Viva Challenge: saving water in beauty routines

I was inspired to run this challenge after listening to one of the radio programs this week on water conservation. Let’s try save some water while maintaining our beauty routines! I admit that this is hard because we’ve been taught to maintain good hygiene and to cleanse our face thoroughly. So how can we effectively save water that way? Here are six tried and tested ways recommended by Viva Woman.

1. Cleanse your face no more than twice a day
Although it’s important to make sure we keep our faces clean, but it’s really no good to wash our faces too often. Twice a day is about right to ensure that we do not strip away the natural lipids on our skin. In fact, if you wash more often in a day, you might find your skin getting oilier as a result because the skin will secrete more sebum when it becomes dryer. So if you have oily skin, the solution is not to wash more frequently but rather to hydrate more with a water-based moisturizer.

2. Wash your face and brush your teeth in the shower
Many of you are probably doing this already and while the multi-tasking can help with conserving water, but do be more conscious about the free flowing water. Turn off the tap when you don’t need it – like when you’re brushing your teeth, washing your face or lathering soap on your body. In fact, it is said that turning off the tap while brushing your teeth in the morning and at bedtime can save up to 8 gallons of water per day, which equals 240 gallons a month! (source)

3. Recycle your washing water
Okay, some of you may still prefer to wash your face at the sink and that’s perfectly fine. While lathering, remember to turn off the tap. In addition, consider using a stopper at the sink to collect some of the water to flush the toilet bowl – especially when you’ve doing your final rinse. I often do that especially when I’m washing my hands just before I apply my beauty treatments.

4. Use a towel to wipe off your mask
If you’re regularly applying face mask that needs to be washed off, I’m sure you know the amount of water you need to use to rinse whatever is on your face. It’s a lot! Unless your face mask does not allow for wiping off, consider using a dripping wet face towel to wipe off the stuff on your face before washing with running water.

5. Take a shower not a bath
A bath can be very pampering and hence should not be a daily indulgence as the copious amount of water used is truly wasteful. A shower is quick, saves time and saves water too. According to EPA, a full bath tub requires about 70 gallons of water, while taking a five-minute shower uses 10 to 25 gallons. But if you must indulge in your bath, I suggest you recycle the water in some ways like washing your toilet! I do that whenever my son wants to have some bath time.

6. Scrub your feet and do your nails in the shower
For those who do your own manicure or pedicure, you might want to do some of your routines while in the shower. Of course you can’t paint your nails in the shower but you can scrub your feet or push your cuticles while in the shower as the warm water will help to soften the skin and makes these so much easier to perform. And remember to turn off the running water while doing so!

Some of you may think that this is a waste of time since there is not much to save anyway so why not focus on bigger ways to save water. Well, as in everything, start from small and from ourselves. Plus staying beautiful doesn’t mean having to waste resources right?

And do contribute your tips on saving water when it comes to maintaining your beauty routines!

Comments

  1. stella says:

    about the towelling off mask part – i’m not so sure ‘coz wouldn’t you be using additional energy and water to wash that same towel later anyway?

  2. sesame says:

    You have a point there. I guess it would depend on the user. Because if I use the towel just to wash off my mask, I’ll just use a quick rinse or two to wash and then hang dry…the water consumption is lesser than if I just rinse with running water to get rid of the mask.

  3. fwy says:

    To be honest, I only apply moisturiser once a day in the morning. I hit the pillow without any moisturiser at night & so when I woke up the next morning, I only splash some lukewarm water on my face.

  4. Raelynn says:

    Despite applying moisturizer before bed, I too only use cleansers at night and just use water to splash down face and body. Quite a few people have been recommending that if you’re sure that you’ve done a great job if cleansing at night before bed, there’s no real need to use a cleanser in the mornings, at most use cotton soaked in toner.

  5. sesame says:

    Oh then that’s even more conservation on many fronts! Actually there is no need to wash the face in the morning but most of us do it by habit, thinking that it’s cleaner. At one stage, I only use toner to wipe in the mornings.

  6. sesame says:

    Oh, I just replied to fwy without reading your comments. Yes, no need to wash but most pple do it out of habit. For me, I shower in the mornings to “wake up” so in the process, I cleanse my face too. If I’m at home, sometimes I just wipe down with toner.

  7. pf1123 says:

    I’m guilty of using a lot of water in my beauty routine. Mainly in the morning. I had to wash my hands several times when I apply diff products/cosmetics with my hands.

  8. sesame says:

    Yes, it’s quite normal since we want to be as clean as possible when touching the serums and creams. But perhaps if your time permits, consider recycling some of those water.

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