I ran a sustainable general store for 3 years. Here's what's actually "good" 💡
A little inside baseball on what actually works well and what I buy again now that I am so incredibly burnt out of the eco-universe.
As usual, when I write something fun, the post is too long for Gmail. Click here to view it in your browser and to actually get to enjoy it as I hoped! 🌸
Did you know that before I started a sustainable marketplace, I actually just wrote a newsletter identical to this one about what sustainable new products actually worked and which was a total waste of money or complete greenwashing? It was called Eco Bitch (that was supposed to be funny) and boy, don’t I wish I just continued with that instead of trying to start a store. (That said, I love store. I will probably try to open several other stores in my lifetime, so take everything I say about hating it with a grain of salt.)
After I parted ways with my business, I needed a break from being the sustainability czar. So much of the brand was built around this idea that there is so much inherent shame in the sustainability conversation— the guilt that you feel for using all this plastic, for participating in a broken system or a culture of more, more, more. It does not really inspire you to want to do better, and it is not set up to make it easy for you to do better. Add in the shame that I felt as the founder of that movement for every misstep I made— every plastic coffee cup, every time I forgot a reusable bag— I was looking over my shoulder, ready to be cancelled.
In the year since I walked away, it’s felt like a huge release to get to be a normal person. There will be no public shaming or punishment when I buy a box of Ziploc bags to marinate chicken in. I can buy liquid shampoo again instead of needing to use shampoo bars. I have not been consistent about composting. My sponge has microplastics in it. It’s felt like complete hedonism, to shop how I want now that I no longer feel like my consumption is emblematic of my value as a person, leader, or business owner. Now that I’ve had that release, I’m beginning to get to the point where I incorporate sustainability back into my consumption— but now in the ways that work best for me. I’m not going to lie to you— this is a huge challenge in our household, since I chose to partner with a person who is completely unwilling to use any products that aren’t made by Procter & Gamble. He will not use toilet paper unless they cut down the entire Amazon to make it. He will not let anything other than Colgate touch his pearly whites. He wants to eat yogurt out of individually packaged plastic cups. Between us, it’s been hard. The concept I chafed so hard against, bet my life savings on, worked my ass off to prove wrong stares me in the face every single day in my kitchen, bathroom, and living room: you can’t change people.
But for those of you are ready, willing to try: we did attempt to test every single thing we sold at Goldune, upwards of 500 brands. (Not even 500 products, 500 brands!) What is actually good? What would I buy again, now that the sight of so many things that remind of Goldune make me instantly nauseous? What were we dying to carry that we couldn’t get our hands on?
I am triggering myself today in hopes this may be helpful to you somewhere, sometime. 🫡
Guests on Earth Reusable & Refillable Hand Soap, $18: this was the only soap refill system that I actually liked. It smelled good and I liked the bottle. I actually still buy and use these when I am not using my not-at-all sustainable favorite very expensive soap and dish soap from celebrity (Courteney Cox!) owned brand, Homecourt. (Listen, I can’t recommend Homecourt enough. It’s so good.)
[Editor’s note: since I wrote this, I’ve really been into Element Brooklyn’s refills! They’re “dupes” of fancier fragrances, like Aesop or Loewe, but in sustainable form. It bridges the gap between the elevated feeling of Homecourt and the sustainable qualities I loved in Guests on Earth.]
Dip Shampoo & Conditioner Bars, $24-$32: these actually are as good as I said they were the whole time I marketed them at Goldune. Long, thick, wavy color-treated hair is my signature, and this is the only shampoo & conditioner bar that actually worked for me. They last for about 6 months— the $ savings there are pretty real.
Saltair Hydrating Shampoo & Conditioner, $10-$15: when I did decide to take a break from bar shampoo, I compromised on this aluminum shampoo & conditioner system. The price is right, formula works great, and I like that the packaging can be more efficiently and reliably recycled than plastic. (Fun fact: aluminum is probably the most “sustainable” packaging material out there, unlike plastic it can almost always be recycled, and many times. Choose aluminum, and remember that plastic pumps— like the ones above— can essentially never be recycled and are pretty awful for the planet. Yes aluminum, no pumps. ✅ )
Soft Services Buffing Bar & Soap Home, $28-$64: one of the hosts of my favorite podcasts (Annie Kreighbaum of Eyewitness Beauty) was the co-founder of Soft Services, and I love the care and detail she put into their packaging systems so that they could actually be sustainable. They don’t talk about or brag about sustainability enough as a brand, but the buffing bar is the single most effective body care product I’ve ever used in my life, and I keep buying it despite how expensive it feels for a bar. (It does last eons.)
Tache Original Pistachio Milk, $7-8: this is one thing I absolutely never stopped drinking, sustainability burnout be damned. It’s my favorite alt milk under the sun. Most importantly there’s no added vegetable oil. Not to fearmonger, but vegetable oil is killing Americans and your coffee with Oatly has the glycemic index of a medium McDonald’s fry. I have a metabolic disorder (PCOS girlies unite) so I have to be pretty militant about managing glucose. 🫡 If you must have an oat milk, please make it Willa’s! Zero waste, no canola oil.
