21 Natural Skin Care Products With Low-Waste Packaging
Natural skin care products made with organic ingredients and conscious packaging.
So you want to try the best natural skin care products...
One of the concerns many people struggle with when first taking an interest in low waste and ethically produced natural skin care products, is the efficacy of said products. We’ve all bought the natural, aluminum-free deodorant that looked good on our shelf but left our pits reeking barely an hour after application.
We’ve all tried face washes, face masks, and lotions, eliminating one by one - because these products are different than we’re used to buying in your local drug store. There’s a certain level of experimentation to be expected when you take the journey into eco-conscious living.
Well, experiment no longer. Today we’re bringing you the conclusive list of natural skincare products. These are hands down the best, in my opinion, the most low-waste essential products on the market.
I’ve broken these products into three different categories: face, body, and makeup (yes makeup can and should be an aspect of skincare, especially if you’re going to be wearing it all day). Each category includes a comprehensive list of natural skin care products for all purposes, moods and occasions.
Face
So much skincare dedicated to treating oilier skin, especially during summertime heat and humidity, works like a detergent - as if your skin doesn’t require a speck of oil to remain healthy and balanced. This Shea Rose Clay Facial Soap is composed of virgin shea butter, mango butter, rose petal oil, rosehip oil, French pink clay, and coconut milk. These ingredients come together to balance your complexion and soothe sensitive skin conditions such as dermatitis.
Ingredients like rosehip oil nourishes while fading blemishes and stepping back signs of aging, and French pink kaolin clay works over dirt and impurities, gently ridding your pores of built-up sweat and oil.
You’ll also be happy to know, even with all of the above benefits, the Shea Rose Clay Facial Soap is vegan, USDA Organic, cruelty-free, plastic-free, and in fact, totally zero waste. To use this facial soap, use warm water to build up a rich lather. Apply by massaging into your skin in circular motions. Rinse with warm water, and gently pat your face dry.
2. Bathing Culture Face and Body Oil
Bathing Culture’s Face and Body Oil is the perfect natural skin care product for acne-prone and otherwise super inflamed skin. We all know July and August heat takes a toll on our complexions, and this face and body oil is the answer to our collective prayers. Bathing Culture addresses these common skin concerns using a potent mixture of vitamin C and vitamin E fatty acids and antioxidants, which protect your skin from the environment and free radicals.
The ingredients list is seriously drool-worthy, with the addition of raspberry seed oil (a powerhouse antioxidant) and squalane (a rich, but totally non-comedogenic moisturizer), jojoba seed oil, and a host of other wholesome ingredients your face and body will happily drink up.
Some fun facts about Bathing Culture’s Face and Body Oil: it’s plant-based, vegan, and cruelty-free, with a biodegradable formula, TSA-friendly, and recyclable packaging.
A little tip for anyone looking to cool off this summer: get yourself Lua Skin Care’s, Vegan Toner. This natural skin care product can be used to set makeup, refresh your makeup throughout the day, or for a coolly fragranced mist as a little treat to your overheated cheeks. Lua Skin Care packed this toner with highly beneficial and effective ingredients to give you the glowing complexion of your dreams. You can purchase any of these three variations:
- Rose Mint - This toner is essentially a soothing rose garden in a bottle, with rose and aloe to cool you off and refresh your pH, while peppermint oil eliminates acne-causing bacteria and packs some major powers of aromatherapy.
- Desert Garden - If a desert oasis is more your vibe then look no further. Get swept away by the sultry fragrance blend of orange blossom, wild-harvested creosote, and white grapefruit.
- Wildflower - This mixture was created for those of you with sensitive skin in mind. Chamomile and aloe vera combine to soothe irritation and give you a boost of hydration. Lavender and vanilla essential oils help restore your skin’s pH balance and boost your skin’s natural elasticity.
This toner comes without fragrance, synthetic colors, parabens, and phthalates. Lua Skin Care comes in low-waste packaging, a glass bottle with a plastic pump that can easily be recycled.
To use Lua Skin Care’s Vegan Toner, shake the bottle well before use - this helps evenly mix the ingredients. You can use it after cleansing, or throughout the day for a little refresh.
4. Lua Skin Care Natural Makeup Remover
An aspect of skincare that quite literally is de-glamourizing gets leveled up with Lua Skin Care’s Natural Makeup Remover. Lua Skin Care has developed the perfectly balanced makeup remover that deeply cleans while still leaving your skin glowing and hydrated - the complete antithesis of your boilerplate makeup removing wipes.
