Danielle Epifani holds a jar filled with all the plastic trash she has produced in a month. PHOTO BY PAT MAZZERA It’s harder than you might imagine to break away from clamshells and baggies. By Angela Hill So there you are, in the grocery store, about to put a plastic zip bag of red grapes into a larger, flimsier plastic produce bag because the zipper on the zip bag doesn’t hold and you don’t want grapes to go cascading all over the floorboards of your car. Reasonable enough, right? Suddenly, images of those unnecessary bags slurped up by an unsuspecting pelican go dancing through your head, and you stop, take a step back, think it over and go home —  grapeless. As more and more info emerges on what excess plastic packaging and single-use items are doing to our planet, movements are growing — locally and globally — encouraging plastic-free living. But is it possible? Can we find products that aren’t encased in layers of thin film or clamshell? Do we have to give up our grapes? Yes and no. “It’s not easy,” says Shilpi Chhotray of the global Break Free From Plastic movement (BreakFreeFromPlastic.org) who strives to walk the talk in her own Oakland home. “You have to be dedicated, and it can seem overwhelming at first. It takes an enormous amount of time and energy to do it right, but it can be done.” Chhotray and other Bay Area folks are indeed doing it — living as close to plastic-free and zero-waste as humans in today’s world can get. They’re extreme, but not crazy — just crazy about saving the Earth. Danielle Epifani of Berkeley makes her own toothpaste and even her own mascara. “I haven’t perfected the mascara formula yet,” she said, laughing. “And I tried making my own cat food and it was way too much trouble. That’s pretty much where I drew the line. “But overall there are some really easy things that I do,” she said. “I just wash my hair now with water. My hair and my skin have totally adjusted. No products at all. I use a bamboo toothbrush. For toothpaste, coconut oil and baking soda. Some people add essential oils for flavor. I try and get tampons in a carboard applicator instead of a plastic.” Epifani has worked on environmental issues in the past, but she recently became aware of the enormity of the problem. “It’s not just one whale choking or one seabird but entire colonies of birds stuffed with plastic,” she said. “I had already been hating plastic but never really made the connection as far as my plastic use. It seemed so far away. Why didn’t I understand that that plastic cap inside that bird could be the one I threw in the trash last month?” Inspired in 2015 by the annual Plastic-Free July challenge (PlasticFreeJuly.org), she started auditing her trash and said that was the game changer, seeing just how much plastic waste she and her housemates generated. She also started following the plan in author Beth Terry’s book, Plastic-Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too. Epifani later started a Facebook group with tips and news on living plastic-free and now focuses her efforts on awareness and legislation. “Start with yourself,” she said. “It’s too easy to say the problem is too big and throw up your hands. I pretty much did one change a month. But it opened my eyes to see other opportunities. You start to train your eye for products that are plastic-free. “It’s important to see the forest through the trees,” she said. “A lot of people will put attention on getting a reusable straw. But do you really need to use a straw at all? If you have a plastic electric toothbrush, you don’t need to ditch it for bamboo; just keep using that as long as you can.” Nancy Hu of Lafayette saves teeth by day and tries to save the environment the rest of the time. A dentist working for the Veterans Administration on Mare Island and a mom of two young boys, Hu is passionate about zero-waste climate change, serving as the administrator for Lafayette’s Buy Nothing group. “The turning point for me was after the 2016 election where I felt I had to do something to make a big impact by not making a big impact on the environment,” she said. In her Buy Nothing group, the idea is to be fun and creative, to connect and share with your neighbors. “It encourages people to meet face-to-face, posting items, giving away for free, trading. Like I’ll post that I’m craving a curry soup, and someone will say, ‘I’ll leave a carrot and potato for you!’ It’s a hyper local gifting economy, sharing resources, which means less waste.” One thing she promotes through the group is to put together a zero-waste “party pack” with two-dozen reusable place settings of dishes, metal flatware, and cloth napkins to take to birthday parties, preschool parties, work parties. “We have a lot of potlucks at work, and work parties always have tons of plastic forks and paper plates. I’m blessed to have a dishwasher at home, so I really don’t mind bringing all the dishes home after work to wash.” Hu also encourages the use of TerraCycle, a U.S. company that partners with corporations like Colgate or Brita to accept items back for recycling. “Being a dentist, we see a lot of toothpaste tubes and toothbrushes that people throw away because there’s no way to recycle it curbside. So I collect these items then mail them back. You get a shipping label from TerraCycle, you can earn points that translate into dollar amounts that can go to a charity of choice.” In her own home, she has some basic tricks that have become second nature, including using wood-handled sink brushes and bringing her own containers to the store, which definitely takes planning. “It took a while to figure out where to buy things without packaging,” she said. “Like, if I’m in a hurry, I can buy pine nuts at Trader Joe’s in a plastic container because it’s closer, but if I have more time, I can go to Sprouts with my own jar and get it there in the bulk aisle.” She admitted her family is not completely plastic-free. “With oral care, I know people do things like baking soda and coconut oil. I’ve thought about doing that, but because there haven’t been any formal studies on it, I shy away from it. You still need fluoride toothpaste, and I’m not sure how to get that in zero-waste. “Plus, you can’t spit coconut oil down your sink because it clogs the drain, so you have to spit into a compost thing, which kinda grosses me out.” Chhotray, in her role in communications for Break Free From Plastic, has learned so much about the issue, especially as it relates to the big oil companies in the United States, she is particularly sensitive to its use. “With all that I know about it, I just can’t be around plastic — all I see is oil,” she said.  “Recycling plastics is just a fallacy. Only 9 percent of our plastic waste gets recycled, and so much is ending up swimming in our oceans or in other countries. Try to find things in glass containers. Glass is amazing and can be recycled over and over again without loss of quality.” Instead of Saran Wrap, she uses beeswax paper material. For cleansers, she’s found great recipes online with vinegar and lemon juice. She also suggests supporting restaurants and stores that use sustainable takeºout containers. “Kitchen and household items can be drastically reduced by shopping in bulk, bringing jars and bags from home. But the thing I can’t stand is when you go to a grocery store that offers bulk but they have single-use bags. “Even at the farmers market there’s a disconnect,” she said. “You still see these thin film bags to put your vegetables in. San Francisco and Berkeley have banned them, but the farmers market in Oakland is right by beautiful Lake Merritt, and you literally see these bags flying through the air and ending up in the water.” Part of the problem with trying to go plastic-free, however, is that it’s not just less convenient, but often more expensive, which creates issues of inequality, Chhotray said. “We’re finding that zero-waste has become this trend in coastal elite cities, and what we don’t want it to become is this narrative of anti-poor,” she said. “Not everyone can afford a $15 shampoo bar or even get to a vendor who sells things of that nature. There are all these issues of equity as to how this narrative plays out.” The general idea is you don’t have to go crazy on plastic-free; just try a little at a time and look at the bigger picture. “We have to be realistic in the world we’re living in,” Chhotray said. “To be quite honest, no individual action is going to change the world at this point. That said, individual action, reducing waste, supporting brands on zero-waste products and packaging is very important for raising awareness and getting change at the manufacturing and legislative end. It’s beyond bringing your own bag and water bottle.” For Epifani, going zero-waste and plastic-free has freed her from the burdensome feeling that “We’re doomed,” she said. “Instead, I feel empowered to find solutions. No one forces my hand to reach out for that bag of Doritos that can’t be recycled. I do that. So if I step back, I take my power back over the situation, even in a small way.” This article originally appeared in our sister publication, The East Bay Monthly.

