Spring presents the perfect opportunity to spring clean your skincare routine, simplify, reassess and de-clutter our lives. The 'Spring Clean' is an age-old tradition that shouldn't just be relegated to the clutter in our wardrobe and around the house. This spring, take the opportunity to streamline your skincare and detox your routine. 'Out with the old, in with the new' is our mantra this season, with a vision for a cleaner beauty routine in every sense of the word. Ready to spring clean your skincare routine? Here are a few surprisingly simple tips to get you started.
Check Expiry Date Of Existing Products
Just as you remove anything from your fridge that has surpassed its best before date, kick off your skin care spring clean by checking the expiration dates of your existing beauty products. All beauty products have a shelf life and, once they hit that date, their effectiveness will steadily begin to decrease. Some products may even develop dangerous amounts of bacteria, which could lead to a nasty infection. Not sure how to decipher the best before the date of your beauty products? Not all beauty products will have an expiration date shown on the label, so you need to dig a little deeper. The secret lies within a bit of symbol we've all seen, but most have never really paid much attention to. Somewhere on your product, you'll find a logo that looks like a small jar with an open lid, and a number with the letter 'M' inside it. It is called the PAO, or Period After Opening date. The '12M' or similar represents how many months your product will be at its most effective after it has been opened. Traditionally, more "active" products like skin serums will have the shortest shelf life (around six months), while products like body moisturisers and washes can last as long as two years however this will vary depending on brand and ingredients.
Simplify, Streamline And Declutter
Once you've tossed any products that are past their use-by date, it's time to reassess and simplify your skincare routine. Have you held on to unopened jars or products within their expiry period that you don't use? If they're unopened, consider gifting them to a local charity or women's shelter. If open it's time to bin them. It may seem wasteful, but the premise is the same as getting rid of unworn clothing. Streamlining your routine will give you a better idea of what you have and what you need, plus it will make you less wasteful in the long run. How? When we have fewer products, we're far more likely to work through what we do have until they're empty. If we have too many options cluttering our bathroom cabinets, we dip into different products each night and end up throwing out products before they're empty. Just as you write a shopping list for your groceries to avoid waste, do the same for your skincare.
Rid Your Routine Of Nasties
Now that you've spring cleaned your bathroom cabinet, it's time to look at spring cleaning the list of ingredients you rely on. We're talking cleaning up your routine in every sense of the word "clean!" This one is harder to tick off your list in one day but think of the beginning of spring as a chance to begin ridding your routine of potentially harmful chemicals. Take a look at the ingredients lists of your most-used products. Spot any synthetic ingredients? It's time to swap that product for a cleaner alternative. To avoid any unnecessary wastage, wait until you reach the end of each product then replace it with a clean, natural option. This way, you'll have spring cleaned your cupboard, your routine and you'll be doing your bit to spring clean the planet! Sound far-fetched? After being washed down the drain, synthetic ingredients can seriously affect marine life and pollute our precious waterways. During your skincare spring clean, it's worth considering the impact the packaging of your products has on the environment. Australians are growing increasingly conscious of the impact single-use plastics have on the planet, so while we spring clean plastic shopping bags out of our lives, we should also look at removing single-use plastics from our beauty routines. Botani skin care products are all housed within the biodegradable packaging, so the outsides are just as clean as the products you'll find inside. With each chemical-packed product, you replace with a natural alternative, you'll be doing your bit to spring clean the environment. It all adds up.
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