As the beauty industry continues to take a revitalizing shift towards sustainability, searching for both planet and wallet-friendly products can be headache-inducing. Swapping out your cotton balls and makeup wipes for reusable cotton rounds is a great place to start in reducing your environmental footprint.
1. How do reusable cotton rounds work?
Reusable cotton rounds are essentially just sustainable alternatives to cotton balls, pads, and makeup wipes. Have them on hand to apply your favorite skincare products including (but not limited to) lotions, toners, and face creams. Even more, they can remove your makeup and nail polish. The uses for these rounds are limitless: the world is your oyster. Get creative!
The versatility of these reusable rounds stems from the natural, organic cotton fibers taken directly from the plant. The soft fabric effectively traps and absorbs makeup and dirt to clean your face, and the natural properties of the cotton allow for it to gently apply products into the skin. Furthermore, the forgiving fibers suit those with sensitive or allergic skin, making them a viable option for all skin moods.
Each pack of reusable cotton rounds comes with anywhere from 3 to 20 rounds. This provides for so many uses before you wash them, and if these products didn’t sound appealing enough, the care process couldn’t be easier! If you’re anything like me and always prolong laundry and other household tasks (oops!) you’re in luck.
The care and usage process for reusable cotton rounds looks like this:
In order to give your reusable rounds the longest lifespan possible, make sure to wash them after each use. You can throw them in the machine-safe delicates bag that comes with the product or hand wash them. In both cases, make sure to use a mild detergent so the gentle fibers don’t take a beating.
Although it may seem like adding an extra step to your skincare ritual, think about it like this: the average package of makeup wipes costs around $8. With an average of about 25 wipes per package, this turns into an annual spending of nearly $300 each year on just makeup wipes. (And that’s not even including cotton balls and rounds!)
Taking off your makeup at the end of a long day can feel like such a burden, which is why many of us find the convenience of disposable makeup wipes to be so appealing. But these expendable pads cause a plethora of problems for our environment.
The largest environmental problem we face is the bulk. It’s estimated that over 20 million pounds of makeup wipes are disposed of every single day in the United States. These discarded wipes can find their new homes in landfills, sewage systems, and on the coastlines and beaches. The FDA notes that makeup wipes contain polypropylene, cotton, polyester, and wood pulp, meaning that these single-use wipes are definitely not biodegradable.
Another prevalent issue is the water consumption, chemicals, and destruction of wildlife habits that cotton farming requires. All of the damage that occurs as a result of using a cotton pad just one time seems unnecessary in my opinion. Sounds like it might be time to make the switch to reusable cotton rounds!
Making the switch will help save water, reduce air pollution that comes from the production of synthetic fertilizers used in cotton farming, and help keep our beaches and coastlines waste and chemical-free. Still sounding like a win-win to me.
We’ve compiled a list of 10 brands we recommend to check out for the next time you’re browsing for reusable cotton rounds.
Coming in packs of 12, these reusable rounds are formulated with special fabric that is meant to feel exactly like a regular cotton round. Created by a Denmark-based company, they’re composed of 100% renewable, raw materials.
These eco-friendly and waste free cotton pads are made out of bamboo cotton, making them extra-soft, effective, and durable. The best part? When you decide they’re at the end of their life, you can throw them right in a compost bin-- they’re completely biodegradable (and the cherry on top: even their packaging is recycled and biodegradable!)
These chemical-free, luxurious rounds are consciously created with super-soft cotton and bamboo, making application and removal of products feel like a spa-day. They come in a reusable, waterproof pouch and are available in several different colors.
The perfect product for a zero-waste skincare ritual, these colorful, fun cotton rounds come in the most adorable colors and patterns in packs of 20. They’re extremely gentle on the skin and have stitched edges to provide for extra durability.
If you’re looking to appease the wallet even more, or just take a trial run on the idea of these reusable pads in general, these cotton rounds are the perfect place to get started. They come in packs of 16, and have a lifespan that lasts as long as over 2000 cotton balls.
These reusable microfiber pads can withstand up to 1000 washes. They’re the perfect product to add to your skincare ritual. Don’t believe me? The reviews are raving about it on Ulta- with a stunning 4.8/5 stars. Grab them while you can!
The holy-grail and OG reusable makeup remover: a multi-sided, multi-use, antibacterial cloth that is exfoliating and cleansing. Does it get any better? Makeup Eraser doesn’t mess around when it comes to creating the perfect product.
The special fibers that make up this cotton round are 100 times finer than human hair, making it super suitable to remove makeup, dirt, and oils and to apply your other skincare products most efficiently and effectively. While a little bit of a splurge, each pad can be washed up to 200 times.
These reusable rounds are labeled with each day of the week, keeping your beauty and skincare ritual organized and easy- the way it should be. An added-bonus? For every purchase, The Detox Market plants a tree.
One pack of these makeup removal pads replaces up to 160 packs of disposable makeup wipes and 4000 cotton balls. Also, they save almost 9000 gallons of water. Saving the earth, saving your money, and saving water! I don’t think it gets any better than that.
Let’s break this down: reusable cotton rounds are a quick, easy, and wallet-friendly alternative to your disposable makeup wipes and cotton balls. Ultimately, making the switch to reusable cotton rounds saves water, reduces air pollution, and helps keep the filthy wipes off our beaches and out of the landfills. In addition to saving you money in the long run, these pretty perfect products save your skin and our Mother Earth, making the (small) investment definitely worth it!
Written by Morgan Taylor
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