Mandi Niambi is the co-founder and CEO of Baalm, a membership designed to match you to the right products, services and people for your skin. She is a scientist, writer, and entrepreneur passionate about skin tech.   Mandi, please tell us about Baalm? Baalm is a community built on the audacity of loving your skin. We’re making skincare transparent with a radical membership club. Instead of wading through thousands of new skincare products with hard to pronounce ingredients, we cut through all the noise. Our digital platform matches users to the right products for their skin. Member benefits include one-on-one skin consultations, personalized shopping, product exclusives and discounts, custom events and so much more. On average skincare junkies waste $300 a year on unused or ineffective products because they don’t know what they’re really buying. We’re on a mission to help them reclaim that money and put it to good use with a membership for their skin. By putting skincare in the cloud we help our community members understand how skincare products work, the science behind ingredients and create tools to match them to the best products for their individual skin needs. We put on events like custom facials, workshops and gatherings with experts so that they can experience skincare in so many different ways. Our priority is to make sure that each experience brings you more calm and knowledge, so that skincare can become something you indulge in everyday.   How did you come up with the idea of starting Baalm? What inspired you?   I grew up with eczema and sensitive skin, so trying new products has always been a scary thing. Products have cause insane breakouts and allergic reactions for me, and I didn’t have anyone I could turn to. My mom wasn’t familiar with a lot of products, few of my friends had answers and I didn’t see a dermatologist until I was 19 when things got really bad. When I started doing regenerative biology research at Harvard, I began to apply my love of research to my skin journey. I read research papers about different skincare ingredients and used that as a guide to find the right products. But no one should have to have a biology degree to figure out what to put on their face. So Baalm came from a personal quest. It’s the community I wish I had when I was building out my first skincare routines.   I have heard that you are working on publishing a book with your beauty secrets and rituals, please tell us more.   Fresh Face is a guide to skin care that offers countless ideas, tips, and tricks for maintaining healthy, radiant skin. I believe that skin are is not just about managing blemishes but can be used as a coping mechanism to radically change the way your soul and psyche are fed. So I go through ways to set up your home to promote better skincare habits and selfcare habits. There are tons of affirmations in the book because it’s just as important to feed your self esteem as it is to feed your skin microbiome (by the way, I dig into that too!). Fresh Face covers the anatomy of the skin in a really approachable way, and provides dozens of routines to help with fresh breakouts or to relax you after a full day of listening to mansplaining. Is there one beauty secret you can share with us?   I change my towels and wash cloths constantly. I buy face towels in bulk on amazon so that I always have a fresh one when I need it. Kailey Bradt is the founder of OWA Haircare, the first water-activated haircare line. Kailey holds a BS in Chemical Engineering and an MS in Product Development, and formulates OWA Haircare’s products herself.   Kailey, please tell us about OWA Haircare and what makes it special.   OWA Haircare is the first water-activated haircare line that delivers your same liquid products in a powder format. Conventional liquid shampoos are 80% water on average. It’s not just shampoo though, conditioner is similarly mostly water & even a hair gel can be 95% water. When I discovered this, I couldn’t imagine continuing to package and ship water all over the world! The concept behind OWA is to deliver your liquid products in a new way.   You started OWA Haircare while working for a clean-tech startup. How did you come up with the idea of launching your own brand?    Working at an early stage start up in Los Angeles, I was constantly in and out of airports traveling for work. If you’ve ever flown into or out of LAX you know the frustration getting through the checked bag line, through TSA security check & then to your gate assuming your bag made it too. Working in sustainability day in and day out, I had also learned about reducing your CO2 footprint by traveling with only carry-on baggage.   Packing liquid hair products was frustrating. They took up the most space, they depleted the most quickly and mine always seemed to leak in my little ziplock bag. I had tried the bar alternatives to liquid shampoos & conditioners and was not satisfied with the results for my hair type. I have a lot of very fine hair, which is sensitive to many ingredients and easily is weighed down by the ingredients in a bar soap. I wanted my same liquid haircare delivered to me in a new way.   