Staying Clean While Being Green: A how-to guide for greening your hygiene routine

We’ve discussed how to clean our clothes more sustainably and how to clean our homes more sustainably, but what about cleaning ourselves more sustainably?
From reducing your water usage, to buying responsibly, to avoiding harmful PCCPs (personal care and cosmetic products), there are so many things you can do to greenify your basic hygiene practices.

We’ll start with an easy one: toilet paper. According to an article in Scientific American, Americans use 36.5 billion rolls of toilet paper every year, which requires the pulping of 15 million trees, over 473 billion gallons of water to produce the paper, and 253,000 tons of chlorine to bleach it, as well as significant amounts of energy and materials to package and transport the product to retail outlets.
In my endeavor toward greener living this week, I switched my household to using toilet paper made from recycled paper. I purchased a 12-pack of Seventh Generation 100% Recycled Bath Tissue for $9.99. Raised in a house with strong Scott toilet paper brand loyalty, the recycled bath tissue has proven to be stronger and softer than what we were using before. And, it was the less expensive option at the store. Not to mention its significant implications for sustainability.

If every household in the U.S. replaced one 12-pack of 240 sheet virgin fiber bathroom tissue with recycled bath tissue, we could save over 2,400,000 trees. This simple act of choosing to wipe our butts with recycled rather than virgin paper can have massively beneficial environmental impacts! And it requires next to no effort to implement such a change. Simply purchase bathroom tissue made from recycled paper the next time you buy. It works just the same as the non-recycled stuff, but is a lot gentler on our planet. Also look for toilet paper rolls without a cardboard roll (which I couldn’t find at my local store) or be sure to recycle the cardboard rolls rather than tossing them into your trash. 

Of course, toilet paper use can also be eliminated altogether with the use of a bidet—a plumbing fixture or accessory that uses a stream of water to clean you after using the restroom as opposed to toilet paper. Bidets are utilized widely all over the world, except in North America where they remain unpopular and underutilized.

In addition to their environmental benefits in reducing water consumption and waste generated in the production and use of toilet paper, bidets are also a more hygienic alternative to toilet paper. A top-of-the-line bidet featuring heated water and air drying mechanisms costs $549. However, less advanced
models can be installed yourself and cost less than $100. On average, a family of four will purchase twenty 12-packs of toilet paper throughout the year (based on average consumer use of 57 sheets of toilet paper per day). As I took a closer look at the toilet paper offerings this week in my local grocery store, 12-packs ranged from $8-$12 in price. This means that an average family of four spends approximately $160-$240 dollars on toilet paper annually, which is significantly costlier than the one-time expense of purchasing a bidet.

If you end up incorporating a bidet into your bathroom routine in the future (which I highly encourage folks to do!) or you are simply interested in learning more about bidets, consider reviewing these tips on how to use a bidet.

Toilet paper is but one small part of our daily hygiene routine. From brushing our teeth, to flushing the toilet, to washing our face, to showering, the task of keeping our bodies clean and healthy requires an extraordinary amount of water. According to the USGS, each person in the United States, on average, uses 80-100 gallons of water each day. Here are some quick facts and tips on how to reduce your personal water consumption in the quest for a greener daily hygiene routine:
     1. If it’s yellow, let it mellow.
          -I know from personal experience that this can be a controversial and unpopular method of water conservation. However, the average toilet flush uses 3 gallons of water! That’s an insane amount of water to be wasting every time you pee. If it grosses you out, invest in deodorizer or keep the lid down. I’m a huge proponent of the yellow mellow strategy of water conservation, but I do understand it may not be everyone’s “cup of tea.” Other ways to reduce water use with your toilet include:
          -Installing a low-flow toilet, which uses only 1.6 gallons of water per flush, on average
          -If you can’t replace your higher-volume toilet, then put a plastic bottle filled with water in your toilet tank to reduce the amount of water used per flush
          -Check for toilet leaks (and repair them) by putting food dye into the tank. If the color appears in the bowl without flushing, then there’s a leak that should be repaired
     2. Turn off the faucet when brushing your teeth or washing your hands or face.
          -Newer faucets use 1 gallon of water per minute, whereas older ones use over 2 gallons. The simple act of not letting the water run unnecessarily while you brush your teeth, wash your face, or wash your hands can save a lot of water
     3. Take a shorter shower and use a low-flow showerhead
          -Older showerheads use up to 5 gallons of water per minute. Water-saving showerheads cut that down to 2 gallons per minute. Regardless, cutting your shower time by only one minute can have significant water saving impacts!
          -Time your showers so you are aware of how long you’re spending in there. Challenge yourself to cut your shower time down. If you usually spend 10 minutes in the shower, using an average of 3.5 gallons of water per minute, you’ll use 35 gallons of water per shower. Cutting your shower time by only two minutes bumps that down to 28 gallons and saves 7 gallons of water each shower or 2,555 gallons of water annually
          -Additionally, shut off the water while shaving, sudsing up, lathering your shampoo, etc.
          -As for my favorite water-saving tip when it comes to showering: DON’T DO IT! The best way to reduce water use from showering is to not take showers in the first place. Of course, I’m not suggesting you never shower. However, I am recommending that you consider doing so less frequently. For example, if you shower every day, consider trying to cut that down to six times per week.Skipping just two showers per week has the potential to conserve a whopping 3,640 gallons of water annually.  It’s a tough habit to break, but once you do, you may find yourself being quite content with showering as little as twice per week.

