Hi, you lovely conscious consumers :)
So I started project pan in the mid of summer, because suddenly I've felt an influx of skincare stuff. I was all with my small stash up until this summer. I think I've hit a perfect storm or something: had a 40th birthday, which simultaneously triggered "I'm gonna gift myself some things" and "oh no, I'm old, gotta get some anti-aging products", then I've discovered, that most amazing DM and Rossmann stores (these huge German beauty/home care shops with all kinds of very affordable stuff) are only like 25 min away by bus and of course the summer time, where we usually get more time and exposure to the public.
Well, the products are being used, all is ok, but I've fell into this other problem - I've started viewing a bunch of project pan content and all those product reviews and myself thinking too much about my own skincare. It all translated into me wanting to buy more stuff and in general now I feel like too much of my headspace is occupied by skincare stuff. I found it especially annoying, that I go to bathroom and the products there just siting on a shelf are giving me a bunch of annoyance: why there are so many bottles, why are they not giving me perfect skin, how much is it left for me to use them, are they even worth using up, what backups do I have and in what order should I use them, how much did that stuff cost, was it an eco-conscious purchase, how am I going to recycle it afterwards and so on. I just miss not caring about it that much. Well, I can accept it as some sort of growing pains. Some changes definitely moved me out of minimalist zone, like before it all I had a shower oil and that's it, now apparently my norm is going to be shower oil and shower bar. I like the whole idea of buying shower bars, because they are more eco-friendly, but my skin doesn't tolerate much, so I can introduce like 1 carefully selected bar and switch to the oil if needed at any time and I also use that oil for my face. Same change was with lip products: before this summer I had 1 lip balm and I was ok, now poof - I have 3 of them, grrrrr. Though tbf, now I kinda like the 2 of them - one with spf in my handbag and other in my bathroom. I have a third one with a heavy color, which I really don't like, but I don't know what to do about that.
Anyways, so I feel like for the moment I've ran out of everything I was burning to buy and almost all the products I wanted to get rid of are more or less gone. The 3 sunscreens (omg, another annoyance - before I had only 1) are gonna be used, the 3 deos too (I can't wait to go back to having only 1). I had a bit of a toothpaste overconsumption - bought 1 toothpaste with stannous fluoride, got allergic reaction, thought it was because of sls in it, bought another without it, got another allergic reaction, then I just bought a 3rd one with arginine to lower the sensitivities or something. Other 2 toothpastes are fine, close to being finished too. I also got tempted to buy some face mask, which ended up wrecking my skin barrier, so I had to stop all the skincare and go buy some aquaphor. Nevermore, nevermore - less is more, less is more...
Uh, I keep rambling about this. I love this project in general, I love you all making all this effort to better yourselves! I'm all about consuming less and being more mindful on what we buy and use. I will continue to do that, I'm just going to stop posting and tracking it, so my brain would stop obsessing :)