What are your favorite eco and animal-friendly household and beauty products?

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#Cleaning#Style & Grooming#beauty products#cleaning products#eco-friendly
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Hey Offbeat Homies! My household has recently starting to make the switch to natural and non-animal tested products.

Does anyone have some suggestions on your favorite products that aren’t hurtful to the environment or our animal pals? Thanks! -Jackson

I asked the Homies to list their favorite eco and animal-friendly products on our Facebook page, and collected the top answers. Keep scrolling for eco-friendly cosmetic and household cleaning products. Added bonus at the end: The DIY section…

For cosmetics…

“I like Lush. I can’t say its the cheapest, but you don’t need a lot.” -Vie
“Lush may not be the cheapest upfront, but I get a lot of use of them since you have to use less. Like bar shampoo and conditioner.” -Miranda

“Coconut oil for makeup remover and moisturizer/lotion. I also used to work at Whole Foods and a lot of them carry safe, natural, cruelty free/vegan cosmetics. (And they’ve got great sales on them around Valentine’s day and Mother’s day.”) -Mariah

“Organic Colour Systems is an amazing professional cruelty free line that is available it over 40 countries world-wide. The colour is completely vegan as well as the vast majority of the products. The whole system is cruelty free.” -Stefanie

“Besame Cosmetics! It’s also owned by a young, LA-based Latina woman.” -Sara

“Astonish for household stuffs.” -Miia

“My favorite cruelty free cosmetics are from ELF. We use diluted castile soap for both body wash and shampoo. Tom’s of Maine makes great toothpaste and deodorant, too.” -Nikki

Try Logical Harmony, they put out a list of cruelty free and vegan brands weekly. Most are beauty brands but they do touch on household items. -Lindsie

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For cleaning supplies…

Method and Seventh Generation make great cleaning supplies. -Nikki

“In the UK, all Superdrug own brand products are suitable for vegans/cruelty free.” -Vicky

“Dr. Bronners castile soap for household cleaning.” -Sara

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DIY options…

“Baking soda and white vinegar for cleaning purposes. Works for pretty much everything. You can also use them as ‘no-poo’ and conditioner.” -Dora

“I use essential oils and make all my own homemade cleaners etc.” -Jodie

“Save your citrus peels and then soak them for two weeks in white vinegar. It’ll smell good and clean your surfaces!” -Christine

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Make your own citrus enzyme cleaner

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I thought about it long and hard....and after some DEEP soul searching...I decided I COULD do 2 weeks.

A month after making my batch of cleaner, I hadn't even gotten around to trying it -- so I decided the bathroom would be my first "test subject".

What are your favorite eco and animal-friendly products?

About the Author: Megan Finley Horowitz

@meggyfin @meggyfin

I'm a 40-year-old potty-mouthed writer with late-diagnosed ADHD and a shit-ton of anxiety. I live in my hometown of Los Angeles with a husband, a daughter I never planned on having, and a senior rescue dog. Anything else you need to know can be gleaned from my instagram and my TikTok.

Comments on What are your favorite eco and animal-friendly household and beauty products?

  1. I’m a big fan of EO products. Their Everyone line is a little less expensive and just as good.

    For cleaning, I use a lot of vinegar and baking soda. And the magic vinegar-Blue Dawn combo!

  3. I use white vinegar to clean all the surfaces (especially great on glass/mirrors) and I’ll add some essential oils (lemon, orange, rosemary, peppermint) so things smell awesome. If I need a little extra oomph I have a mostly vinegar solution with a little Dr. Bronners and water mixed in. If I need to scrub something (stovetop/toilet) I sprinkle baking soda on it and scrub. Works wonders.

    For my body/hair I use African black soap (made from shea butter). I use either avocado oil or shea butter to moisturize. I have a 100% natural clay-based face cleanser from Bioelements that’s pretty good, and I use 100% Argan oil for my face (pricey but worth it). I use Auromere Ayurvedic toothpaste. That’s literally it for personal care. If it’s not natural, it’s not touching me. I’ve heard really great things about the FeatherEagleSky skin care line, but it’s pricey and so I’m waiting til I’ve got some $$ to splurge bc I would love to try it.

