Ways to Go Green: Beauty

Tip 127:

Use bars of soap (not antiperspirant varieties) versus liquid wash.It's less expensive, and it saves packaging waste. Not to mention that body wash is primarily water, so the fuel costs for transporting it are higher because it weighs more.

$ Factor:The average bar of soap lasts for about 20 showers, whereas a 16-ounce bottle of body wash lasts for an average of 80 showers. But body wash costs on average more than four times as much as soap.

Tip 128:

Tote your water.Bring your own reusable water bottle filled with filtered water from home every time you go to the gym.

$ Factor:You could save an average of $200 per year as well as 14 pounds of plastic.

Tip 129:

Skip the treadmill.If the weather's right, consider giving the treadmill a rest and taking your walking or jogging routine outdoors.

$ Factor:A 25 percent shift in time on the treadmill to time outside would conserve about 60 kWh of energy per year.

Tip 130:

Slash trash.Cut waste by selecting products with less packaging. Three ways to do it: Choose products that come with minimal packaging, buy larger sizes, or buy refills or in bulk which typically have less packaging.

$ Factor:Reducing packaging cuts the amount of resources and energy used in producing a product and also makes it lighter to ship, which means companies are using less fuel. Plus you have less trash for the landfill, and you can reduce that even more if you recycle.

Tip 131:

Buy multivitamins.You can save money and packaging if you buy a multivitamin rather than separate bottles of individual vitamins. The average American vitamin user spends over $100 each year on vitamins and supplement.

$ Factor:If one-quarter of vitamin consumers reduced their purchases by just one bottle per year, the estimated total savings would be $592 million and 103 stacks of plastic bottles, each tall enough to reach the top of the ozone layer.

Tip 132:

Get two for one.Consider using a two-in-one shampoo and conditioner instead of buying each separately. If one in seven U.S. households replaced its shampoo and conditioner purchase with a single two-in-one bottle, the amount of plastic saved per year could fill a football field 27 stories high.

$ Factor:You'll not only save on money and packaging, but you'll likely save additional time, water and money by reducing the length of your shower.

Tip 133:

Avoid pore pluggers.When you buy deodorant, try to avoid antiperspirants, which use aluminum salts to seal up your pores. In addition to being a potential health toxin, aluminum takes a tremendous amount of energy to mine. If you buy one stick of aluminum-free deodorant, the energy saved could power your laptop for 30 minutes.

$ Factor:You'll also save money on water, detergent and stain remover and on clothes. Aluminum salts cause those yellow perspiration stains on your light-colored fabric.

Tip 134:

Beware meaningless semantics.Don't be fooled by meaningless terms. One popular stamp: natural. "There is no such defined term," says Sandra Schubert, director of government affairs for the Environmental Working Group. The same goes for "safe" on cosmetics or "water-resistant" on sunscreens. The mistake consumers make is taking their word for it, when actually they should look for more information.

$ Factor:If you're shopping for greener options, a little label savvy can ensure that what you pay for you actually get. The real cost is time: It puts a lot of responsibility on consumers to be their own policemen.

Tip 135:

Is it safe? Recognize that not everything in a product is always on the label. What can be left out? Fragrances, contaminants and chemical compounds formed unintentionally by the interaction of two or more chemical ingredients. And scientists are discovering some of these chemical ingredients and unintentional mixtures can be linked with health problems. Avoid the chemical soup by sticking to labels with recognizable ingredients instead of long chemical names. And avoid labels with the catch-all term "fragrance" -- which by itself can include dozens or even thousands of extra synthetic chemicals.

$ Factor:The cost: time. It requires some label reading and can be frustrating to find products that don't have dozens of chemical ingredients. One source: the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep Database. Prices vary widely, depending on the product.