This is when I began researching the formulations of liquid haircare. Discovering that liquid products were mostly solvents, I imagined there had to be a better way to deliver the ingredients that we needed without the bulk “fluff” which was water in most cases. Essentially, I wanted a concentrated alternative that would form a liquid product, so that is what I set to create. It hadn’t been done before in a powder format, but I was determined to make it work.   Congratulations on the recent launch! Can you tell us more about the product and the new collection?   OWA Haircare launched with its first product, Moondust Collection: Hair Wash in June 2019 in an exclusive retail deal with Credo Beauty. Our second SKU, a fragrance-free version of Hair Wash launched in July.   Both versions of our Hair Wash are naturally derived, vegan and cruelty free. Additionally, they’re free of water, sulfates, parabens, synthetic colors and synthetic fragrance. They are both clean formulas and if you’re familiar with Credo you know they are leaders in defining clean beauty. The fact we were able to launch with them was a dream come true for me! Starting in September, you’ll see OWA in more stores, so be on the look out!   Besides the shampoo, do you see other possibilities in the water-activated personal-care space?   I don’t even know where to start to talk about this because I’m honestly SO excited about what’s to come. There is so much opportunity in this space and I see it as the future of the haircare. We’re also seeing more in skincare & color cosmetics right now, but I think this will move into body care as well.   For OWA, we are starting with the foundation of the haircare routine- shampoo & for those who need it, conditioner. We’re moving into styling and treatment products as well. I want to say more, but that’s all I’m going to hint for now!   What personal care advice can you share with us?   Listening to your body is so important. I’ve become more conscious about my personal care choices & I’ve realized how critical it is to take care of yourself inside and out. Good skin truly starts from within.   I really love skincare supplements and I’ve been using the Sundaily “The Back Up” & I occasionally will add in Hum Skin Heroes Pre+ Probiotic if I’m experiencing a breakout.   Overall eating better results in better skin for me- everyone is different so I won’t get into what diet works for me. I will just say your body speaks through your skin!   For product, I choose skincare over makeup. A good moisturizer is key! I use SPF every day no matter what. A friend of mine who is working on a skin-health line found that ~80% of signs of aging are caused by long-term UV exposure. That’s wrinkles, fine lines, etc. I was so surprised, so I take it even more seriously now. I like to use Supergoop’s 100% Mineral Invincible Setting Powder to reapply my SPF throughout the day. It also makes a good, lightweight dry shampoo substitute that protects your hairline from sun exposure. I love multifunctional products like that. Another dual purpose product is the Olio e Osso Balm No. 2 in French Melon that I use for my everyday look on my lips & my cheeks. I really have been enjoying the innovations in the clean skin & beauty space. I searched for years testing natural deodorants for example. It wasn’t until the end of last year when I found Curie– the first natural deodorant that didn’t leave me with severe skin irritation. I try to stick to the 80/20 rule with clean beauty. I know there are some products I’ve been using forever that I cannot find a replacement for- yet!   I’m a minimalist and I’ve been making a greater effort to only buy what I need for product overall. If I try a product that isn’t for me, I will pass it along to a friend so it doesn’t go to waste. I’ve also been recycling my difficult-to-recycle product packaging through Terracycle, which has numerous collection locations like Credo or Follain. You can also request a shipping label and recycle from home! Lizzy Trelstad is the founder of Beaker, a platform matching people with the best products and decoding cosmetics ingredients. Lizzy Trelstad is a Columbia-educated innovation chemist with industry experience in personal care, cosmetic, and fragrance formulation. She’s a millennial-on-a-mission to match people with products.   Lizzy, your vision is to match consumers with products that are best for them. How does that work?   The “best” beauty products aren’t always the best products for you. Beaker uses proprietary chemical analysis to read product labels for consumers, using hints in the ingredient list to understand what quantitative features a product really has to offer, and if those features are right for a consumer’s budget, lifestyle, and skin. Beaker uses a nonjudgemental chatbot to asks users a few simple questions, then direct them to a face wash formula best for them and their skin’s needs. Our secret sauce lies in asking questions consumers actually know how to answer, extract what it is the user actually needs, and connecting these needs to face wash formulas with chemical attributes that best serve them. Again, but with less science: we’ve developed the easiest, most accurate skincare quiz to match users with their perfect face wash. Beaker uses chemistry to make these matches.   You have mentioned that you would be launching an MVP this year. Please elaborate.   