This genius makeup remover combines a blend of carefully selected organic ingredients, each with a different skin benefit; you’ll be treating your face, even while you’re simply removing makeup. Hemp seed oil is the ideal non-comedogenic moisturizer, while sea buckthorn oil aids with dehydration and cell-regeneration. Rosemary extract protects your delicate skin cells from sun damage and free radicals. If you wear makeup, this is a must-have for your natural skin care product arsenal.
5. YayForEarth Zero Waste Face Lotion
Something I always look for during summertime is a natural skin care product that really cools me off. YayForEarth has developed such a face lotion, with their completely plastic-free packaging and brilliant formula. Some of the standout ingredients include olive oil (a powerful antioxidant), shea butter (anti-inflammatory and collagen boosting), beeswax (antiviral and antibacterial), and pomegranate seed oil (anti-aging). YayForEarth’s Face Lotion is excellent for anyone with sensitive to normal skin types.
YayForEarth’s Face Lotion contains only completely ethically sourced ingredients, with either a smaller metal tin or a larger glass jar - depending on your size preference.
To use YayForEarth’s Face Lotion, apply a small amount to your fingers, and gently rub in where needed. You can use this face lotion day and night.
6. Fat And the Moon Aloe Vera Lotion
First of all, let’s just take a moment to appreciate Fat And the Moon’s iconic packaging design. That black and white, the font, the logo design itself - name a brand with a more beautiful jar and label. I’ll wait.
Aside from Fat And The Moon’s delightful packaging choices, their Aloe Vera Lotion is the ideal natural skin care product for anyone with easily irritated, dry or sunburned skin. Sunflower oil is one of the key ingredients in this face lotion, and it is truly a 400 IQ level addition; this oleic acid contains high concentration of vitamin A, vitamin D, and vitamin E. Aloe Vera comes in as an especially cooling ingredient - perfect for warmer months.
Fat And The Moon’s Aloe Vera Lotion is meant for both face and body, but it’s spectacular on chapped hands and cheeks.
7. Golde Clean Greens Face Mask
Golde is an absolute gem of a beauty and wellness brand that absolutely everyone should know about. Golde is produced out of Brooklyn New York by Mouzon Woffard and partner, Issey Kobori, with a succinct collection of superfood-based natural skin care products (and some seriously delicious coffee and tea blends). Also, talk about beautiful packaging - the shades of green, the font, and color-blocking. This jar alone is to die for.
Golde’s Clean Greens Face Mask is a must-have in anyone’s skincare repository, made exclusively with pure, edible superfoods, like chlorella, spirulina, marshmallow root extract, and mango juice. This is basically like a super nutritious smoothie for your face.
One of the very convenient things about this face mask is that it’s a powder to gel formula, which makes it super convenient for travel. To apply, first mix one teaspoon of Clean Greens Face Mask powder with a few drops of water for a light, gel-like consistency. Use your fingers to apply a thin layer to your face, and leave on for ten to fifteen minutes, then rinse with water to remove. You can use this face mask up to three times per week.
Golde’s Clean Greens Face Mask is safe for all skin types, in addition to being vegan and cruelty free. People with sensitive skin can rejoice since Clean Greens is also free of clays, essential oils, fillers, and preservatives.
8. Golde Papaya Bright Face Mask
Golde’s Papaya Bright Face Face Mask is another stellar offering sure to take your complexion to the next level. This face mask is gently exfoliating, with edible superfood ingredients like lucuma, papaya, and sea buckthorn berry extract. There’s seriously more vitamin C in this face mask than in a jug of orange juice.
The natural papaya enzymes are the active ingredient that exfoliates dry skin, leaving you with soft, radiant skin. Also this face mask smells like the island vacation of your dreams without the addition of added or artificial fragrance.
Like their Clean Greens face mask, this is a powder to gel formula. To use this face mask, take one teaspoon of dry powder and mix with a few drops of water until the consistency has turned into a light, gel texture. Use your fingers to apply a thin layer to your face, and leave on for ten to fifteen minutes, then rinse with water to remove. You can use this face mask up to three times per week.
9. Raw Elements Face and Body Sunscreen
If you’ve gone this far into summer without a good sunscreen, allow me to intervene on behalf of your epidermis. Raw Elements Face and Body Sunscreen is the only sunscreen I’ll be rocking this summer, with an SPF of 30, that provides complete UVA-UVB broad spectrum protection.
