Whether you get dry skin flare-ups in the colder months or have to combat dry skin and hair symptoms daily, I’m here to share some more sustainable ways to treat dryness. Some of my favourite sustainable brands offer dry skin-focused ranges – you’ll even find a few vegan beauty options for everyone to enjoy.
Read on to discover my sustainable dry skin saviours and luxuriously hydrating hair picks…
1. The Soothing Body Butter
Product Pick: Caudalie Vinotherapist Replenishing Vegan Body Butter
Sustainable Checklist:
✓ Vegan
✓ Cruelty-free
✓ 97% natural formula
✓ Eco-conscious packaging
Why You’ll Love It: When your body is ultra-dry, it can feel tight and itchy. Thankfully, Caudalie’s Vegan Body Butter is instantly soothing; its rich balmy texture provides instant relief and long-lasting hydration.
Releasing a delicious sweet almond scent, it allows you to relax as your skin is cared for by a nourishing dose of shea butter and Caudalie’s iconic antioxidant-rich grape seed oil. I’ll admit that my legs are always so dry and flaky, but this body butter instantly gives them a healthy nourished glow – it’s perfect post-shave, too!
2. The Gentle Cleansing Bar
Product Pick: Florena Cleansing Bar
Sustainable Checklist:
✓ Vegan
✓ Cruelty-free
✓ 100% natural formula
✓ Eco-conscious packaging
Why You’ll Love It: Florena is one of our most sustainable brands – and their Cleansing Bar is a perfect example of a dry skin saviour that has minimal impact on the environment. When you peel back the plastic-free case, you’ll find a vegan soap bar with a certified COSMOS natural formula – it’s as clean as it gets!
But what’s it like to use? The bar melts into a silky-smooth foam as you cleanse, gently cleansing without upsetting your skin’s natural pH balance, making it perfect for dry, sensitive skin types.
3. The Smoothing Honeyed Moisturiser
Product Pick: Antipodes Vanilla Pod Hydrating Day Cream
Sustainable Checklist:
✓ Vegetarian – contains New Zealand manuka honey
✓ Cruelty-free
✓ 100% natural formula
✓ Eco-conscious packaging
Why You’ll Love It: The Antipodes Vanilla Day Cream is just as good as it sounds! The natural vanilla-scented moisturiser is rich and silky, but absorbs to feel incredibly lightweight and soothing on dry skin.
And if you’re looking to target wrinkles and fine lines whilst hydrating skin, you’ll love this; it’s packed with vitamin-rich rosehip oil that softens and smooths skin. The moisturiser also gives a youthful glow whilst reducing the appearance of scars and blemishes, thanks to antibacterial manuka honey and conditioning avocado. After application, skin looks plump and radiant – with no dry patches in sight, of course.
4. The Skin-Strengthening Facial Oil
Product Pick: Nuxe Organic Ultimate Night Recovery Oil
Sustainable Checklist:
✓ Vegan
✓ Cruelty-free
✓ 100% natural formula
✓ Eco-conscious packaging
Why You’ll Love It: Strong skin stays hydrated for longer, which keeps the symptoms of dry skin at bay. And this natural oil ensures your skin is strengthened by vitamin-rich rice oils, while soothing avocado, jojoba and macadamia oils condition your skin as you sleep.
It revitalises dry, dull skin overnight, so you can wake up to a glowing complexion that’s ready to face the day. The oil sinks in to deeply hydrate, without leaving a greasy feel – only a refreshing herbal scent that feels luxurious and relaxing as you sleep.
5. The Skin-Plumping Overnight Cream
Product Pick: Antipodes Culture Probiotic Night Recovery Water Cream
Sustainable Checklist:
✓ Vegan
✓ Cruelty-free
✓ 100% natural formula
✓ Eco-conscious packaging
Why You’ll Love It: If you struggle with redness, the Antipodes Probiotic Water Cream is for you – it replaces redness and roughness with a smooth, dewy and plumped complexion.
