Packaging generates an enormous amount of waste, with millions of tons ending up in landfills and our oceans each year.

Stripping away excess packaging In the last few years, sustainability in the beauty industry has become increasingly more important to consumers. They’re looking for ways to reduce waste in their routines, and we couldn’t be more excited. We’ve always felt that the best way to reduce packaging waste is by getting rid of packaging altogether. That’s why around 35 percent of our products are totally unpackaged, or as we like to say, naked. And the rest? They’re packaged using recycled and recyclable materials.

We’re leading the way in innovative solid products, which eliminate the need for packaging. Our naked bubble bars, conditioners, henna hair dyes and massage bars save millions of plastic bottles from being produced, transported and disposed of every year.

Our shampoo bars are a fabulous example of the far-reaching impact that a single switch from packaged to naked can make. Since 2005, we’ve sold more than 41 million shampoo bars, saving 124 million plastic bottles from ever being produced. That’s approximately 3417 tons of plastic saved, or about the weight of 30 blue whales. Imagine if everyone ditched the bottle in favor of the bar!

By providing unpackaged options for the bath, shower and body, we hope to increase awareness around the overuse of disposable packaging and challenge other retailers to get innovative and reduce their packaging too.

We never wanted to lose the excitement of ripping open a gift, but we didn’t love the waste that goes along with single-use wrapping paper. So around 2010, we stopped offering traditional cellophane gift wrapping in our shops in favor of reusable fabric knot-wraps. These are either made from a silky material spun from recycled plastic bottles, or from organic cotton and have colorful designs that add personality to any wrapped gift. Rather than being thrown away after opening, they can be reused again and again for gift wrapping, decorating or as an accessory.

When we can’t eliminate packaging completely (like in the case of liquid body washes or gift sets), we use only recycled, recyclable, reusable or compostable materials, like our 100 percent post-consumer recycled plastic bottles and pots and biodegradable bags.

If you regularly buy products in our signature black pots, hold on to your empty ones and return five to your local shop in exchange for a free fresh face mask! We send these pots back to our recycler, who molds them into brand new black pots in a closed-loop recycling system.

We’re always looking for innovative ways to reduce our impact with packaging. In 2012, we worked with our clear bottle manufacturer to make our bottles 10 percent thinner. In just one year in 2016, this saved almost 13,500 pounds of plastic.

We’ve also been experimenting with using ocean plastics in our packaging. This would provide an economic incentive to remove plastics from the sea, while providing post-consumer plastic for our packaging. Preliminary tests are looking positive, so stay tuned for updates!

Ready to strip away excess packaging? Shop our naked products to discover all the ways you can say goodbye to excess waste.