much gross build up, I can't even think about it. Needless to say, this was a super necessary swap. 

This product choice really fell in my lap. Obviously, my current brush was 100% plastic. I was prepared to spend a little money on getting a wooden brush with natural bristles, hoping it would last me a while. But then, the Target dollar section provided, as it always does. 

Target currently has a treasure trove of cleaning and personal beauty supplies, including this wooden handled brush with wooden bristles. So far, it's been working great! Now, I don't have the thick locks I did before having Tess, but it's been really effective at getting through tangles and hasn't show any sign of wear yet. Plus, it was $3. Totally worth it. 

​You can find this brush in stores at Target now.

My last swap took me out of the bathroom and into the kitchen. Plastic tupperware haunts my dreams. I never have the right lids, even though there are substantially more lids than bottoms, and they get so dingy. Plus, I always have to remove my leftovers from the tupperware before heating it up, because I don't want that nasty plastic leeching into my food. 

Finding completely zero waste tupperware was challenging, especially when I want to buy in-person to be more eco friendly. I've heard that Pyrex brand doesn't hold up that well, so I looked at my trusty fav Ikea. 

So far, we love these glass leftover dishes. They come in a number of sizes, we chose both rectangle and square dishes in a deep and shallower option. Now, the lids are plastic, but I feel really good about the fact that we've cut down on plastic use, plus those lids don't go into the microwave. Win!

You can find these dishes in Ikea stores, or order online here. ​

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I'm so happy I tackled some of the items in my beauty routine this month, I can't wait to swap more!
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Follow along on Instagram from more behind the scenes of the Eco Simple Challenge, including how these products are working for me. You can also share your own swaps by tagging @thesownseed and using the hashtag #ecosimplechallenge.

Let me know some of your March swaps or ask some questions below in the comments! 

Want to see previous months' swaps? Check them out here:

• Eco Simple Challenge: Let's Start at the Very Beginning
• Eco Simple Challenge: January Swaps
• Eco Simple Challenge: February Swaps