It was long before Leo have his most Leo Oscar acceptance speech that we’ve been looking at ways to green up our lives, but it’s especially important around Earth Day. It can be difficult for some people who aren’t one with nature (me + bugs and/or birds = not friends), but that doesn’t mean you have to take yourself out of supporting the planet and there are easy ways to do that, even if you’re a beauty-loving, bug-fearing female like myself. Here are fives ways for beauty lovers to celebrate the planet this Earth Day.
Support brands that give back
Many companies work with green global initiatives throughout the year, but brands like Aveda really ramp up their contributions and awareness around Earth Day, but in this case it’s a month-long initiative. Did you know that Aveda does a Walk for Water on April 25 in 14 cities across Canada and that the proceeds all go to Aveda’s WaterAid foundation to provide clean water to communities in Madagascar? Don’t want to walk? You can still support this initiative. To keep the Earth Day momentum going, on April 25, select Aveda partnered salons across Canada will be donating all of their service fees to WaterAid, which means if you’ve been putting off that trim or root touch-up, April 25 is your chance to make your regular salon appointment worth something so much more.
Go green with your packaging
By now we hope that everyone has learned to reduce, reuse and recycle as much as they can in the day-to-day, but many people often think that means they can’t still have fun with their beauty brands. Wrong. Brands like LUSH offer super-fun, great-smelling natural products that often come “naked.” From shampoo bars and hair treatments to soaps and bath bombs, these naked products are sold in solid format and wrapped up in paper when you buy them so that the brand can cut down on the costs and environmental ramifications of excess, totally unnecessary packaging. Plus, LUSH also offers a program where when you return five clean, empty pots, you get a free Fresh Face Mask, which just helps reduce waste in the long-run.
Shop local
We love a solid Canadian brand. From Joe Fresh to MAC Cosmetics to Nudestix to everything else in between, there’s something truly amazing about buying something completely and totally homegrown. Another homegrown favourite: Consonant Skincare. 100 per cent natural is created and produced right here in Canada and offers everything from The Perfect Sunscreen to a Natural Foaming Face Wash. (Need more inspiration? We rounded up six eco-friendly activewear brands and two are definitely Canadian.)
Make a cruelty-free pact
How brands are still able to test on animals in the year 2016 is beyond me, but unfortunately, it’s still a huge part of the beauty industry. Do your best to educate yourself on what brands are cruelty-free and which are not and make the decision for yourself. Does one cruelty-free brand have a similar alternative to the brand that isn’t? Small changes like that make a world of difference. If you need more convincing on why you should shop local, BeautyDesk has five Canadian cruelty-free brands we love.
Educate yourself
We can’t stress this enough. The more you educate yourself on what brands you’re using, what sustainability practices they employ and what ingredients they put into the products, the better it’ll be for all of us. More and more brands are making the switch to greener practices, from cutting down on waste to giving back to the Earth (and communities) that they sourced their ingredients from, but the only way to further change is to continue make these initiatives a top requirement from our beauty brands.
