Plastic free moisturiser: what it is and how to use one

Most moisturiser is water. A cream or lotion is mostly water held together with emulsifiers. That is why it needs a jar or a pump, and why the jar is usually plastic.

Take the water out and the jar has nothing to do. What is left is the part that moisturises: oils, butters and squalane, pressed into a bar you can hold. That is our Moisturising Facial Balm, made in the UK. It lives in a bamboo pot and arrives in a card box you can compost. A 50g bar lasts eight to ten weeks used every day, which works out at 40 to 50p a day.

What plastic free moisturiser actually means

“Plastic free” gets used loosely. A glass jar with a plastic lid is not plastic free. A recyclable tube is still plastic. A refill pouch is a plastic pouch.

Ours means three things. The bar has next to no water in it, so it needs no bottle to hold it together. The box and the paper wrap are card and paper: on a compost heap they are gone in about 90 days, and they go in the recycling if you have no heap. And the pot is bamboo, bought once with the Starter Kit and kept. After that you only ever buy the refill, which comes in the same card box.

So the product and its packaging contain no plastic, and the only thing you part with is a card box.

What is in it

Squalane, a stable form of an oil your skin already makes. Shea butter and glycerine to keep moisture in. Rosehip seed oil. The Moisturising Facial Balm absorbs quickly and is not greasy, and it is dermatologically approved for normal and sensitive skin. Vegan, and palm oil free.

If scent is a problem for your skin, the Fragrance Free Moisturising Facial Balm is the same bar without it.

How to use a solid moisturiser

It goes on dry skin, after cleansing with the Gentle Foaming Cleanser, morning and night.

1. Lift the bar out of the pot by its ribbon.
2. Warm it between your hands for a few seconds, until you feel it start to give.
3. Massage over your face with your hands.
4. Put the bar back in the pot. In the morning, SPF goes on after it.

The first time feels odd, because you are used to scooping. By the third day it is just how moisturiser works.

How long it lasts, and what it costs a day

Used daily, a 50g bar lasts eight to ten weeks. The refill is £28, so that is 40 to 50p a day, and all of it is moisturiser. None of it is water.

Keep it out of direct sunlight and somewhere cool, which is what the bamboo pot is for. Take the bar out to use it rather than rubbing the pot on your face. And because it is a solid, not a liquid, the pot goes in your hand luggage.

How it compares with a cream in a jar

A bar and a jar are not the same size of thing, so the fair comparison is price per gram and price per day.

	Price	Size	Per gram	What it comes in
SBTRCT Moisturising Facial Balm, refill	£28	50g	56p	Card box, compostable at home
SBTRCT Moisturising Facial Balm, Starter Kit	£36	50g	72p	Card box, plus the bamboo pot you keep

A premium face cream in a 50ml jar costs about what our Starter Kit costs, and, as with almost every cream, water is the first ingredient on its label. After the first pot you only buy the refill, which costs less than the jar and contains no water. Solid bars from the high street cost less again, but they are smaller and come without a tin or dish, so that is a separate buy.

Like for like, the plastic free option costs no more. That is not usually how it goes.

Which one to start with

The Moisturising Facial Balm Starter Kit is the bar and the bamboo pot. After that, the refill. The Fragrance Free version is the same, unscented. The Discovery Set, a mini of the balm and a mini of our Gentle Foaming Cleanser, is the way to try it first.

If you want more than a moisturiser, the Vitamin C Booster for the morning and the Rejuvenating Night Balm for the evening are made the same way, in the same pots. The whole range is here.

That is the whole thing. Made in the UK. One bar, one pot, and a box for the compost heap instead of a jar for the bin.

Figures from the product page, October 2026. Cost per day is the refill price divided by eight to ten weeks of daily use. The water content point is explained in Solid balm vs a cream or lotion.