Saturday 6 June 2015

Say no to cotton wool

I first blogged about these little make up cloths I made on my old Typepad blog in 2011, and am still using them!  Thought I would share the idea for you again:
A couple of years ago I decided to stop buying cotton wool to clean my make up off or cleanse and tone my face.  I wasn't going to save much money, but I would take a small step in a green direction!  I understand that cotton is a very intensive crop, requiring lots of water whilst growing, and heavy machinery or lots of low paid workers to pick the final product.  Of course, once used as cotton wool it just gets thrown away, so it can be landfill as well, depending on what your council does with your waste.  I don't need cotton wool to clean my face, there are alternatives!
I soon found an alternative, in the form of a surfeit of face cloths collecting in the bathroom cupboard.  I cut each of them into four, and hemmed the raw edges .  Voila, I had little make up cloths!  When used they are just thrown into a bin and once a week they get put in a little laundry bag and washed with the towels.   Here are the ones I made;
Blog 2011 024

I have found that making this one small change has been easy, helped along by me treating myself to some Liz Earle cleanse and polish a few years ago.  With that, you get a muslin cloth to clean your face.  After using the cleanse and polish (which I no longer buy, there are cheaper alternatives now!) I got into a routine of using a reusable cloth, and haven't looked back.  
Now, going back to cloth hankies would be a different matter!!!

5 comments:

  1. My current 'cleanse and moisturise' routine is cold water on a sponge followed by Dr.organic Rose Otto Night Cream ( from Holland and Barratt). I used to spend four times as much on Clinique products..... which were largely less effective. Jx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great idea, I don't use cotton wool, not keen on the feel! There are so many ways to use face cloths and old towels.

    I bought one of those rolls of towel that went into the old pull roller towels. They are a good width and I cut them into lengths just longer than a sheet of kitchen towel. Like you, hemmed them and made one of those tubes like you use for plastic carrier bags and stuff them in the top to get them out the bottom. Amazingly useful, I also did the same with old towels and they are just so useful. I use them for lots of things just so useful.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I just use a small gentle lather in my hands with my light St Ives apricot- actually the Target store brand, with a light store brand SPF lotion. A $4 tube lasts me months.I just rub a little extra cold water over eye lashes for mascara. I thibk too many women get stuck on expensive routines that might be counter productive.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great idea. I never understand why any woman needs a really expensive make-up or skincare routine - cheap and cheerful all the way! xxx

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great idea!
    The less we can chuck away the better although it's impossible not to generate waste with those festival essentials, wet wipes! x

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. I'd love it if you left a comment too!