You can green up your daily beauty routine by making a few simple changes that will save you money and help the environment. A lot of these items can be found in your local grocery store and are products you may already have at home. Americans spend a fortune on beauty products that contain all kinds of chemicals in them when more eco-friendly, less expensive beauty products will do the job just as well.

Help Reduce Plastic Waste by Using These Simple Household Beauty Products

For a brighter smile, try using baking soda. Buy a box specifically as your toothpaste and then just wet your toothbrush and pour some on. Baking soda is terrific at removing stains, and is a natural alternative to toothpaste. Many major brands of toothpaste contain chemicals like paraben, titanium dioxide for whitening, and high levels of fluoride. Since 1997, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has mandated all toothpastes containing fluoride to carry a poison warning. The cost of a box of baking soda is a lot less than a tube of toothpaste too!

Olive oil is beauty in a bottle and a bottle of extra-virgin olive oil has many uses! Instead of buying a bottle of eye makeup remover, try using a cotton pad dabbed with olive oil. It will take all your eye makeup off easily, and it's good for your skin. Rather than buying a scrub for your face, try mixing 1 tablespoon of sugar with 1 teaspoon of olive oil and lightly scrub your face. Remove with a warm, wet washcloth and see how smooth and moisturized your skin is.

Hot oil treatments are great for distressed hair. While badly damaged hair can only be cured by cutting it, dry hair can benefit from hot oil treatments. Try using one cup of rosemary to two cups of olive oil and heating it over the stove until it is warm, not hot, and comb it through your hair. You can leave it on as long as you like, and then rinse.

Instead of buying a bottle of clarifying shampoo for your hair, which has many harsh chemicals in it, try using apple cider vinegar as a hair rinse. Rinsing your hair with vinegar after shampooing leaves it shiny. For long hair, use 1/2 tablespoon of vinegar to 1 cup of water. Keep a small plastic container of vinegar in your shower. Next, recycle a small clear plastic bottle with a squirt top such as an empty shampoo bottle. Choose the amount of rinse you will need to make for your hair. Mark the vinegar line and water line on your bottle. Now you can pour in the vinegar and add warm water from your shower and squirt the rinse on your hair!

Go to Treehugger.com to Learn How to Go Green with Beauty Products

Baking soda, olive oil, sugar and apple cider vinegar can all be purchased at the grocery store, so you can use your reusable grocery bags to take it all home in. Keep reusable shopping bags in your car so that you always have one available for spur of the moment shopping trips. For even more natural ways to green up your beauty routine, go to Treehugger.com.