    I make my own sunscreen from a shea/coconut/beeswax base plus zinc oxide powder. There are TONS of recipes for making your own products out there, for both body care and cleaning products. I definitely recommend making your own over buying. Although there are some great natural products out there, making your own is cheaper and you know for sure what’s in them. 🙂 have fun with it!

  4. After having a lot of medical issues related to hormones and allergies I had to switch over to products that don’t contain artificial fragrances of any kind; scented with essential oils are ok. I started using Beautycounter for all my skincare and cosmetics needs and I loved them so much I started selling them. If you are interested I have more info about that on my website (http://www.dixieflapper.com/beautycounter/). That is very unusual for me as I’m an extreme introvert and hate selling. But, I really believe in the products. I was using Honest Company for my household cleaning products but I’m switching over as they have been in the media a lot lately for being not too honest about what is in their products. I’ve started using Puracy and I’m liking theor products so far.

  5. We use baking soda as fabric softener, but that’s mainly because of my switch to cloth menstrual pads almost 2 years ago due to my skin developing some reactions (read: itching and rashes) to the materials used to make mainstream store-bought pads. We eventually did away with the Downy and Bounce and now use baking soda for all of our laundry. I might try experimenting with some plant-based fabric softener in the future since it’s supposed to be easier to rinse out than the chemical kind.

    Also, witch hazel makes FABULOUS toner for your face. It can even help clear up acne. Lately, I have been using some ELF brand facial moisturizer in addition to the witch hazel toner.

  6. My daughter had a pretty major accident causing some significant scaring to her face. To help the wounds heal and the scars fade we switched to all natural face cleansers and moisturizers. It has been great for her scars and equally great for my middle aged skin.

    -Eye make-up remover (for me): grapeseed oil on a cotton ball
    -Exfoliant: grapeseed oil or coconut oil with baking soda
    -Face wash: Dr Bronners liquid castile soap (usually the lavender)
    -Scar care (for my kiddo): grapeseed oil mixed with vitamin E
    -Toner: Thayers Alcohol-free Rose Petal Witch Hazel with Aloe Vera

    • This post could not have been more timely, as I recently got a small but still somewhat noticeable scar underneath my right eyebrow from my cat scratching me there. How much grapeseed oil and vitamin E do you use?

      • We just kind of eye ball it. The straight vitamin e irritated my daughters skin. so we tried mixing a few drops into a tablespoon of grape seed oil. We then use a cotton ball to run it around the scars. Her plastic surgeon recommended it, the grape seed oil is high in vitamin e on its own and absorbs quickly into our skin.

  7. Shameless plug- I make cruelty-free, vegan eyeshadows (which can also be used for brow darkening, contouring and highlighting, DIY lippy, DIY nail polish, blush, etc.) at Printcess.net and on Etsy. And I know many, many other small businesses who also make earth and animal-friendly cosmetics.

    As for cleaning products, baking soda and elbow grease can do just about anything that vinegar can’t!

  8. I love Alaffia’s lotion, body wash, and lip balm — I know they make shampoo and conditioner but I haven’t tried it yet. Bare Republic makes great sunscreen, and so does Juice Beauty. I second everything that mentions coconut oil as well! I use it as a makeup remover and moisturizer, for cooking, and my husband mixes it with baking soda to make toothpaste.

  10. Oh, I am so here for this thread! I’ve recently started moving towards consuming as little plastic as possible, and the biggest issue I’m currently having is with beauty products. I’ve already made the switch to Lush for solid body lotion, shampoo, conditioner, and deodorant (and when my mascara and concealer run out I will probably try theirs), but do any Homies have tips on plastic-free or post-consumer plastic lipsticks?!

    • I did use Lush solid shampoo soaknfloat but they have changed the recipe and all their solid shampoos just strip my hair of all oil and life. I want to use their products, but they aren’t good any more. They are also more expensive/smaller too

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