Sustainability
I am back with another plastic-free, low packaging product introduction (and review to come!). What I am unboxing today is Conscia, a hair and scalp health product in the form of a shampoo and conditioner bar. Conscia reached out to me to try some of their products and after scouring their website I was excited to see what their product was like. Watch the video for more about them and the products they sent me!
Join me for a relaxing mending session. In this video I share how I sew back on a missing button.
A few weeks ago I decided that I had enough bad sleep nights and took to the internet for help. I went to Instagram to crowdsourced recommendations from my side and back sleepers. To my surprise, I was not the only one enthusiastic about good sleep and I got tons of environmentally friendly pillow suggestion back!
I ended up purchasing two of the Coyuchi Turiya pillows for my husband and I. Watch my review below to see how it went… spoiler alert, we are returning one of them and maybe you can guess why.
If you are interested in trying anything from Coyuchi use my referral link for $60 off orders over $300 (I can get a $60 credit too!).
In case you are interested, here are the some of the other back/side sleep pillow recommendations I received on Instagram. I choose the Turiya this one based on the many passionate endorsements I received in my DMs!
Sometime at the start of the pandemic I started noticing it was harder to keep odors out of the house. Being inside 24/7 and constantly cooking all meals at home made keeping the air fresh a full time job. In Southern California, where I live, it isn’t always easy to just open all the windows to air our the house. Sometime the air quality is terrible (hello wildfires), or once in a while it is simply too hot/cold. That’s where this super simple DIY comes in handy!
I started making my own air freshener with left over coffee grinds and baking soda. I saw this from one of my favorite Youtubers and let me tell you, it works like a charm! It’s truly amazing and now I keep several of these concoctions around the house at all times (every closet has one!).
It’s super easy to make, the only real trick is to make sure you let your coffee grinds dry out completely before making. I collect our grinds and spread them out in a thin layer for a couple of days before use. Then I just mix equal parts of coffee and baking soda together in a jar, glass or cotton pouch and done!
I have been using the byHumankind shower set for over a month and the results are in. I like them, do I love them? No, but I really really like them.
First off, the packaging is beautiful. The pumps are plastic and high quality enough that I can see them holding up for many uses. The aluminum bottles are lovely, lightweight, and endlessly recyclable. What would make them even better is if byHumankind had a refill/take back program. I inquired about this and they indicated it’s not in the plans for now, so municipal recycling it is. To be honest though I may refill these bottles myself… so in that note let’s talk about the product formulas.
I love the body wash formula, I have the tea tree scent and will definitely try it the bergamot next. With this body wash a little goes a long way. It lathers beautifully and downs’t dry out the skin at all.
As for the shampoo and conditioner, they do the job and smell great. I haven’t noticed any adverse affects to my hair but they aren’t spectacular products. I find myself still reaching for my Prose custom shampoo and conditioner. But if you aren’t picky about your hair care products these are worth a try. I personally think I will keep them on hand for guests because they are sure to impress with the scents.
All in all, I am pleasantly surprised with this shower set. For more byHumankind products I like check out these posts.
*This shower set was gifted, but all thoughts are my own
One year ago my Grandmother passed away. It astonishes me how quickly time passes by, and even more so how much a person can change in such a short amount of time.
My world changed, when my grandmother died. I am a different person than I was a year ago, nine, six, and even three months ago. The grief has changed how I want to give love. Her absence has made me create space for others. Her wisdom and guidance echoes louder than ever, and I repeat it to myself until I can almost feel her beside me. There won’t ever be a day I don’t miss her, nor will there be a day I am not grateful to have been her granddaughter.
To mark this milestone I made a locket with her initial so I can carry her with me. I made a similar one for a dear friend who recently experience loss as well. If you are looking to make one I cannot say enough good things about GLDN. I ordered the oval locket with a 20-22” round box chain and had the photos printed at my local pharmacy using the template GLDN’s their website.
I have a new and beautiful addition to my wardrobe, the Cuyana Oversized Double Loop Bag! This is the kind of bag I will love for so many years to come.
Cuyana’s ethos of fewer, better has come to mean considered our design, material, and production that help poeple develop a timeless wardrobe without sacrificing the planet or people (and bonus that it’s a female-founded company). Obviously this is something I relentlessly preach so I am very proud to now be a Cuyana partner. I decided to add the oversized double loop bag to my closet because I have wanted a sophisticated every day bag that is highly functional and will fit my laptop. After a few weeks of use I can say I have fallen in love with this bag. The large side pockets, versatile straps, and sof leather in particular make this bag easy to toss around like a tote with a major upgrade. And I love that for a leather bag, it isn’t extraordinarily heavy even with my electronics in it.
