A Minimalist, Zero Waste Skincare Routine (For All Skin Types)

This post first appeared in our weekly Make Waves Mondays email series on June 2, 2025.

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Hello hello friend and happy June! 

We are this close 🤏 to the official start of summer (and my birthday!)! 🌞

And speaking of summer…this is typically the time of year that our skin starts going through it.

We’re outside, the sun is trying to burn us alive, we’re sweating more, and our skin is producing more oils.

We put our skin through a lot!

Now, truthfully, while I always wash my face in the morning, I tend to go through long periods where I all but completely fall out of the habit of washing my face before bed, and also out of the habit of using a toner at all.

So for the last several weeks, as an experiment with myself, I committed to washing, toning, serum-ing, and moisturizing every day and night, plus sunscreen in the morning if I’m leaving the house.

And HOLY FREAKING MOLY, friend.

The difference is absolutely insane.

My skin has never felt or looked better than it does now, even with such a minimalist skin care routine.

I had some friends over for brunch a couple of weeks ago and literally had them feel my face because it was so soft. My pores have shrunk. Any hormonal acne that’s popped up has been teeny tiny and disappeared almost as quickly as they appeared. I wake up in the morning and my first thought is, “Dang my skin feels good!”

All with zero waste, all-natural products, obvi.

So today, let’s talk about which skin care products I’m using, how much, and why.

Let’s dive in 👇

Please note that all of this is general information based on ingredients, personal experience, and reviews and should not replace professional advice. If you have specific skincare concerns, please consult your doctor or dermatologist.

Step 1: Cleanse

Okay so obviously step one is we gotta cleanse! We gotta wash off any makeup, oils, dead skin cells, dirt, sweat, and all the other nasties that get on our face.

I’ve been using our activated charcoal face wash bar since 2019, and from the moment I tested it out I was hooked.

The bar lathers up so beautifully, and the subtle lavender and peppermint essential oils feel absolutely divine at all times of day.

When to use: AM + PM

How to use: 

1. Wet the bar and lather in your hands for a few moments until it’s nice and bubbly in your hands.
   
   
2. Set the bar down, and gently lather the suds into your face and neck using circular motions from the middle of your face outward, for about 30-60 seconds.
   
   
3. If you’re washing your face in front of a mirror, once the lather turns from bubbly grey to silky white that’s a good indication the soap has done its job!
   
   
4. Rinse thoroughly with warm water and gently pat dry with a clean towel.

Why it’s great: The activated charcoal in this face wash bar acts like a magnet to draw out excess oil, dirt, and other impurities in your skin, while the glycerin acts as a humectant to draw water into the skin from the air, keeping your skin hydrated throughout the day. (That’s also why sometimes your face bar will “sweat.” It’s perfectly normal and means it’s doing what it’s supposed to do!) Meanwhile, the green tea extract’s antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties can calm acne, rosacea, and sun damage.

Step 2: Tone

This is the step that I’ve historically been most likely to skip, but has made the biggest difference in my skin texture and appearance.

The base of my toner has always been our refillable, organic witch hazel.

In the past, I’ve experimented with adding some tea tree, grapefruit, and juniper berry essential oils to it as a Lush Tea Tree Water copycat (in this house we don’t support Lush anymore).

But these days, I’m using straight witch hazel and my skin is so dang happy.

When to use: AM + PM

How to use: I like to apply the witch hazel with a reusable cotton round made from repurposed flannel. Just apply a bit of the witch hazel to the cotton round and gently swipe the cotton round across your face and neck. 

You can also simply pour the witch hazel into a mister spray bottle and give your face a little spritz instead. The lil’ spritz method is great for middle-of-the-day pick-me-ups!

Why it’s great: Witch hazel is magic. Truly. The witch hazel that we offer is an extract, rather than a hydrosol, which means it holds more of the beneficial compounds that are present in the witch hazel planet. Witch hazel is an astringent with anti-inflammatory properties, so it soothes, cools, heals, prevents acne, and shrinks pores all at once.

Step 3: Serum

Truthfully, just a few years ago I knew NOTHING whatsoever about skin serum. But in the summer of 2021, one of your fellow EcoWarriors requested we add one to the shop, so I did a deep dive on Google, chatted with several other EcoWarriors about serums during an Instagram Live, and had a long chat with our refillables vendor about their different serum options, the benefits of each one, and what serums actually do.

After that chat with our vendor, I grabbed a sample of the refillable revitalizing skin serum that we now sell and started testing it out.

Literally after just two uses my skin was ~noticeably~ softer, brighter, clearer, smoother, and hydrated-er.

Now, four years later, it’s still a mandatory part of my skincare routine and I can tell IMMEDIATELY when I skip it.

This serum also works FABULOUSLY as a cuticle oil and deep overnight moisturizer. Since making a point to go through this skincare routine twice daily for the last several weeks, I’ve also been using the serum as a cuticle oil at night and my hands and nails have never in my life looked or felt as good as they do now.

When to use: definitely PM; can add it in the AM if your skin is feeling like it needs more moisture

How to use: 

1. After cleansing and toning, apply about 4-5 drops of serum onto the tips of your fingers and rub them together just enough to distribute the serum a bit.
   
