Ten Ways To Green Your Bathroom–And Keep It Fabulous

One of the smallest rooms in your house is also the easiest to green. But for many people, their bathroom is a sanctuary, a place they go to relax in a hot bath or shower. You might not want a spartan existence for this place. That doesn’t mean you can’t go green. You can make your bathroom eco-friendly without sacrificing luxury by knowing a few tricks and where to shop. Find out how, after the jump…

Low-flow showerhead. They’ve come a long way, baby. Because of my incredibly thick, curly hair, I need water pressure as much as the next person. Today’s low-flow shower heads save water without sacrificing pressure. Metaefficient reviews the best of the low-flows here. Even better, check out Shower Start, a device that saves water while you’re getting your shower water to the desired temperature.
Think biodegradable–in soaps, shampoos, and conditioners. Many beauty products contain petroleum, which you’re just washing down the drain. We buy Dr. Bronner’s in bulk, because it’s a money-saving way to get fair-trade, vegetable-based, biodegradable soap in a variety of awesome scents. However, check out your local farmers market. There’s often vendors selling locally-made, eco-friendly soaps. Even Target is now carrying more environmentally-responsible personal care brands, like the ever-popular Burt’s Bees. You even can see all the eco-friendly products we’ve covered here.
Razors. Think disposable heads, not entire razors. Preserve makes great razors from recycled yogurt cups, and you need only buy the heads after you’ve bought the first set of handles.
Toothpaste. Tom’s is the leader in green toothpaste options–you can easily recycle their aluminum tubes. If you can’t find Tom’s, try to find Crest in the small bottle, not tube. You can recycle it, and it has no superfluous packaging, just the bottle containing the toothpaste.
Give up baths. At least as your regular means of washing. For most people, they use more water in a bath than a shower. Miss that luxurious bubble bath soak? Lush, my absolute favorite purveyor of bath products and a totally eco-friendly company, now has “emotibombs“, which are like bath bombs for the shower. You can get the same aromatherapy without all the water use of a bath.
Use your products…until they’re gone. I’m 100% guilty of this, because I love buying different bath and beauty products. Consequently, I had a bathroom full of half-used shower gels, lip glosses, and lotions. What a waste–of money and resources. I finally put a moratorium on buying any new products until I used up what I had. It was a great way to declutter my bathroom and avoid putting perfectly-good items in the landfill.
Think soap instead of body wash. It doesn’t weight as much, so you can ship more product for less fossil fuels. Lush even makes a shampoo bar that they claim lasts way longer than a regular bottle, at a fraction of the shipping costs with minimal packaging. Get a cheap soap dish to make soap last longer through proper drainage.
Turn off the water–while washing face and brushing teeth. It’s a no brainer, but if you’ve made it a decades long habit to keep the water on, it might take a while to retrain your brain. Do it anyway. Even better, get an aerator for your sink–you’ll use less water without even knowing it.
Get new bulbs–CFLs are old news. You probably have them all over your house (I hope!). But many times, people are reluctant to put CFLs over the bathroom mirror because they think the light is too harsh. However, new CFLs come in a variety of wattage and spectrums. Read more about what’s available here.
Save toilet water. If you can afford it, put in a dual-flush toilet, which allows you to choose using more or less water with each flush, depending on what you’re flushing. If you can’t, you can easily and affordably displace water in your toilet tank with sand-filled plastic containers.