As far as how it is made, Cuyana partnered with a small, family-owned business in Italy to create the double loop series. I can see the skill of these leather artisans in the quality and execution of this bag. It’s been a while since I have raved so much about a new addition and it feels really great to wholeheartedly share that with you!
Check out my video below for what I am currently toting in my bag. Once update since I filmed this is that I realized my water bottle also fits perfectly in the side pockets so that was a bit of a thrill 😆!
Full disclosure this bag was gifted, but I never accept items unless they are something I would purchase myself. Ps- if you decide to invest in any of their pieces, use my Cuyana link and I can earn a small commission which helps me maintain this site and create content. I certainly appreciate your support!
Jewelry brand GLDN reached out to me to join their ambassador program and I jumped at the chance. I am pretty particular about the brands I will work with but after diving into GLDN’s story and I knew it was a great fit.
I connect so much with their founder, Chrissy’s, entrepreneurial journey. She started in her kitchen selling on Etsy, so did I with Two Days Off (but in my dining room)! GLDN makes the majority of their pieces to order and put a priority on their impact. 90% of their metals are recycled and they give back 10% or more of all profits to charity. They make a lot of timeless designs at different price points and specialize in custom pieces which are great for gifting. If you end up checking GLDN out be sure to use my code for an extra $5 off with my affiliate code GINASTOVALL5.
I recently juiced a whole lot of oranges and decided to finally try out making my own natural all purpose cleaner. Its easy enough, cover citrus peel in white vinegar for a few weeks and voila. Pro-tip, mark the date on your container (preferably glass) with a dry erase or china marker so you remember how much time has gone by. The virgo in me couldn’t help but create a calendar reminder as well.
I decanted the solution into a spray bottle I had on hand and then emptied the peels (using chopsticks due to the bottleneck in my carafe). The cleaner is great thus far! Now on to more DIY, zero waste projects.
If you’ve been around here a while you probably already know I have been eliminating plastic and all kinds of waste from my household. While I haven’t bought plastic wrap in many years, and typically use Pyrex containers to store leftovers, finding sensical storage techniques for things like half of a lemon has been challenging. Last year I started using beeswax coated cloths, which at first glance seemed the most sustainable option. Reusable, check, made of natural materials, check, easy to clean, no check. I’ve steered away from using them because of the crumbs and dust my wax cloths tend to pick up and have gone back to the clunky glass containers for everything. Until I got these little silicone babies in my recent Causebox! They are dishwasher safe and come in a variety of sizes so they can fit over many container sizes and even produce. It’s only been days but this feels promising!
Find these at Alternative Cooking Hub.
A few weeks ago Quince reached out to me offering to gift one of their products. And as I do with any new brand looking for me to try their product in exchange for some social media love, I did a bit of digging to see how well they align with my values. (Just a note, I don’t share any brands that I wouldn’t personally purchase from and all thoughts expressed here are always my own).
Read MoreI talk a lot about reducing my single-use plastic waste, but last year I started learning about micro plastics and how they are wreaking havoc on our oceans, food supply, and physical health.
One thing I didn’t know until last year is that my clothes are shedding microfibers as were wear and wash them. Shedding isn’t much of a problem when it comes to organic fibers (cotton, wool, linen, etc) because they will break down and not release harmful toxins. This is one of the reasons why for my clothing line, Two Days Off, I only use natural fibers. But for synthetics fabrics, they shed fiber often derived from petroleum that breaks down to release harmful toxins.
There are a few easy solutions to capture these microfibers that I have stumbled upon. One are bags to toss your synthetic clothing in like the one from Girlfriend Collective picture above; the guppy bag is another one that has been on the market for quite some time. There are also attachments you can add to your washing machine to capture the shed fibers like this one.
Since I live in an apartment and don’t have an in-unit washer dryer, the bag was the best option for me. I also don’t have much clothing made from synthetic fabrics except for my work out clothes and swim wear so I think just one bag should work for me.
I’m eager to try this out and see what accumulates in the bag! Maybe I’ll share a follow-up if it is interesting.
In my latest foray of de-plasticing my life I have gotten my hands on an array of household cleaners by cleancult.
Cleancult products are made with clean, all natural ingredients and come in reusable shatter-resistant glass containers that are super cute and feel high-quality. Refills for the products come in plastic-free packaging and every time you place an order they offset the carbon emissions from your shipment! You can see why I am into them, right?
The next question is do the products work? I received a bar of soap, dryer balls, laundry detergent tablets, liquid dish soap, dishwasher tablets, liquid hand soap, and an all purpose cleaner spray in my kit. Thus far I have been happy with all of them, although the bar soap is nothing to write home about. What I think has been one of the most impressive products is the all purpose spray. I was super skeptical of natural all purpose sprays until this one. I love it for cleaning stuck on food on the stove and even soap scum in the tub!
I am looking forward to my first refill shipment so I can analyze the packaging it comes in, maybe I’ll share an update then.
