Everybody’s swapping their everyday essentials for a natural alternative these days.

With so much choice in everything from shampoo and cleanser to make-up, tools and toothbrushes, there’s never been a better time to ensure the stuff you use every day is eco-friendly, skin safe and free from dodgy ingredients.

Here are five of our favourite finds this week: 

1. SWITCH SHAMPOOS

Lush just launched five good-enough-to-eat haircare products to rescue your tresses post-summer. Our stand-out favourite is the Wasabi Shan Kui Shampoo (€23 for a big bottle in the Oliver Plunkett Street store), a stimulating combination of fresh horseradish, caffeine powder, and menthol crystals that gives a burst of warming stimulation as you massage it into the scalp.

The gentle scent of rose, gardenia, and Sicilian lemon oil lifts the mood, while hand harvested sea salt gives roots a volumising boost and Fair Trade olive oil adds strength and helps reduce breakage.

2. SAGE YOUR SURROUNDINGS

Sometimes you have to be proactive about tackling bad energy. If this week has been particularly tricky, drop by the Flowersmith at the Toll Booth on St Luke’s Cross and pick up a Smudge Stick, a little hand-tied herbal bundle used to cleanse the mind, body and soul.

Simply burn one any time you feel a person or space could benefit from a little cleanse.

Hey, it can’t hurt, right?

3. UPGRADE YOUR TOOTHBRUSH 

Most of us use a whopping 300 plastic toothbrushes during our lifetime. That’s a lot of plastic. Now, Irish entrepreneurs Niamh Mc Gill and Joe Finnegan have invented an alternative; bambooth… the biodegradable toothbrush that’s panda friendly.

Ten cents per bambooth brush sold is donated to four conservation efforts linked to habitat protection. With a 100% biodegradable handle and BPA-free nylon bristles, it’s made from moso bamboo, which is a renewable natural material.

You’ll find them in Leafling Mercantile, Ballinspittle, The Olive Branch and Twig Refill, Clonakilty and Cork Flower Studio, Douglas Street.

4. CLEAN UP YOUR CLEANSING ROUTINE

Cruelty-free, vegan-friendly, fragrance-free and suitable for use in pregnancy, Skingredients PreProbiotic Cleanse is a hydrating facial cleanser containing Polyhydroxy Acids to balance the skin’s microbiome.

You can’t go wrong with this one; it’s non-drying and non-comedogenic and safe to use around the eyes, yet amazingly, it whips off waterproof eye makeup like nobody’s business.

We like to leave it on as a calming, hydrating mask for 20 minutes a couple of times a week. Order it from the Skingredients website (€25) here.

4. REFRESH YOUR FOUNDATION

With a brand new concession at McCauley Health & Beauty in Mahon Point, Irish owned brand Fuschia Make-Up is going from strength to strength.

Each product is rigorously tested and hero buys include their Mineral Foundation (€31.99) and Mineral Concealer (€16.95), which are sweat-proof, touch-proof and packed with antioxidants and nourishing oils, and their sell-out palettes.