In addition to all that water we are using, we should also be conscious of all the products we are washing down our drains along with that water. In general, you should strive to use products that won’t wash harmful dyes, fragrances, chemicals, and microbeads into our water supply (or put those things into contact with our bodies!) The use of personal care and cosmetic products (PCCPs) of course has overarching environmental implications, but they also have potentially serious impacts on our individual health and wellbeing.

In order to make your beauty routine the healthiest it can be both for you and the planet, consider these tips when deciding which products to buy/use:
     -skip the microbeads / microplastics commonly found in PCCPs. An estimated 8 trillion microbeads enter streams and oceans every day in the U.S. and upwards of 360,000 microscopic plastic particles can be found in a single bottle of face or body wash. These microplastics cannot be filtered out of our wastewater systems (they’re too small) and subsequently enter, pollute, and degrade our waterways. You can know if a product contains microplastics by looking for polyethylene, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polymethyl methacrylate, or nylon in the ingredients list. Instead, look to use products with natural exfoliants such as apricot, sugar, or salt scrubs
     -avoid antibacterial cleansers containing triclosan (commonly found in hand gels and hand soaps) as this can create bacterial resistance to antibiotics
     -avoid soaps/shampoos/cosmetic products with added colorants and chemical additives including fragrance, sodium lauryl sulfate / sodium laureth sulfate, polysorbates, polyethylene glycol, potassium sorbate, and many other ingredients that can be harmful to you and the environment

The stark reality of the situation is that there are thousands of chemicals in our products which are being absorbed into our bodies. For a more in-depth list and explanation of chemicals frequently found in PCCPs that you should be avoiding, consider checking out this HuffPost article or conducting further research of your own

The best way to know what is in your facewash, shampoo, and soap is to make it yourself. This is what I did this week, and it was honestly so much fun! I made my own face wash using this recipe  consisting of castile soap, chamomile tea, water, and essential oils. It was quick to make, smells great, and has been leaving my skin feeling refreshed, moisturized, and glowing.

I also made DIY foaming hand soaps using castile soap, water, and coconut oil.

In what was truly a green hygiene renaissance for me this week, I also started brushing my teeth with natural toothpaste and began using a Dr. Bronner’s “All-in-one” bar of castile soap to wash my body, hair, and face. The bar was a reasonable $4.49—a fraction of what it would cost to buy separate shampoo, soap, and face wash. I have also utilized baking soda shampoo and an apple cider vinegar rinse as DIY shampoo in the past and highly recommend giving that a try as well.

Just know that it does take some time (usually about 2 weeks) for your hair to adjust to a change in cleaning regimen, but in the long run, you, your hair, and our planet will better off because of it. Feel free to research DIY shampoos on your own, or peruse this thorough Dr. Bronner’s guide for additional insight and ideas.

Last but not least, hygiene products like toothbrushes and razors can have a big impact on how your routine is affecting our planet.

Those who know me well know that I have a tenuous relationship with my local dentist, but all animosity aside, I still believe in the importance of oral hygiene. However, I don’t believe we need to destroy our planet in the process.

The standard toothbrush is made of a hard plastic handle and nylon bristles. Most come in plastic packaging. These petroleum products do not biodegrade, they release toxic chemicals when incinerated, and they utilize non-renewable fossil fuels as explained on Recycle Nation’s website. An estimated 850 million to one billion plastic toothbrushes are thrown away in the U.S. every year, generating 50 million pounds of waste. And that doesn’t even account for the additional waste created by packaging, toothpaste tubes, dental floss, and other oral hygiene products.

I would never recommend ceasing to brush your teeth. However, I do recommend seeking more sustainable alternatives to the conventional plastic toothbrush.

These sustainable alternatives include:
-bamboo toothbrushes (whose handles will decompose and biodegrade)

I ordered a four pack (which will last me the year). I like the brush a lot, and it came in a recyclable box made from 100% recycled material. When I’m done with the brush I can pop out the nylon bristles and compost the handle simply by jamming it into the ground. How exciting!
Believe it or not, it’s actually quite a nuanced topic, trying to find the right “sustainable” toothbrush. I found The Zero Waste Backpacker’s insight into the topic to be quite enlightening and informative.
-toothbrushes with replaceable heads (such as Ecodent or Radius)
- toothbrushes made from recycled plastic
The company Preserve makes an array of products—including toothbrushes and razors—from 100% recycled plastics, thereby diverting plastic from the wastestream and repurposing it.

When it comes time to dispose of your plastic toothbrush, look into recycling your toothbrush—along with other hard-to-recycle products like toothpaste tubes, dental floss containers, and toothbrush packaging—through programs like TerraCycle. If you’re feeling particularly ambitious, you may even advocate for your local dentist to join Terracycle’s toothbrush recycling program. You can also keep your old toothbrush to use as a useful scrubber for household cleaning tasks! 

Also, be sure to recycle the cardboard boxes these sustainable alternative toothbrushes and toothpaste brands come in.

The potential for greener living is vast and ubiquitous. Our daily hygiene routines are no exception to that. I know I inundated you with information in this blog, but there was a lot to cover. And I wanted to cover a lot in the hopes that readers will find methods, tips, and tricks for greening their routines that work for them. Not everyone is going to want to give up their shampoo brand. Not everyone is going to want to take shorter showers. Not everyone is going to want to adopt a yellow mellow flushing policy. However, everyone should be able to commit to one change. Whether it’s turning the faucet off while brushing, buying toilet paper made from recycled paper, making your own soaps and shampoos, installing a bidet, adding a water bottle to your toilet tank, or buying a more sustainable toothbrush, let us know how it goes in the comments section below.

I won’t be able to blog next week, so hopefully the extent of this one can help you make your greener living fix last. Two weeks from now I’ll be back with another topic. Stay tuned to see what it is!

-Sam