This sunscreen manages to be completely reef safe, all while lasting at least eighty minutes in the water. With an ingredients list that includes sunflower oil, hemp seed oil, mango butter, and rosemary oil extract (in addition to non-nano zinc oxide, the active ingredient), it’s no wonder this sunscreen really is skincare and sun protection.
This sunscreen is perfect for all skin types, and for kids to adults.
To use this sunscreen apply fifteen minutes before sun exposure, and reapply after eighty minutes of swimming, immediately after towel drying. Otherwise, reapply every two hours.
Raw Elements Face and Body Sunscreen is totally plastic free, coming packaged in a metal jar that’s easily reused or recycled.
Body
10. Eu'Genia Shea Butter Cream
Dry skin can afflict us year round, and if you deal with extra dry skin, do yourself a favor and ditch the Vaseline. Eu’Genia’s Shea Butter Cream is the only way to go for cracked, broken out, dry and irritated skin issues. Eu’Genia is a natural skin care product developed by a mother-daughter duo, that was inspired by a family legacy of female healers.
Shea butter cream is an incredibly powerful skincare essential, naturally brimming with vitamin A, vitamin E, vitamin F, and vitamin K. This miracle moisturizer is ideal for everything from dry skin patches to stretch marks. I love to use Eu’Genia’s Shea Butter Moisturizer post-shave, to remove makeup, and on my hair before applying heat tools. Eu’Genia’s Shea Butter Cream is also certified to soothe eczema and psoriasis.
Eu’Genia offers a selection of three different options, for whichever is your preference:
- Dermatological Strength: Formulated with dry to very dry skin types in mind. Sponsored by the National Psoriasis Foundation. Excellent for dry hands or rough heels, to chronic skin conditions. Made with only 100% shea butter.
- Everyday Shea Butter Balm (Scentless): For everyday use Composed of Shea Butter, shea oil, moringa oil, baobab oil
- Everyday Shea Butter Balm (Lavender Scented): Same formula, just with the added Lavender essential oil, which makes for a sensory and calming experience.
No matter which of these formulas you choose, each one comes cruelty-free, ethically sourced and produced, in a reusable or recyclable aluminum tin, with plastic-free shipping.
If you’ve never used shea butter before, the easiest way to apply shea butter is by scooping a small portion into the palm of your hands, and then rubbing your hands together until the cream has melted. A small amount seriously goes a long way with this naturally rich and decadent moisturizer.
This is so much more than your run of the mill shaving cream. Our Organic Shaving Soap is a lifesaver. A powerful combination of coconut oil and avocado oil keeps your skin moisturized and smooth post-shave: coconut oil has powerful antibacterial benefits, which helps prevent ingrown hairs and other common skin irritation. Avocado oil contains vitamin E and boosts collagen production. This shaving soap is also formulated with cocoa butter and shea butter for an extra moisturized finish. The Organic Shaving Soap is also scented with citrus and lavender, for a bright, fresh fragrance.
Our proprietary Organic Shaving Soap is vegan, USDA certified organic, cruelty free, and totally zero waste. That’s right, the Organic Shaving Soap comes without plastic packaging, including the shipping material itself. Feel free to reuse or recycle the packaging as you see fit.
To use the Organic Shaving Soap, build up a thick lather under water, and cover any areas you’d like to shave. Rinse with warm water after shaving.
12. Agua de Vida Balm Bar - Calendula
Agua de Vida is a brand everyone should know if you care about natural skin care products. Agua de Vida was developed with ethics in mind, with a commitment to “close the circle”: this means recognizing the interdependence on planet Earth, human beings, and their brand. We could all be a little bit more like Agua de Vida.
Their Calendula Balm Bar is perfectly emblematic of that code of ethics. Agua de Vida’s balm bar is the perfect cure for the plastic bottle-d body lotion you’re used to. In fact this one lotion bar can replace 4 plastic bottles. Even if you this balm bar head to toe every day, it’ll last at least two months.
Furthermore, this is truly so much more than a simple body lotion replacement or something that could be so easily described as just a natural skin care product. It’s sooo much more. Agua de Vida’s balm bar is formulated with a thoroughly nourishing blend of organic ingredients: ground cacao beans make for an antioxidant-rich butter.
Calendula flowers calm dry skin and soothe inflammation, while Jojoba Seed Oil restores balance and moisture to our skin barrier -- all while promoting regeneration and healing. Using this lotion bar leaves your skin feeling hydrated and soft. You’ll even notice your scars fading.
One of my favorite details about this bar is that it comes packaged in a reusable beeswax-ed cloth, with a plantable label.
