Finding non-toxic, eco-friendly products for your daily personal care routine can be tough. It can be very difficult to discern what products are actually clean and good for the planet. Head on over to the Clean Beauty page to learn everything you need to know about what to look for when shopping for beauty and personal care products. Then check out my favorite clean beauty brands and start substituting your old products with sustainable options.

Try clean beauty products made right here in Salt Lake City

• Beehive Naturals – Located in Plain City, UT (I had to google where that is), this company has a small farm where they source their own goat milk and beeswax to use in their products. Besides soaps and lotions, they have a variety of home products, candles, jewelry, and of course, honey.
• Wild Waters Soapery – Based in SLC, WWS offers soaps that are vegan and palm-free. The company is plastic-free, 100% solar and wind powered, and packages their soaps in biodegradable paper packaging. In addition to products for your body, they also make dish soap, a laundry stain stick, and an awesome toilet bowl cleaner.
• Olio Skin – This SLC-based soap shop creates all kinds of organic, vegan soaps and oils which are packaged in tin, glass, or no packaging at all. They have a whole line of shaving accoutrements, including safety razors, mustache and beard brushes, oils, and wax. I’ve tried their shave soap (for my legs—hopefully the beard never shows up) and I’ve been happy with it. The bar lathers well for a smooth shave.
• Acrely Farms – Utah’s only organic hemp farm, located near Logan. In addition to ingestible CBD products, they have a variety of skincare items such as body oils, balms, bath soak, and sugar scrub.
• Cult + King – This Park City-based brand of clean hair products is centered around organic, non-toxic, and vegan ingredients. Their products are packaged plastic-free in gorgeous glass bottles or tins that the company sells refills for.

Check Utah’s Own for more locally-made soaps and other personal care products.

Buy personal products in bulk

Eliminate packaging from the equation and take your own shampoo and soap containers to Animalia, one of two Hello Bulk! locations, or take a quick trip up the canyon to FulFILLed, located at the outlets in Park City.

Foster’s Refillery is another great option to buy beauty and cleaning products in bulk, and you don’t even have to leave the house. They will deliver (via bicycle if you live in SLC) and refill the containers you leave out for them.

Shop local

Got Beauty is a locally-owned beauty supply store and salon, located in Sugarhouse. This super cute shop has a wide selection of products for your hair, skin, and nails and is also a great place to look for fun gifts.

What to do with unwanted beauty & hygiene products

If you’ve got new, unused products, donate them to the YWCA, The Road Home, or IRC. Maybe you have a product that you tried once or twice that didn’t work for you; don’t throw it away. Post on the local Buy Nothing group and you’ll most likely find someone interested in taking it off your hands.

How to recycle empty beauty containers in Salt Lake City

Here’s a brief rundown on responsibly disposing of packaging materials (click on the material type links for more information).

• Glass – recycle curbside or at Momentum’s drop-off sites; no need to clean or rinse bottles
• Steel, tin, and aluminum – recycle curbside; aerosol cans are acceptable if they are completely empty
• Paper products – recycle curbside
• Plastics – #1-7 go curbside. However, know that #3, 6, and 7 are sent to a concrete plant incinerator. I don’t love that this creates more air pollution, so you may want to drop off at one of the options listed below. Note that bottle pumps cannot go into your curbside recycling since they contain a metal coil in addition to the plastic. Recycle plastic wrap at a grocery store drop off location, such as Smith’s or Winco.

Many beauty product plastic bottles or tubes do not have a resin code or are not recyclable curbside. I collect these in a small box under my bathroom sink and save them to drop off at a one of the beauty packaging recycling programs arond. This including any brand of makeup, hair care, or skin care containers (including pumps). Locations include:

• Nordstrom and Rack locations – collection box is located in the beauty department
• Sephora at Fashion Place
• L’Occitane at City Creek

Bottle pumps can also be saved to drop off at a Utah Recycling Alliance CHaRMS event.

Encourage your dentist to sign up for Terracycle’s free recycling program that accepts toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes/caps, and mouthwash bottles/caps. The marketing manager at the Mark Miller Subaru dealership in SLC has signed up to be a drop off point for this program; Subaru dealerships also have a partnership with Terracycle to collect snack and candy wrappers and disposable cups, lids, and straws.

Find more national beauty recycling programs here.