Brittney

[fearlesswasteless]

Last year in between pandemic boredom and procrastinating my new job, I saw “plasticfreejuly” and decided to take the next step in reducing some of my waste. There are not bulk stores, Olio users, or package free stores where I live. But since I now had a job and a steady income, I was able to order things I wanted—like a deodorant bar! I tried my best to search as locally as possible: I’m cheap, I want products that are readily available to me when I run out, and buying from stores near me prevented fossil fuel consumption and packaging from additional shipping.

All this to say, I bought a Van der Hagan butterfly safety razor from Walmart, and the blades are fine. Even after practice (which is what everyone says about safety razors when you ask for help), I couldn’t get the angle of the razor against my skin just right when I was in the shower (or tub since I tried it). I wasn’t getting a close shave, especially around my knees. I liked the experience and I still like the razor, but it pushed me toward Leaf, which was selling like crazy in the fall. Since Thanksgiving, I’ve had my Leaf razor with a pivoting head, and I love it!

Traditional plastic razors have many blades to shave hair and pull it from the skin. This causes razor burn but keeps legs feeling smooth for longer. My leaf is great, and I’m all for not creating any more razor waste in my life, but I have to shave more often now: the Leaf shaves hair on the top of skin, preventing irritation and razor burn, but this means hair “grows” faster since it has not been plucked out.

[fearlesswasteless]

Walmart now sells Colgate Keep toothbrushes! the Ibotta app featured the Keep toothbrush rebate two weekends ago, but it was not in stock. This weekend, though, it was in! The Keep is an aluminum handle (lighter than I expected) with replaceable heads to reduce the amount of plastic. The handle with 2 heads is $10 (Ibotta gave us a $5 refund on it), and the replaceable heads are sold in a 2-pack for $5. Considering that my Walmart only sells bamboo toothbrushes wrapped in plastic, this was a good move.

Even though this reduces the overall amount of plastic, each head still has a lot more plastic than just the nylon bristles from a bamboo toothbrush. Still, there are only two stores I know near me that sell bamboo toothbrushes regularly (Walgreens and T.J. Maxx) and one of those stores contains mostly plastic-packaged greenwashed toothbrushes. Target’s website also lists the Keep, but it was not in stock this weekend.

[fearlesswasteless]

Bubble tea has a lot of plastic: cup, lid or plastic seal, and straw. To move away from that plastic, I found reusable cups that can be found on Etsy or Instagram. To save money and fuel from shipping, I found 24 oz. wide mouth jars at Walmart and ordered straws and straw lids from Etsy. I give my cup to the barista with the gray lid (metal rings with the lids that come with jars would have been too chaotic, so this lid is one piece) so that he can flip or shake as needed. When I get my order, I switch to the straw lid and enjoy! Obviously the lids aren’t plastic-free, but bamboo straw lids weren’t a thing (as they have been in the past couple months) when I was looking for this solution.

To make boba at home—if your usual place closed in the pandemic as mine did—check out Reusable BBT on Insta! They sell a plastic-free make-at-home kit that works well.

[fearlesswasteless]

Rothy’s!

My sister and mom are shoe addicts. Me? I can wear the same pair of Converse until my feet are poking out. As a teacher, I wear flats every single day. All day. I hate shoe shopping and spending a ton on flats that end up looking ratty fast or giving me blisters. So, I started looking for sustainable flats, and I found Rothy’s. I ordered the Flat in Maritime Navy since my previous blue flats are nearing their end. Rothy’s are made from plastic bottles, and they’re washable—a huge plus since I don’t have a solution when my other shoes show plenty of wear. Hopefully these will be a hit, and as I wear out my current shoes, I will make the switch to Rothy’s in my staple colors: that means I declutter my shoes and find comfy, sustainable shoes at the same time—win-win! Rothy’s offers a discount for teachers (and first responders), allows 30-day returns, has a referral program (so I got $20 off using a referral from someone else and you can get $20 off using my code: https://share.rothys.com/x/HQtc87 or FRIEND-439576), and had great reviews online. Plus, mine arrived in less than a week! I tried them out of the box and loved them, but I’ll give my opinion after I wear them next week.

Give $20, Get $20

Get $20 off your first order at Rothy's!