If you are interested in trying out Cleancult for yourself use my code GINA15 for 15% off your first order. And check out my Instagram for a fun time lapse of me using the all purpose cleaner.
Autumn is finally hitting LA (despite it being 89F earlier this week), and my favorite thing to do is take a walk to the park to decompress. This outfit was me being lazy, but I ended up loving the causal look.
Outfit details:
For Days t-shirt. This tee super cool because I can exchange it for a new one for life and the old one will get recycled! #circularity
Thrifted black tank dress (similar here)
Madewell Sandals (from Poshmark)
Last week I (and four other awesome ladies) had the pleasure of partnering up with Eileen Fisher for a 5 day capsule wardrobe challenge on Instagram called the Eileen Edit. Eileen Fisher and Eileen Fisher Renew gifted me several pieces to mix with my own wardrobe and share how I do more with less. Eileen Fisher Renew was started in 2009 to take back used EF pieces and refresh, repair and resell. Over the 10 years they have been operating they have taken back over 1.2 million garments!
For day one I mixed a new EF cable knit sweater with a EF Renew dress (similar here), my Jenni Kayne bucket bag, and white Muji tennis shoes.
This outfit I call my take on a Canadian tuxedo and it is made up of all secondhand pieces (minus my Everlane Babo shoes). Both the Merino sweater and quilted vest are from EF Renew, while these jeans I thrifted while visiting NC (see them here too).
This Outfit is what I decided to wear on my first day of jury duty, oh yeah that happened last week too. I wore this new EF turtleneck, with my Two Days Off Kyoko pants in surplus (see them here too) and my all time favorite (and most asked about) loafer. This pair are a few years old from Aerosols and no longer sold, but there is a similar pair made by Everlane here.
I think this was my favorite look of the week. I wore this EF Renew mock neck sleeveless top with my super wide black jeans (similar here) and Everlane suede mule (no longer available but here’s a similar style). I also planned to wear that beautiful green wool jacket but it ended up being super hot that day!
Last day and it was a comfy one! I was this plum number is actually a jumpsuit from the Renew collection with that merino sweater from earlier in the week layered over. I paired it with my recycled plastic bottle shoes from Rothy’s that are 2 years old and still going strong!
The last frequently purchased single-use plastic for dental hygiene item is mouthwash.
Mouthwash tablets such as these from Georganics or mine from ByHumankind.
Mouthwash in glass bottles, even better if yo can find a place to refill it!
DIY solutions (or just warm water and salt!
Continuing our theme of “de-plasticing” our dental hygiene routine, this post will look at toothpaste alternatives.
Alternative Products
Paste in metal tubes like Davids; most have plastic caps but some are starting to use alternative biodegradable materials like the Goodwell one pictured above. Since Goodwell has updated the packaging to no longer use metal tubes but a recyclable bio-resin from sugarcane packaging.
Toothpaste tablets like these, also very convinient for traveling.
Or toothpaste in a glass jar like Georganics and Nelson’s Naturals (with metals cap), or Uncle Harry’s (with plastic cap but reusable)
Sticking with the theme of metal health, the second regularly purchased (and thrown away) plastic item is my toothbrush. I actually have been using Quip for a few years, but I have novel loved the plastic replacement heads and packaging it comes in. I decided to try out Goodwell’s premium toothbrush that also includes a subscription model and replaceable brush heads, but their heads are actually biodegradable!
Alternative Products
Bamboo toothbrushes with biodegradable bristles like Goodwell’s.
Brushes made from biodegradable plastic alternative materials or recycled (and re-recyclable) materials.
Mechanical or electric toothbrushes with biodegradable replacement heads like Goodwell’s Be Brush (which required no electricity or charging!).
I started my plastic freedom challenge with what I felt was my most wasteful single use plastic - dental flossers. I use at least one everyday and feel a pain of guilt thinking about the thousands that are sitting in a landfill from me alone. So I went on the hunt for plastic-free flosser and floss options and found three.
Silk or bamboo floss sold in cardboard or glass. If you go with the glass jar you can purchase refills for it.
Flossers made from biodegradable materials like cornstarch, charcoal or proprietary technology that have been tested (like Goodwell’s).
A water pik (or flosser) which is made form plastic but not single-use. I also have heard of a water pik attachment for the shower which is super convenient, but I’d go with this super sleek one.
This year for my annual 100 day project I switched things up from my usual mindfulness challenge. I have been looking to reduce my waste and particularly use of single-use plastics, so I decided to use this as an opportunity to do so.
Each weekday I chose one single-use plastic item I but with some regularity and research alternative products that would produce no plastic waste, and minimal waste generally. I documented each of these in my Instagram stories, but for posterity I want to share that research here. I will call this series of posts my journey to “Plastic Freedom.”
