Project Pan

Alright, I'm gonna get really honest here...and since this is a no judgement zone, I feel pretty safe letting the cat out of the bag.  I have a problem.  You can find it overflowing my bathroom drawers, on my bathroom counter, and even in my children's bathroom.  The problem is an over abundance of 'beauty' products.  Too many lotions, too much soap, maybe even too much makeup.   I know I'm not alone in this.  In fact, I would be willing to bet that at least half of american women my age have the same issue.   You may be wondering why, and I'll probably sound like most guilty parties when I say,

"It really isn't my fault!"  

I blame it on one thing:  I'm a girl.  That means that regularly, and for as long as I can remember, people have thought I stink.  At least that's what I assume, based on the gift giving nature of a lot of people towards women.  Lotion, soap, perfume, body wash, more lotion, the list could go on.  I realize that hearts are in the right place, but it can get frustrating.  

Okay, maybe I'm not taking on enough of the blame.  

I do like to occasionally buy my own lotion, and I'll admit that I have a really hard time leaving those little travel size bottles in hotel rooms, and maybe I have a hard time throwing out 'useable' product. Well, It's starting to sound like I may have more to do with this problem than I originally let on.  

Either way it isn't pretty.

It looks something like this:

and this:

and this:

Oh lordy, and even this:

Wow, now that I feel as if I've aired my dirty laundry in public, lets go about finding a way to help solve this problem.  

That's where Project Pan comes in.  

I recently stumbled upon someone blogging about Project Pan (I wish I could remember who it was because I would happily give them credit) but I had no idea what it was.  Turns out it's a whole movement devoted to women (or I suppose men) paring down their beauty supplies by using up products they currently own (no waste).  Sounded great, but I needed a way to keep myself accountable for this...that's where this blog comes in.

Honestly, when I actually sat down to start this, it felt a little overwhelming to look at my beauty stash.  I decided I needed a place to start.  I knew I would feel better about it if I could see measurable progress, so I went with the area where I use the most product:  lotion.  

I have so many, and I decided the best thing I could do was to gather all of the lotions up and actually see what I was dealing with.  Here's the result:

It may look like a small picture, but let me tell you...That is A LOT of lotion and moisturizer!  Believe it or not I actually found about three more bottles after I took this picture...yikes!!  No one should have that much.  

So the plan is that I'm going to start with one, use it until it's gone, then move on to the next one. I'll give updates along the way as well as reviews about some of the products (is it something I would purchase again?).  If it's a product that I end up absolutely hating, I'll just toss it and let you know, but I'm hoping to have as little waste as possible.

If you want to join with me on this project let me know.  I'd love to have some company along the way.  Wish me luck...and less lotion.