To use Agua de Vida’s Calendula Balm Bar, rub and massage the bar directly on your skin while your skin is dry. It’s also great to use on your lips, or in your hair.
Learn more on how to use a lotion bar here.
Bell Mountain Naturals is a Leaping Bunny Certified, small batch bath and wellness company, with a promise to never use fillers, parabens, phthalates, petrochemicals, dyes, or artificial fragrances in their natural skin care products.
This vegan soap is the ultimate sensory experience, whether you're just washing your hands or washing your bod’.
Bell Mountains’ soap is made to moisturize as it cleans, with a mixture of nutrient-rich shea butter, olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil and castor seed oil. You can choose any of four different scent options, each as divine as the next:
- La Boheme is scented in dusky bergamot and juniper.
- Metairie is scented in vivid lime and geranium.
- Ocean Grove refreshes with jasmine and lemon.
- Santa Ynez soothes with cozy Lavender and Cedar.
Each soap comes packaged in a compostable or reusable zero waste linen pouch.
Our organic body soap was made to give you glowing, nourished, clean skin. We’ve developed this soap soap to be cruelty free, vegan, organic, plastic free, and zero waste, earning this natural skin care product a Rainforest Alliance Certification. We’ve produced three different formula and fragrance combinations, for different skin types:
- Rosemary Lavender: Shea butter and coconut milk make this selection creamy and calming, especially for sensitive skin types and conditions, such as eczema and dermatitis. Meanwhile Lavender essential oil works as a balm to your mind and senses.
- Patchouli Hemp: Hemp seed oil is bursting with vitamins, and is one of the richest sources of polyunsaturated fats such as Omega 3 & 6 fatty acids. Green Tea is also an excellent source of antioxidants. More than that, green tea makes a killer astringent and has been used to tone and purify skin for centuries.
- Juniper Spearmint: French Green Clay has mighty powers of absorption, and sucks out dirt, toxins, and impurities from your pores. Juniper essential oil has natural antibacterial and antimicrobial properties, and spearmint awakens your senses.
For more options check out our 5 organic body wash article.
15. Bai-li Vegan & Baking Soda Free Deodorant
Bai-Li made this natural deodorant with sensitive pits in mind, coming not only aluminium free, but baking soda free, and vegan. Bai-Li even more specifically was created with the intent to make the ultimate, most effective natural deodorant. This is certainly one of my personal favorites, and is absolutely a natural skincare product you need. You can get any (or all) of Bai-Li’s deodorant in three fragrances:
- Eucalyptus + Rosemary: Herbal and earthy in the base notes, and fresh high notes.
- Lavender + Peppermint: This peaceful blend is the perfect fragrance to start your day with.
- Lemon + Bergamot: This tart floral combo wakes you right up, and leaves you feeling energized.
We also carry their unscented option. Whichever you choose, all options come cruelty-free, organic, paraben-free, baking soda free, and aluminum-free. Unlike other popular natural deodorants, Bai-Li’s comes in a fully compostable (or recyclable) paper tube, without a grain of plastic.
To use Bai-Li’s deodorant, remove the top and gently push the bottom of the tube up. Apply to dry under arms and reapply as often as needed. Check out our list with more zero waste deodorants here.
EcoRoots makes another completely essential, lifesaving natural skin care product. This Deodorant Cream truly fills me with the powerful urge to candelila wax poetic, because it’s really just that good. With the use of just a handful of organic ingredients, EcoRoots has developed best deodorant cream as elegant and beautifully fragranced as it is effective. Instead of baking soda (which is known to irritate sensitive skin), EcoRoots makes use of arrowroot powder, shea butter, coconut oil, essential oil , and jojoba oil.
This zero waste deodorant comes in a glass jar with a metal lid, so it's easy to reuse or recycle as you see fit.
To use this deodorant cream, you can use a spoon or another applicator of some kind, or your fingers, and gently rub the deodorant cream into your armpits. Reapply as needed.
17. Loving Culture Natural Hair Oil
Loving Culture is a great company to be aware of if you’re in the market for a life-changing hair product. Seriously, you don’t know what your follicles have been missing until you try Loving Culture’s Natural Hair Oil. This hair oil accomplishes so much more than the most expensive, chemical-laden hair product you can find at Sephora - and with a clever blend of fatty oils and spices. Yes, spices.