Zero Acre Cultured Oil, $26.99: speaking of vegetable oil and its impact on the planet and our health span as a nation, the writer (Jeff Nobbs) whose longform series on vegetable oil and oat milk that I linked above actually went on to create an alternative. (I am a big fan of anyone who sees something terribly wrong with our lives/health/food and doesn’t just harp on it but actually goes out and does something about it.) I’ve used Zero Acre for shallow frying and deep frying. It’s expensive and I don’t buy it as regularly as I should but I do feel strongly that this is the alternative that everyone should have access to. I love their approach of going big: they’ve partnered with Chipotle and Shake Shack to begin to try to get vegetable oils out of American food at scale.
[Editor’s note: since I wrote this, Algae Cooking Club has launched with an identical product at a cheaper price point and with more distribution, at least where I live. I opt for Algae now and can use a sustainable seed oil free cooking fat more often! You can use code FIRSTRODEO20 for 20% off orders on Algae’s website.]
Chunks Clips, $8-40: these are simply the best clips. They have a size, color and pattern for everyone, and the quality is phenomenal. I have a bunch of their Nimbus Claw clips from years ago that I’ve put through hell during some active summers at the beach that look brand new despite being knocked around in my bike basket or crushed by a heavy water bottle in my purse.
Plant Paper Bleach-Free Bamboo Toilet Paper, $37: the two men I’ve lived with in the last 10 years—my dad and my boyfriend—will launch a full scale resistance anytime I try to bring a better-for-you-and-the-planet toilet paper into play. This doesn’t make sense since I use more toilet paper than they do, I am a person who pees sitting down. When I am alone and am allowed to rule the roost with no mutinous toilet paper orderers sharing my dwelling, this is always my first choice. Good quality (not 1-ply!) and really sleek design-forward packaging.
OverExposed Recycled Beach Towels & Umbrellas, $59-$159: these were my absolute favorite to sell and buy. They’re so fun. I love this brand. My boyfriend still keeps trying to use my OverExposed beach towels as shower towels, which is really driving me crazy. They’re for the beach!!! We have inside towels!! This newsletter really turned into a smear campaign against living with boys. I’m sorry, João. Anyways, if you need beach supplies, buy these, you won’t regret it.
[Editor’s note: from reading this letter back I can really tell that we had not yet settled into the groove of living together, had we? It’s all fine now.]
🫶🏽 Honorable mention 🫶🏽
If you’re shopping for home, there are beautiful things to be found at Ferm Living, Atelier Saucier, Graf Lantz, with varying degrees of “sustainability.”
In the beauty and skincare space, the two brands I consistently re-order from and admire are Experiment Beauty (the Super Saturated Serum— code AZORA10 for a discount) and Dieux Skin. Everist also makes waterless haircare that you can buy at Whole Foods. I haven’t had success with the conditioner, but I hear the scalp scrub is good. [Editor’s note: these days I use Roz’s refillable aluminum shampoo and conditioner bottles. The formula is salon-quality, but I love that I can buy refills.]
Of all the toothpastes I’ve tried in tablet form (reader: there were MANY!!) Huppy is the only I’d ever buy or use again. (I did use it for quite a long time.) David and team are really amazing and it makes me happy to see them growing!
My friends used to tease me because I used a safety razor for the longest time to cut back on plastic waste and I was so fucking bad at shaving with it that I would regularly scar myself with these deep, kind of scary cuts— I’m going to level with you now and tell you that I use a Billie plastic razor with refillable plastic heads. I’m sorry. I have since worked with Leaf Shave, and they make an incredible product. It’s pricy, but I heartily recommend it! They were way too popular for us to get it in stock at Goldune at the time, I wish we had.
Food Huggers and silicone lids are just handy to store leftovers, whether you care about sustainability or not. My friend/former coworker Kristina Wasserman worked on the best silicone lids when we were at Food52, but they’ve since discontinued them— a shame, since they sold well and were beautiful! If interesting to you, you might try our former partners over at GIR, who still seem to make similar lids, despite getting acquired by Pattern Brands a while back. [Editor’s note: I now work for the founder of GIR, who also developed those Food52 lids for/with Kristina. Life is so funny.]
Plastic-free hairbands from Terra Ties that actually feel just like the normal kind.
Shit I will never bother with again
Sponge cloths. I’m sorry for telling you these were good, I hate them now. If I’m honest, I always hated them, but I wanted to be the kind of person who liked them.
Beeswax wrap. It’s cute, but it doesn’t work that well. (Try Great Wrap instead, they’re Australian and so cool and I love their founder, Julia, who is also incredibly cool.)
Reusable paper towels. These are just bigger white sponge cloths. (I just use kitchen towels and have recycled paper towels on hand for the things that really fucking necessitate paper towels— let’s be real, there are times you need something disposable. Dog vomit is a great example.)
“On the go” utensil kits. I don’t actually find that I am “on the go” and needing a spork all that often…
Did you like this? I had more but Substack wanted me to make my email shorter. If you vibed, do let me know and I will do a part 2, happily and with pleasure. And if you have more questions, comments, or things I can be helpful with having been a shopkeep in my past life, please do let me know. xx
would love to see a part 2!!
I really admire you. I was a huge fan of Goldune. I love your recommendations! Keep them coming please :)