Go GREEN

Our beauty routines can be extremely wasteful, but simple tweaks can make a difference. Karen Alfonso shows us how

- Karen Alfonso

Looking to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle? Your beauty routine is a good place to start. Just making small changes in your regimen can have a positive impact on the environment. Here are some easy strategies to start you off…

SIMPLIFY YOUR BEAUTY ROUTINE

"The whole craze around using tons of products is really taking a toll on the environment, which is a cause for concern," says Dr Kiran Sethi, founder of Isya Aesthetics, New Delhi. "Influencers and trends often make us feel like we need to reach these unrealistic beauty standards; that's getting a lot of people stuck in this cycle of buying way too much stuff they don't really need. And all this shopping is causing packaging waste, and unnecessary use of energy and precious resources. Making all those products and shipping them around releases a bunch of greenhouse gases, making climate change even worse."

What You Can Do: Pare down your purchases, and follow a routine that focuses on hydrating, protecting, and targeting your skincare concerns. Yes, it might be tempting to snap up the latest brand that arrives in India, but it's better to wait it out and then buy.

STOP USING SINGLE-USE PRODUCTS

We're very used to using cotton balls to remove our makeup or cotton buds to correct eyeliner or lipstick. Opting for these single-use products is doing more harm than good.

What You Can Do: Opt for cleansing oils and balms that eliminate the need for single-use products or try swapping them out in favour of reusable cotton rounds made from bamboo fibre (which takes less water to grow than cotton).