Cayenne pepper and cinnamon extracts are the spices of choice for Loving Culture, and indeed this inventive combination does wonders for your hair, from root to tip. Starting at your scalp, your hair follicles will be stimulated on a skindeep level, promoting hair growth and rejuvenation. Further down the length of your hair, you’ll notice that these spices help improve elasticity and prevent environmental damage. Rich oils like argan oil and olive oil enrich your hair with vitamins and moisture, keeping split ends and frizziness at bay, and improving overall hair health and texture.
You can use Loving Culture’s Natural Hair Oil in a few different ways: You can use it on wet or dry hair for styling, by sprinkling a few drops in your hands, and massaging throughout your hair, scalp to tip. You can also use it as a conditioner, by applying a few drops to dry sections of your hair length or scamp. This hair oil also is an excellent pre-shampoo hot oil treatment, by applying generously to scalp and hair lengths, and then wrapping a warm towel for 20-30 mins.
Another great way you can use Loving Culture’s Hair Oil is for curly hair; for wash and goes after leave in and holding gel, or for braid-outs and other protective hairstyles.
Makeup
18. Raw Elements Tinted Facial Moisturizer and Sunscreen
This is the zero waste makeup counterpart to Raw Elements killer sunscreen. It’s not easy to find quality makeup that also includes sun protection, and is completely reef safe and plastic free. Raw Elements have totally packed their Tinted Facial Moisturizer and Sunscreen with active antioxidants, that’ll protect your skin from everything that a sunscreen doesn’t cover. Wear this tinted sunscreen either on the beach, running errands, or at work - this is a skin care product that is perfect for all purposes and occasions.
Raw Elements’ Tinted Moisturizer, like their regular Face and Body sunscreen, includes a host of powerful ingredients, such as sunflower oil, hemp seed oil, mango butter, and rosemary oil extract, in addition to protective non-nano zinc oxide for sun protection and iron oxides for natural tint.
Raw Elements’ Tinted Moisturizer is best applied every two hours, in order to maintain sun protection.
This tinted moisturizer and sunscreen is also totally plastic free, coming packaged in a metal jar that’s easily reused or recycled.
19. River Organics Blush Stick
River Organics is one of the few natural skincare brands that focuses on cosmetics and makeup, over face washes and moisturizers. Whichever product of theirs you buy, however, is sure to come bursting with skin-nourishing goodness.
This is sooo much more than a simple blush: the glow you get from River Organics blush stick isn't just skin deep, as it comes packed with pomegranate seed oil, raspberry seed oils which lend your cheeks a light but potent dose of hydration.
River Organics’ Blush Stick comes in two different shades:
- Pinch - This shade lends a warm, cheek-pinched glow; hence the name.
- Bloom - A cool, rosy shade. Perfect for aspiring garden nymphs.
Excitingly enough, River Organics Blush Stick is super low-waste, since it comes in a compostable or recyclable cardboard tube, with plastic-free shipping. Furthermore, it’s organic, palm oil-free, vegan, cruelty-free and handmade in the United States.
20. River Organics Zero Waste Lip Balm
Like several items on this list, River Organics' Lip Balm doubles as makeup and skin care, with super skin-foods like cacao and mango butter. These natural moisturizers soak right into chapped, thirsty lips. You can find this lip balm in two different hues:
- Rouge - A warm, flushed shade, for a my-lips-but-better hue.
- Bare - Perfect for anyone looking for a more simple lip balm without the tint.
River Organics Zero Waste Lip Balm comes in a compostable or recyclable cardboard tube, with plastic free shipping. Furthermore, it’s organic, palm oil free, vegan, cruelty free and handmade in the United States. Check out this list of low-waste & cruelty-free lip balms for more options.
Great low-waste product for your make-up routine. This set of 10 reusable cotton rounds are made of organic cotton and bamboo and comes in a recyclable cute paper packaging.
Our reusable facial rounds are soft and great for applying cream face, lotion, toner, removing makeup, or clean your face with your favorite cleanser.
Natural Skin Care Products Are a Way of Life
At this point in our natural-skin-care-product journey, it’s clear that shifting a focus to ethical products shouldn’t be equivalent to a sacrifice in any way. Instead, what’s perfectly clear to me, is that these companies are free to invent products one could only hope to achieve with the power of nature.
Each of these products has blown every other chemical-pumped, excessive plastic-packaging, skin care product out of the water, with proof that skin care is more than skin deep.
These products have an effect on our bodies and the world around us, and it’s our job to take that into consideration. A face wash isn’t just a face wash when it goes down the drain and ends up in the ocean, same with the sunscreen and makeup that ends up in that stream of water. Optional, check out this list with 9 zero waste skin care products that you should consider.
Which of these natural skin care products will you start with?
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