20 Jun #ZeroWaste Travel Tips from Tiffany & Nicolas – Health & Hygiene
Our Ambassadors Tiffany & Nicolas are back! This time they share with us 10 (yes ten!) great zero waste travel tips so that you can leave your shiny new bottle of shower gel at home!
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Health and hygiene : care for yourself and the planet too !
Just because you are a minimalist and choose not to encourage waste production doesn’t mean you have to smell bad or look unkempt !
Tiffany’s toiletries on our 7 months South East Asian trip
Here are our favourite Zero Waste alternatives to keep smelling and looking gorgeous on the road :
- Soap. The Good old soap bar (preferably all natural such as castile/marseille/aleppo) will get you squeaky clean, weigh less in your backpack than shower gel and you can also use it to do your laundry. Our top tip is to take your shower over the clothes you need to wash to give them a first rinse & thus save water!
A cool hand made, eco friendly coffee powder soap we bought from Go Eco in Hanoi, Vietnam – no animal testing, palm oil or plastics but packaged in seeded paper that we later planted !
- Shampoo bars : try and get one without harsh surfactants in it (use the skindeep website to decode ingredients!). The more natural the better, for your health and the planet. They usually last for ages, and again, take up less space & weigh less in your bag.
- Washcloth/flannel/sponge/microfibre : very useful to wash at a sink/from a bucket when those are the only options you have. Also good to get make up off if you are a glamorous instaGirl ^^
- Oils/body bars : use natural oils and body bars instead of lotions,make up remover & creams. When you know what chemicals are in most of the beauty moisturizers on the market, the switch is an easy one ! Also, did you know that most moisturizers contain approx 80% water ? You’re paying so much to put water & chemicals on your body ! Oils you could use : olive, almond, coconut, hemp, sunflower, sesame, hazelnut… All of them have individual properties, so have a snoop around and you are sure to come up with something that suits your needs – try and get something as local as possible ! 😉 Cocoa, mango and shea butter also work like magic !
Filling up our body oil bottle with local organic coconut oil from the refill station at Babel Guesthouse, Siam Reap, Cambodia
- A safety razor : the blades can be found all over the world and are entirely recyclable, the rest you keep for life. Also you can find small and lightweight ones, really practical in a small wash bag !
- A wooden/bamboo toothbrush : more and more natural compostable options are being made now, it’s easy to make the switch. Top tip : use it with natural zero waste toothpaste options (bicarbonate of soda, toothpowder, diy toothpaste, toothpills…)
Nico buying a wooden toothbrush in Bridport, United Kingdom
- Natural deodorant options : studies have shown that many of the chemicals found in classic deodorants can bring on breast cancer ! Seeking out different options isn’t just a Zero Waste folly, it can actually save your life ! Many companies now produce health-friendly, natural and solid variations if you don’t feel like making your own. Personally I have opted for a drop of Palmarosa Essential Oil under each pit on days when I feel it’s necessary, but most days I go without deodorant. When your armpits detox from nasty chemical deodorants you discover you don’t actually stink that much most of the time. You could also just pat equal parts of finely ground Bicarb of Soda & white clay on your pits, or dissolve some bicarb of soda with (floral) water and spritz it on, …
- Clays : on our 2 last long trips I used ghassoul clay to wash my hair, an all natural option. We also take clay with us in our medical kit : externally on wounds / burns it helps the healing process (minimizing the risk of infection & reducing scarring) and draws toxins and alien bodies out (like a splinter), internally it can calm an upset stomach, flush out toxins, … Read up on different clays and their health and hygiene uses to make up your own mind 🙂
Black soap in bulk and ghassoul clay wrapped in paper spotted on the street in Tangier, Morocco.
- Essential oils : we only take 3 EOs with us. Palmarosa as a deodorant, Lemongrass as a mosquito repellent, and Tea Tree as natural antibacterial, antiseptic and overall miracle health product. You can choose to take some along for health reasons or not, a few of them can be really handy if BUT only if you know how to use them !
Our health kit before leaving for 10 months in Africa
- For the ladies : menstrual cups & cloth pads ! I swear by my mooncup – it’s my best buy in the last 10 years ! I carry it in a little pouch with a little piece of soap, and use water from my flask when I need to rinse it in unlikely places. Also did you know that blood is really rich in iron and nourishes the earth ? I have no scruples at all emptying my cup into flower beds or on the ground in natural surroundings when I have to change in the forest or on top of a mountain whilst on a hike (yes, this has happened !). I have also heard good things about menstrual absorbent panties but have yet to test them.Not convinced yet? Have a look at this video made from our fellow Ambassadors Changing Habits which tells you everything you need to know about menstrual cups if you’ve never used it before.
Bonus tips :
- cover up instead of spreading sun cream on your skin and into the ocean (studies have proved that conventional sunscreens are killing coral reefs and endangering many types of marine wildlife)
- use onion peel against blisters (or as a healing plaster on one)
- take activated charcoal to help with food poisoning
- bicarb of soda can be used for many things : toothpaste (be careful because it can be too abrasive for some people), deodorant, shoe deodorizer, stain remover, shampoo (also too aggressive for some people), veg/hand sanitizer, face/body scrubs (or use sugar, available worldwide), it also has health benefits if ingested dissolved in water – find out more about it and see for yourself if it’s worth taking a pouch full with you
- pack 100% cotton compresses with compostable paper sellotape to bandage wounds
- if you floss it is now possible to buy 100% natural (so compostable) silk floss in small glass flasks or card wrappers.
‘Till next time!
Tiffany & Nicolas