Looking to reduce your eco-foot print? A great place to start is your shower routine.
Start by taking shorter showers. On average, each Canadian uses 75 Litres of hot water EVERY DAY —for washing dishes and clothing, cleaning, and showering or bathing— heating that water accounts for 19% of our average energy use. Consider exfoliating, washing your face, and brushing your hair outside of the shower to cut down on water and energy use.
Check out the rest of our tips to help "flush" plastic packaging out of your shower routine!
Dry Brush: Ditch plastic luffas and replace with a reusable dry brush. Use before showering to remove dead skin cells and improve blood flow, leaving skin glowing.
Bamboo Hair Brush: A high quality natural hair brush is gentle on hair and washable, allowing it to last longer.
Solid Shampoo Bar: An easy swap, one bar provides the equivalent washes of 3 medium shampoo bottles (80+ washes). Found locally from Om Naturale, Boyd's Bars, or Head 2 Toe.
Coconut Oil: Use as a conditioner for hair, either before shampoo for normal or oily hair (focusing on the ends), or after for very dry or damaged hair. Work's great as a shave oil too! Hit up your local Bulk Barn with your own container to get coconut oil free of packaging and for a great deal.
Natural Bar Soap: You can find local natural soaps at Farmer's & Crafter's markets across the Okanagan, stock up next time you're there —look for soap that's package free of course!
Natural Raw Honey: Honey is the bee's knees when it comes to low-waste face cleansers, and easily found locally at markets or directly from the source! Work a quarter-sized dollop across your lightly wet face and lips, rinse with water for naturally glowing skin. Add a drop of tea tree oil for acne prone skin.
DIY Head to Toe Whipped Body Butter: Natural oils such as coconut, shea, or olive work great as low-waste moisturizes, however, if you're looking for more decadence check out this recipe, courtesy of Trash Is For Tossers: melt 1/4 cup of each, coconut oil, shea butter, cocoa butter, and almond oil, together over a double boiler until combined, remove from heat and put in fridge to solidify, once solid whip content with an electric mixer until it about doubles in size, put in a sealed container and slather over every inch of your face and bod, a little goes a long way! Optional, add your fav essential oil.
Lavender or other natural elements: Replace harmful air freshener in your bathroom with natural soothing elements like dried lavender, which is available all over the Okanagan in the spring and summer months.
Hope you've been inspired to evaluate your shower routine. For more DIY fun and ideas, check out our Green Okanagan Pinterest!
Have questions, tips to share, or local Okanagan businesses we need to know about? Share in the comments below!