Beauty Buff

What does your beauty routine have to do with Canada’s water? Plenty. The artificial ingredients that make your pearly whites sparkle and your skin feel silky smooth are finding their way into our waterways. What will you pledge to do to save Canada’s lakes, rivers and oceans?

Choose Your Challenge!

Combat dandruff with tea tree oil instead of mainstream dandruff shampoos

Many mainstream dandruff shampoos are full of toxic ingredients like coal tar, selenium disulphide and zinc pyrithione – all synthetic ingredients that are harsh on aquatic species and ecosystems. Fight the flakes by washing your hair with natural tea tree oil shampoos instead or add a few drops of tea tree oil to your regular shampoo.

Fight bad breath with a tongue scraper instead of mouthwash

Think bad breath is bad? The stuff that’s in mouthwash is worse. After ingredients like anti-parasitic thymol swish around in your mouth as you gargle, they make their way into our lakes and rivers and can be toxic to aquatic organisms. Start scraping your tongue with a tongue scraper everyday instead to combat stinky breath.

Upgrade the old clawfoot tub for a new model

Bubble bath addicts, beware! If you’re soaking in an older tub, you might also be soaking in lead. For over a century, lead was added to porcelain enamel. One study found that 62 percent of porcelain tubs were leaching lead. Not only is it harmful to your own health, all that lead is being drained into our waterways when tub time is over. Can’t part with your old tub? Resurfacing it should do the trick to eliminate leaching.

Lay Off the Lather

Primping with clarifying shampoo, deep conditioner, moisturizer with SPF, and exfoliating body wash might make you feel like a million bucks, but have you thought about the laundry list of ingredients in them? All kinds of complex chemicals wash off your body and into our rivers and oceans every time you shower. Opt to reduce the amount of product you use or treat yourself to a shopping spree – all-natural formulas only.

Nix Harsh Hair Removal

You can still get silky smooth legs without using hair removal products loaded with chemicals. Shave your gams using a reusable blade and opt for natural oils over shaving creams (which are laden with synthetic ingredients). And definitely ditch the depilatories. They dissolve hair! Can you imagine all the harsh chemicals coasting down your drain and into the rivers and lakes in your region? Gross! Environmentally-friendly alternatives include sugaring, threading and even lasers/electrolysis.

Adorn Your Locks With Eco-Friendly Bling

Those tortoise shell hair clips that keep your bangs out of your eyes? Ditch ‘em. They’re made from hawksbill turtles. Be smart about the accessories you put in your hair!

Prove that Beauty Can Really Be Low-Maintenance

Take short showers. Don’t run water continuously when you’re shaving your gams, brushing your pearly whites or washing your face. Using less water really means treating less water.