Healthy and Ethical Alternatives to Bath & Body Works — Updated for 2022
You don’t have to give up your favorite scents to be a sustainable shopper
Bath & Body Works is such a tempting mall staple, luring you in with its siren smell. But if you’re trying to replace BBW with products that are more thoughtful, natural, and eco-friendly, there are tons of great ethical brands that can scratch the same itch.
Before we dig into the list, if you like learning about brands that are changing the way the world does business, want to be the first to know about new arrivals on DoneGood, and get exclusive discounts delivered right to your inbox, sign up for email from DoneGood below. We'll start you off with over a dozen ways to save on ethically-made products!
Now, let's get into it...
Candles
If you’re as much of a candle lover as I am, you know that there’s always room for more, no matter how many you already have hidden away at home!You may want to clear out some storage space, though, because when it comes to non-toxic, soy candles, there are tons of great ethical brands to shop.
One of my favorites is Prosperity Candle—they're natural and hand-poured in the USA by fairly-employed refugees. Their essential oil candles also have a variety of beautiful scents, and the containers are so pretty you’ll want to repurpose all of them.
You'll also want to check out Nourish & Refine for eco-friendly candles that smell great and are made to keep the calm in your home. All their products are made with five ingredients or fewer!
And if you'd rather get your scents from oils, make sure you check out Savhera. Their pure, organic essential oils help provide dignified employment for survivors of sexual exploitation around the world. You're sure to find what you're looking for with their variety of scents and diffusers.
Body Wash
Another one of Bath & Body Works’ most popular products is its body wash. Luckily, sustainable switches for natural body wash are just as easy to come by.
Check out our whole collection of natural body washes here. We've got all kinds of products that keep you clean and do good for people and planet—including completely zero-waste options from Plaine Products, plus plenty more natural and sustainably made choices!
Hand Soap
If you're a fan of Bath & Body Work's foaming hand soap, you'll love Hand in Hand Soap's foaming soap. They also have great liquid hand soap options, including their Cactus Blossom scent, which is similar to the BBW scent of the same name.
When you buy soap of any scent from Hand in Hand, your purchase enables them to donate one bar of soap and one month’s worth of clean water to a child in need. And rest assured, their products are 100% palm oil-free!
Meliora also has foaming hand soap tablets. They're non-toxic, vegan, plastic and palm oil-free. They come as tiny tablets that are super low waste, and they're more affordable than BBW!
Lotion
Teadora’s Wild Superfood Beauty Butter is a great choice if you want a high-quality, vegan, cruelty-free skincare product. This lotion comes in an unscented version, a coco-vanilla scent, and a citrus scent.
Hand Sanitizer
Our collection features both both spray hand sanitizer by Teadora, and gel hand sanitizer from Hand in Hand.
We've also got several zero-waste hand sanitizers from Plaine Products.
Gifts
Even if you’re not a big fan of Bath & Body Works products yourself, it can be a tempting place to buy gifts, especially if you’re desperately scrambling through the mall at the last second before dinner with your significant other’s parents.
But with a little foresight and planning, you can get any recipient a more unique, ethical gift.
Check out Nourish & Refine for a variety of preselected, beautifully-packaged gift sets that anyone would love. You can’t go wrong!
Check out more ethical alternatives on our site:
- Alternatives to Victoria's Secret
- Ethical Alternatives to Madwell
- Ethical and Sustainable Alternatives to J.Crew
Kayla Robbins
DoneGood Contributor
A freelance writer working with bighearted businesses who want to better our world.
I love the way the article is written. Thank you for posting it.
Interesting and useful list of products alternative to bath and body works. Good read!
I love the reason this article was written and did find the products introduced helpful in my search for a more environmentally friendly soap/lotion/fragrance. I do have a question regarding the Nourish & Refine facial sprays. Since they all come with pieces of quartz/amethyst/stone what would we do with them once the product is used? I understand the benefits of the stones but I worry about creating more waste with the plastic bottle as well as the stones.
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