Eco Essentials You’ll Actually Use: Shade Rayz & ChicoBag

Reusable, reef-friendly, recycled products are in. Together Shade Rayz and ChicoBag are your way to lifestyle and environmental sustainability. From sunscreen to reusable shopping bags, you can find your perfect way to a cleaner lifestyle, whether it's an everyday lip balm or a reusable shopping tote bag. Just by using your everyday household products, you can build a better lifestyle where just making that small change makes all the difference.

Shade Rayz was started by Kristen Kelly, who was inspired by her breast cancer journey. While loving to spend time in the outdoors, Kristen had to be conscious of the chemicals her body was absorbing when finding the right products to care for her skin in the sun. And with Kristen never finding the right product that fit best for her, she decided to create her own product to check off all the criteria on her list for sun care. Shade Rayz is committed to the healing power of nature, and that all starts with you. 

Every day sun protection does not have to be complicated. Find it all in one place at Shade Rayz. Shade Rayz products you will find anti-aging products, hyaluronic acid, with a selection of moisturizing or mineral sunscreen. This is perfect for anyone who may have sensitive skin and is having a hard time finding products that will work with sensitive skin types. Our sunscreen is formulated without parabens, oxybenzone, or octinoxate ingredients commonly linked to skin irritation and environmental harm. Your lips need sun protection, too. Lip care deserves just as much attention as the rest of your skin. Shade Rayz moisturizing lip balm with SPF 15 is the best way to make your lips look and feel great. With all-natural ingredients, you can choose from 8 different scents for your lip balm. You get the great feeling of the great scent all in one. 

Founded by Andy Keller, ChicoBag is on a mission to lead in corporate sustainability. From taking a trip to a landfill in 2004, the amount of single-use bags in the field is what really encouraged Andy to start this business. He was horrified by the large amount and wanted to start making a change with himself first to move away from single-use plastic bags. He bought a second-hand sewing machine and looked back. ChicoBag strives to make high-quality, long-lasting reusable bags along with cutlery and containers. Finding ways to get rid of single-use products is what helps the environment. ChicoBag is eco-friendly and won't live in the ocean for thousands of years. 

Together with To-Go Ware, the brand is dedicated to protecting the planet from pollution and preserving its beauty for future generations. Giving high-quality, eco-friendly bags and products is a must. From Bags to containers, shopping for your sustainable products can be made easy and into one online trip at ChicoBag. ChicoBag uses recycled and waterless dyed materials; all ChicoBag products are made with rePETe fabric, which comes from 100% recycled plastic bottles. Their Refine waterless dyeing process saves a ton of resources—using 89% less water, 63% less CO₂, and 60% less energy than traditional dyeing. Plus, many of their bags include other recycled materials like carabiners, webbing, cords, and cord locks, making it easy to feel good about the products you use every day. 

How to Build Your Eco-Friendly Routine Without Overthinking It:

Wanting to add sustainability to your everyday routines is not something that will take a drastic life change. Once you start the routine of using sustainable products, it becomes the norm. Going to the grocery store and bringing your reusable bag to bag up your stuff every day starts the small change to more. It saves plastic waste every time you use a reusable bag. The convenient use of the bag is the start of the consistency of using it every day. Building the habit of choosing these eco-friendly products when shopping for your everyday items, such as sunscreen or utensils.

• Starting with the small swaps, changing out your products little by little, that feel manageable enough for you to start out with. Give yourself room to slowly start adding different aspects into your routine to help you create one to fit into your life.   

• Making sustainability convenient, to make everything easier on yourself, to achieve the goal of an eco-friendly routine. Stick to areas where you can have easy access to what you need at the time. Like keeping your bags or lip balm in your car or in a bag/purse that you take everywhere with you. So everything you need is just in reach when needed. 

• Choosing products designed for long-term use. When looking for the right products, look at the details on it and the long-term waste reduction over time. Pick the right item that is made to last longer and have more of a longer shelf life than a product that is a one-time use. This supports a more sustainable consumption cycle. 

• Focusing on Consistency over perfection, the more progress you make, the better. Working on consistency over perfection is how you start the trend and make your routine catered to you, but also start to work and be something that becomes everyday life. Consistency choosing the better choices when you can, even if it is not every single time, is something easier to maintain than building a perfect routine that is harder to follow because it's something you either have not been built up to or just too out of the norm for you to be able to follow. 

• Being mindful of consumption, be mindful of your choices by buying less and picking eco-friendly products that can be used in your sustainable lifestyle. These are two key parts to building your eco-friendly routine. As long as you think about what you are buying and support brands that make it their mission to put out products that are good for the environment, you will be able to achieve your goal of building an eco-friendly routine.

• Long-term thinking, what you will get from an eco-friendly routine is something that will be with you in the long run. Sustainability is what helps protect natural resources and put out the idea of a healthier environment for years to come and generations in the future. Creating a routine and building it into everyday habits is what creates meaningful and useful change for the future. 
  

How Shade Rayz and ChicoBag Support Health and the Environment

Cleaner ingredients and materials used in both Shade Rayz and ChicoBag products are what make them so healthy for personal use and better for our environment. Shade Rayz offers sunscreen and lip balm that are reef-friendly and vegan, recyclable aluminium bottle, paraben, oxybenzone & octinoxate free, along with a non-aerosol spray. This all protects the skin from extra chemicals, sun damage, and reduces environmental impact. ChicoBag provides products such as reusable bags, totes, utensils, and containers that help single use plastic waste, reducing plastic waste equals reducing pollution. Together Shade Rayz and ChicoBag show the support and how important it is to use materials and ingredients in their products that are better for people. Whether it is for someone personally or it just benefits our environment. They care for both you and our environment, which go hand in hand in creating healthier routines, eco-friendly lifestyles, and having people stop and think about being more mindful as to what they are buying.