As part of our offering of sustainable everyday essentials and eco-tips, we turn our attention to the bathroom.

Here are some simple ways to save money, avoid plastic, and reduce your carbon footprint while staying clean, of course.

Take showers instead of baths

Sometimes a warm, comforting bath is needed after a long day.

But, if you just want to freshen up a bit, the shower uses much less water and energy to heat it, saving on bills and reducing your carbon footprint.

The optimal shower time for your skin and environment is five minutes and certainly no more than ten.

If you're feeling brave, try a cool or cold shower for extra savings. Cooler showers have also been shown to be better for your skin for boosting circulation.

You can also turn off the water while you soap up and invest in a low-flow shower head.

Sustainable toiletries

The majority of toiletries are single-use and, unfortunately, sometimes this is quite unavoidable, unless you want to go back to Tudor times and share toilet paper. That would be quite a commitment!

But, by choosing the right products, you can reduce your impact to a minimum.

SOAP / SHAMPOO

The plethora of soaps, shower gels, shampoos and conditioners that may or may not spruce up your bathroom all leave an environmental footprint, especially if they come in plastic packaging.

But this is not obligatory.

You can either swap them for your own homemade alternatives, such as baking soda and apple cider vinegar, or opt for all-natural shampoo, conditioner and shower bars like those made by Lush or unBottled for example.

TOOTHBRUSH

Dentists recommend replacing your toothbrush every three months.

Toothbrushes are normally made of a combination of plastic and nylon and are not recycled by most municipal recycling programs.

But, once you can no longer clean your teeth with them, you can still use them to clean other things like shoes, clothes, or bikes.

Or, you can purchase a sustainable alternative such as a bamboo toothbrush that can be composted in your garden after use or a bamboo toothbrush with an interchangeable head where only the head needs to be renewed.

Also don't forget to turn off the tap while you brush your teeth!

TOOTHPASTE

Toothpaste tubes are one of the most difficult products to recycle in the world because they are typically made from a thin layer of aluminum and plastic.

On average, a person uses one every two months. Multiplyed by 6, then that number by all the toothpaste users in the world, that's a lot of waste going to landfill every year.

Recognizing that this is a real problem, some brands, like Ben & Anna, now sell toothpaste in glass jars.

They also tackle other issues, such as micro-plastics .

DENTAL FLOSS

Floss is a great product unless it's plastic.

Traditionally, dental floss is made from plastic and impossible to recycle. The same goes for its box containing it.

Both will usually end up in a landfill and likely up the food chain (and, ultimately, that means our stomachs!).

That's why we developed a new type of plastic-free dental floss using the by-product of corn cultivation mixed with candelilla wax and a little oil. It will (rapidly) biodegrade in nature.

Q-TIPS

The plastic cotton swab is one of the most polluting objects found in bathrooms!

Every day, 1.5 billion disposable cotton swabs are produced, for just 1 use.

Knowing that 91% of plastic in the world is not recycled and ends up in our landfills and oceans, a sustainable alternative is absolutely essential!

For our part, we offer ear picks made from sustainable bamboo (FSC label) and biodegradable, are reusable for life, naturally rot-proof and antibacterial.

In addition, and unlike cotton sticks, they prevent the formation of earwax blockages.

Our natural and biodegradable bamboo & cotton cotton swabs also provide a perfect solution to protect our beautiful planet.

Ecological and economical, they will advantageously replace plastic cotton buds.

The packaging is made from recycled materials and can be disposed of with organic waste.

Finally, LastSwab reusable cotton swabs provide a more responsible and economical alternative by replacing more than 1000 disposable cotton swabs.

SHAVING

Disposable razors often go the same way as toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes because they are, inconveniently, made from a mixture of plastics and their blades make them dangerous.

So, after use, they will certainly end up in landfill.

To avoid this, invest in a reusable metal or bamboo safety razor.

MAKE-UP REMOVER WIPES

We're not here to tell you to stop your beauty regime, not that you need to anyway!

But single-use cottons are bad for the environment because, firstly, cotton requires enormous amounts of water to grow, as well as pesticides if they are not organic, and, secondly, unlike regular cotton, they do not break down quickly due to bleaching and mixing (the process used to create them).

Then there is also plastic packaging. But there arereusable and sustainable alternatives .

FEMININE HYGIENE PRODUCTS

Like many of the examples above, sanitary products have evolved to include a lot of plastic and are generally single-use, and therefore end up polluting the environment.

However, there are reusable sanitary products available in the market, for example Rovtop's reusable bamboo sanitary napkins.