Noami is an eco-advocate and sustainability consultant that has spent the past three years living on the road with her husband Dustin, travelling around in their 1985 VW van. She shares their journey on instagram, with stories about van life, tips about navigating it, and advice on reducing waste. She also speaks a lot about being a woman of colour on the road, and has a strong voice about bringing diversity to the van life community.
She first caught my eye last year when I saw a post she wrote with a no-waste recipe for banana peels (with curry, coconut milk + other spices in case you’re wondering) and I had to follow along! If I ever get to travel on the road one day, I think I’m actually pretty covered now with a lot of things she has shared.
Read on for a little post she wrote with one of her zero waste recipes for turning used coffee grounds into an all natural face scrub.
“Little choices add up. Don’t underestimate your impact.
I’ve been making my own skincare products in the van for more than a year now.
My favorite: coffee scrub.
Tossing away perfectly good coffee grounds really grinds me. So I started saving our used grounds in a repurposed jar.
Here’s my simple van-java scrub recipe:
First I dry the grounds in the sun to remove excess water (this keeps it from molding too quickly). Sometimes I add a little coconut oil and a few drops of tea tree or lavender essential oil.
I try not to use too much oils or other ingredients because our plumbing is not contained, so everything washes to the ground. We keep a fine mesh strainer in the sink to catch food scraps, including coffee grounds. Everything from the strainer goes into the compost bag.
Over the years I’ve spent thousands of dollars on skincare products, unaware of the chemicals I was slathering on my skin. Y’all, the beauty industry is flawed. Many brands masquerade as “natural” and “safe” but their products are toxic & has pesky microbes (that are actually plastics).
Do me a favor. Go take a look at the products in your bathroom. Do you know what’s in them? Our skin is the largest organ in our body, capable of absorbing toxins straight into the bloodstream. Think about that… Also, how are they packaged? Are they in disposable plastic, creating more and more waste?
Since living in the van I’ve reflected a lot on what skincare, health & beauty means to me. Bottom line, if I can’t eat it, I won’t put it on my skin. Making my own skincare products has given me full control and knowledge of what goes in and what stays out, making my skincare regiment uncompromised.
Better for me, better for Mama ?”
