I have just started using what I like to call not-cotton not-wool. I started using a muslin square to remove my make-up and was still using cotton wool for my toner. I started looking into organic cotton wool due to the ethical conundrums surrounding cotton. Then on a somewhat unrelated note I started to phase out all disposable menstrual wear (having used a moon cup for eons, but still having some disposable back up pads).
At this point I wondered whether you could get reusable cotton wool as it were. Of course you can!
I bought a fleece set, a bamboo set and a hemp set. I am testing them all out. It's a tricky business though, no-one tells you how to use these things. I mean, you pick up how to use a disposable cotton wool pad. Basically you use it and chuck it in the bin.
Reusables are a tad more confusing - what sort of fibre? For what job? should i stain remove first? Or just wash?
So far I have tried the fleece ones. It felt soft on my skin and held the toner in a similar way to a cotton wool pad. I then washed it with warm soapy water before letting it dry then putting it in my net laundry bag for my small washable items like this. I only do my laundry with soap nuts you see, so i think if i didn't remove the stains at this stage it would probably come out of the wash looking similar to how it went in. All seems good with that one so far.
Then today I thought I would try a hemp one. That was so super absorbant that i had to use loads of toner. It just disappeared into the pad. I think this is the stuff nappies should be made from! So, not feeling the hemp ones yet.
Bamboo is still yet to be tried....
Showing posts with label cosmetics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cosmetics. Show all posts
Thursday, 17 December 2009
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Little Fluffy Clouds
OK, maybe not, but today I have made fluffy clouds at work (I have a dead serious job) out of cotton wool balls. I did however say to some people that we would have to buy some as I don't have nay at home. They were curious as to why and what I used instead.
To answer this with the long story here goes! A while ago I decided I would like to minimise my disposable cosmetics paraphenalia. I realise it would be greener still not to use it at all, but hey ho, I like to look nice, and i try to do it in the most responsible and sustainable way possible, so I am not going to feel bad about that at this point in time. I switched away from traditional make-up remover which comes in plastic bottles and started using baby face by my favourite shop!. I then removed it using a muslin cloth which i was given with some Liz Earle products i was given for a birthday pressie. As this worked well I bought some organic cotton muslin and now have a collection of muslin squares for make-up removal (we only do washing when there is a full load, so things can hang around a bit, so i needed a stack of them).
This worked well for ages, but I was still plagued by the notion that i was using toner on cotton wool. Yes, I had reduced the impact, but not eliminated it. Then I started using reusable menstrual wear and started to think that i could use reusable cotton wool pads. So, I now don't keep cotton wool pads/balls/roll etc at home. I have a few sets of reusable pads for make up removal, some organic cotton, some polyester cotton mix, and some hemp, and maybe some bamboo. I haven't tried them all so I can't contrast them.
This throws it's own dilemmas at me:
1) is it better for the environment to wash and reuse or dispose of somehting small and biodegradable?
I think in my case it is most definitely better to wash and reuse, as i stated we only wash when the load is full, we use soapnuts or occasionally ecover, we wash at 30 degrees, we don't tumble dry
2) even though cotton production is highly unethical in many respects, for the people that produce it it is better that someone buys it than no-one, not buying it doesn;t help the farmers really. Social cost vs environmental cost
3) I had nothing to use to keep my eyes cleansed separately when i had an eye infection! (this is small fry!)
4) i bought some nail varnish remover pads in a plastic pot. I am suspecting this is worse than me having some cotton wool and a bottle of nail varnish remover? Is plastic waste worse than cotton? The ethical dilemmas abound!
To answer this with the long story here goes! A while ago I decided I would like to minimise my disposable cosmetics paraphenalia. I realise it would be greener still not to use it at all, but hey ho, I like to look nice, and i try to do it in the most responsible and sustainable way possible, so I am not going to feel bad about that at this point in time. I switched away from traditional make-up remover which comes in plastic bottles and started using baby face by my favourite shop!. I then removed it using a muslin cloth which i was given with some Liz Earle products i was given for a birthday pressie. As this worked well I bought some organic cotton muslin and now have a collection of muslin squares for make-up removal (we only do washing when there is a full load, so things can hang around a bit, so i needed a stack of them).
This worked well for ages, but I was still plagued by the notion that i was using toner on cotton wool. Yes, I had reduced the impact, but not eliminated it. Then I started using reusable menstrual wear and started to think that i could use reusable cotton wool pads. So, I now don't keep cotton wool pads/balls/roll etc at home. I have a few sets of reusable pads for make up removal, some organic cotton, some polyester cotton mix, and some hemp, and maybe some bamboo. I haven't tried them all so I can't contrast them.
This throws it's own dilemmas at me:
1) is it better for the environment to wash and reuse or dispose of somehting small and biodegradable?
I think in my case it is most definitely better to wash and reuse, as i stated we only wash when the load is full, we use soapnuts or occasionally ecover, we wash at 30 degrees, we don't tumble dry
2) even though cotton production is highly unethical in many respects, for the people that produce it it is better that someone buys it than no-one, not buying it doesn;t help the farmers really. Social cost vs environmental cost
3) I had nothing to use to keep my eyes cleansed separately when i had an eye infection! (this is small fry!)
4) i bought some nail varnish remover pads in a plastic pot. I am suspecting this is worse than me having some cotton wool and a bottle of nail varnish remover? Is plastic waste worse than cotton? The ethical dilemmas abound!
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