The Beaker MVP is a curated content platform for everything face wash: product pages that detail ingredient list dissection and summarize Beaker’s product scores; skincare school readings; and a chatbot that helps you choose the best face wash formula for you. Users can easily explore all face wash options with the chatbot as their optional tour guide at hellobeaker.com, or interact with just the chatbot curator via Beaker’s Facebook Messenger.   What is the story behind Beaker and what future do you envision for it?   Beaker was born out of my frustrations endured while working as a formulator at a cosmetics manufacturer. I was tasked with creating innovative textures and novel applications using over-stocked or common raw materials. I was to be inspired by everything at Sephora, then throw out all beauty assumptions and standards. I came up with some pretty cool product bases, but hit a wall trying to explain the new materials and mixtures to the in-house marketing team. That’s when I realized that the language discrepancies between consumers and marketers also exist–sometimes to an even greater extent–between product developers and marketers. I started Beaker with the intention to research or invent protocols for developing a common “language,” a codified procedure for translating qualitative attributes to chemical specifications, or vice versa. I succeed when this common “language” can be used to develop and discuss beauty products with scientific rigor.   To start, Beaker is focusing on face wash, or more specifically, on giving CPG brands novel and transparent ways to win lifetime converts to their face wash formulas. Soon, we’ll expand to the full breadth of beauty, personal, and home care products. The future of Beaker is an educational content-focused combination of Product Hunt for personal care products and Google Translate for consumer chemicals. Beaker doesn’t just tell you what an ingredient is or what it does in a formula, we tell you what that ingredient really means to you. It’s the “to you” that really motivates us: beauty personalization may just be a current trend, but we see the Future of Beauty firmly rooted in curation as a technology.   Do you have a beauty secret to share with us?   Hydration! Dihydrogen monoxide is my favorite beauty chemical. (I’m a huge fan of Hydrant, a CPG company that uses science for the sake of engineering a superior product, not just for the optics of “transparency.” They’re creating higher standards of product development and discussion that all personal care companies should aspire to. Plus hydration is good for the skin. It’s science.  

There’s no mistaking where you are as you approach the large glass doors of Gillette World Shaving Headquarters. A massive sign, towering over the expansive red brick building, spells it out in huge block letters. Of course, once you’re inside, there’s no telling where you might end up. That’s because the headquarters is comprised of over two dozen interconnected buildings, sprawling throughout 44 acres of Boston’s South End. The original building on campus dates back to 1904-shortly after Gillette was launched by businessman King C. Gillette in collaboration with MIT engineer William Nickerson. Just past the entryway is a wall-mounted timeline of products, showcasing early prototypes of safety razors and military-issue shaving kits (with magnetized blades that could double as a compass) as well as the early ’90s Sensor I remember my Dad shaving with daily. And while the history runs deep here, it’s clear that innovation is what keeps the machine moving-literally. The plant has autonomous vehicles ferrying supplies around and is constantly experimenting while continually producing more than four billion razor blades each year.

Gillette’s latest razor, the SkinGuard, was the reason they invited me to come tour the plant and meet with their R&D team. I had told them that I didn’t like shaving with a blade because it irritated my skin-choosing instead to simply use a beard trimmer. They said I was the perfect candidate for this new razor specifically designed for men with sensitive skin. I have to say I was intrigued. And so, in an upstairs laboratory, I met with two white lab-coated gentleman who walked me through their development process as well as a few shaving fundamentals. It was one part biology, one part rocket science. Afterwards, I got to try the new SkinGuard and can report that it was all that they promised and maybe a little more. You know that uncomfortable drag you feel when shaving your neck (more on that later)? This has none of it. And now I know why. It was a crash course in the science of shaving. My mind was blown, so I thought I’d share some of the most impressive facts.

I left the World Shaving Headquarters with a whole new appreciation for the daily ritual of shaving. At the end of my lesson, it was clear that there’s both a science and an art to the perfect shave. Plenty of engineering goes into these razors to make them the best possible instruments to deliver a smooth face. But it’s up to us to find the razor that works for our skin type and shaving sensibility.

Recycle Your Razors

Gillette has partnered with TerraCycle, a program that offers recycling for waste that cannot be recycled curbside. Just register and request a receptacle or public bin (for your gym, office or building) to collect any and all razors. Once it’s full, you can leave it at a local drop point or print a shipping label and send them off to be recycled.