Harnessing the power of good bacteria, Kalibiome AGE Probiotic keeps water locked in for maximum hydration, and keeps harmful pollutants out. An even more intense boost of hydration is created by hyaluronic acid, while you’ll also experience smoothed skin, thanks to mamaku black fern that increases cell turnover. All of these natural ingredients may sound overwhelming, but they come together to create a buttery soft moisturiser designed to care for sensitive, dry skin.
6. The Repairing Lip Balm
Product Pick: Florena Intense Hydration Lip Butter
Sustainable Checklist:
✓ Vegan
✓ Cruelty-free
✓ 100% natural formula
✓ Eco-conscious packaging
Why You’ll Love It: Another dry skin saviour from Florena, the Lip Butter is a must-have for dry, chapped lips. The lip balm is rich and creamy, but it doesn’t leave a sticky residue or a shiny finish.
If you’re currently experiencing chapped lips (cold weather is known to wreak havoc on lips), then you’ll love this balm as it reverses damage using omega 6 and 9. As an extra bonus, it features antibacterial olive oil to keep your newly soft and hydrated lips protected.
In my view, the Florena Lip Butter is ideal to use as an overnight treatment, but I also love applying it before lipstick as a natural hydrating base.
7. The Hair-Reviving Shampoo Bar
Product Pick: L’Occitane Intensive Repair Solid Shampoo
Sustainable Checklist:
✓ Vegan
✓ Cruelty-free
✓ 99% natural biodegradable formula
✓ Eco-conscious packaging
Why You’ll Love It: Although L’Occitane is best known for being a luxury bath and body brand, they also offer a few sustainable hair care options. One of my personal favourites is the Repair Solid Shampoo, which strengthens fragile and damaged hair whilst gently cleansing your scalp. Essential oils and provitamin B5 make up an anti-breakage complex, helping to protect your newly nourished locks. I personally love double cleansing my oily scalp, but still want to protect the drier parts of my hair, so this nourishing formula is ideal.
The shampoo bar leaves your scalp feeling clean and refreshed – and, once you try a shampoo bar format, I think you’ll be hooked – especially if you’re trying to be more sustainable with your hair care routine.
8. The Silky-Smooth Hair Treatment
Product Pick: Klorane Mango Nourishing Leave-In Cream For Dry Hair
Sustainable Checklist:
✓ Vegan
✓ Cruelty-free
✓ 97% natural formula
✓ Eco-conscious packaging
Why You’ll Love It: The entire Klorane Mango range is designed to hydrate dry hair, but the Klorane Mango Nourishing Leave-In Cream particularly stands out as a dry hair saviour.
Housed in a 50% recycled design, one squeeze of cream locks in nourishment and creates a protective layer over every strand. The lightweight cream won’t compromise on your hair’s volume, but instead adds a hydrated silky-smooth feeling so your hair can shine and bounce. Plus, its juicy mango scent is divine – and yes, it’ll linger lightly for you to enjoy it throughout the day.
9. The Intensely Hydrating Hair Treatment
Product Pick: Philip Kingsley Elasticizer Extreme Rich Deep-Conditioning Treatment
Sustainable Checklist:
✓ Cruelty-free
✓ Eco-conscious packaging
✓ CO2 Negative
Why You’ll Love It: The Elasticiser is renowned for being the hair saviour for the stars – in particular, the legendary Audrey Hepburn, Philip Kinglsey’s hair muse.
The Elasticizer Extreme is an even more nourishing version of the original treatment, which is designed to bring extremely dry hair back to life. Hydrolysed elastin strengthens each individual hair strand, preventing future breakage whilst nourishing, softening and repairing previously damaged tresses.
If you want to transform dry unhappy locks so they’re shiny and frizz-free, all you need is 10 minutes once a week – or you can leave it in overnight as a hair mask, if you’d prefer. The intensely nourishing formula is housed in an eco-conscious design: every Philip Kingsley product is made from waste-reducing materials, such as sugar cane bioplastic or post-consumer recycled materials.
Over to you…
We’d love to know what you think of our more sustainable picks over on our socials – tag @escentual on Instagram.
Discover More:
11 Sustainable Beauty Favourites To Make Your Skin And Hair Glow
The Sustainability Series – Escentual’s Sustainable Processes