   
2. Gently apply the serum to your face and neck using soft tippy-taps with all four fingers to distribute the serum across your skin.
   
   
3. Once applied all over, you can also gently massage your face in an outward circular motion to help the serum absorb, though this step is optional.
   
   
4. After applying to my face, I also always add about 3 drops of serum to the backs of my hands and rub it into my hands, paying extra attention to my cuticles.

Why it’s great: The blend of 14 different natural oils and extracts in this serum act together to hydrate deeply, soothe inflammation, improve skin elasticity, protect from UV rays, boost collagen production, reduce scars, dark spots, redness, and fine lines, treat acne and eczema, even out skin tones, regulate oil production, soften skin, and treat wounds. Yes, all of that from one product! 

Step 4: Moisturize

The thing that’s super fascinating to me about skincare is that even if you have oily skin, moisturizing is soooo important. I have relatively oily skin and definitely have gone through phases of life where I’m like, “nah I don’t need to moisturize, my skin is already so oily!”

But turns out, the moisturizer helps to lock in hydration in your skin, which regulates oil production.

The refillable facial moisturizer we sell in the shop is so lightweight and non-greasy that it honestly doesn’t even feel like anything is there. 

It absorbs right in and is totally noncomedogenic so it won’t clog your pores.

I’ve been using our daily facial moisturizer since June 2020 and my oily skin absolutely loves it.

When to use: AM + PM

How to use: Scoop a little moisturizer out of the jar, rub it between the tips of your fingers enough to distribute the moisturizer a bit, then gently massage into your face and neck using outward circular motions.

Why it’s great: With a mango butter base, our daily facial moisturizer hydrates your skin deeply from within, while the blend of 9 other natural oils act as a humectant, sooth skin ailments like eczema and psoriasis, reduce redness, wrinkles, scars, and dark spots, improve skin elasticity, and even provide a boatload of natural SPF protection.

Step 5: Sunscreen

And last but not least, ya gotta protect your face from the sun! While our skin serum and facial moisturizer do have a ton of natural UV protection in them, it’s always a good idea to add a bit of sunscreen into the mix, too.

We just released a brand new SPF 30 tinted sunscreen last week, and this stuff is fabulous.

I was out of town for a wedding this past weekend, and I applied the sunscreen to my face and neck before putting on makeup, and treated the sunscreen like a foundation.

It’s so lightweight that it blended in beautifully with my skin, but tinted just enough that without the white cast you typically get from reef-safe sunscreen I didn’t need to cover it with anything.

And lemme tell ya, friend…every dang time I walked past a mirror that day I couldn’t help but check myself out a bit. 😍 Between the efforts I’ve been putting in with being intentional about my skincare routine and this sunscreen, my confidence was definitely boosted that day!

When to use: AM

How to use: After moisturizing and before applying makeup, scoop a little sunscreen from the tin with your fingers and gently massage into your face, neck, and body about 15 minutes before sun exposure. Reapply after 80 minutes of swimming or sweating, after towel drying, or at least every two hours.

Why it’s great: With the addition of non-nano zinc oxide, this sunscreen is made from a lot of the same ingredients as our daily facial moisturizer, so it’s got all of those same skin-loving and healing properties, plus broad-spectrum UVA and UVB protection that won’t harm our waterways. The subtle tint means zero white cast, and may have confidence-boosting side effects 😉

Don’t forget to hydrate!

This isn’t really a step in the skin care routine, but it is so dang important.

Stay hydrated, friend!

These days, I can easily tell a difference in my skin (and lips) when I haven’t been drinking enough water.

For me, the effects of lack of hydration are typically delayed by a day or two, but they’re so real. 

With being out of town and on the go the last few days, I knew I wasn’t drinking enough water, and knew that I’d wake up this morning with dry lips. And sure enough, I’ve had to apply lip balm several times already today, compared to the usual 1-2 times I typically reapply.

Personally, I’ve found that 2 liters of water a day is my minimum - ideally working on my 3rd by the time I start moving towards bed.

So in summary…

Everyone’s skin is different, but this minimalist, zero waste, all-natural skin care routine has been an absolute game-changer for me, and based on the reviews and reorder rates that I see from our EcoWarriors on all of these products, they’re a game-changer for a lot of others as well.

Plus, every one of these products has been intentionally selected for A Drop in the Ocean based on their use for all skin types. 

In the future, as we grow, our skin care selection may grow with us for more specific skin types, but for now, I’m so very intentional with every single product to make sure that it’ll be the best fit for the most people.

Now, as much as I hate to admit it, I do believe that consistency is key here, though. Just doing these steps every once in a while, or even just in the mornings without washing the day off before bed, doesn’t have quite the same impact.

(But better than nothing? Absolutely!)

But I am curious…are there other skin care steps that you also incorporate into your routine? What else might I be missing that I may love??

And if you’ve tried these skin care essentials yourself, I wanna know which is your fave and why!

So you know the drill…comment below and let’s chat about it! 💙