These eco-friendly reusable cotton makeup remover pads are a great alternative to disposable ones.

My sister decided to go the cloth diaper route with Baby A. Since that decision, we’ve been trying to see how many things we can find a cloth alternate for. We’ve made the diapers, the diaper liners, the diaper inserts, baby wipes, nursing pads, and the only non-baby item, make-up remover pads.

With my current addiction to crocheting since learning back in January, my first resort is to find a solution that I can crochet. With my crochet hook set in hand, I set out on Pinterest to find some inspiration. I’ve seen a couple of pictures floating around Pinterest of nursing pads and makeup remover pads, but rather than use someone else’s pattern, I decided to stick with the basics of increasing I learned while making these adorable bunnies.

It didn’t take me long at all to whip up these adorable, reusable cotton makeup remover pads. They’re really quite a simple DIY – it’s just increasing around in a circle for four roads of crochet. I used a combination of double crochets and single crochet stitches for some variety in the circle.

I find the cotton yarn is the perfect texture for washing my face. My sister’s got me hooked on this Vichy 3-in-1 calming cleansing micellar solution. It cleanses, removes makeup, and soothes skin. I just squirt some on my reusable cotton pad, scrub my face, and toss the cotton pad into the little laundry bag I have hanging in my bathroom so they don’t get lost in the wash. Simple, easy, and effective!

One note – these reusable cotton makeup remover pads do shrink a little after you wash and dry them. So the pattern will seem a little bigger than your disposable cotton pads.

Materials:

• 5.5 mm crochet hook
• Bernat Handicrafter Cotton (I used white, off-white, and chamomile.)

Pattern for Reusable Cotton Makeup Remover Pad:

• Round 1: Crochet 6 sc in magic ring
• Round 2: [2dc in 2 st, 3dc in 1 st] Repeat twice. Sl st into first stitch.
• Round 3: Ch 2, dc in same stitch, 2dc in each stitch all the way around. Sl st into first stitch.
• Round 4: Ch 1, sc in same stitch, [1 sc, 2sc] all the way around. Sl st into first stitch and tie off.

One skein of yarn makes between 6-8 cotton pads. I’ve been using remaining skeins so I don’t have an accurate count yet!

Update from the future: Since publishing this post, I’ve learned if you stagger your double crochets, it will make a perfect circle instead of stacking them and having a little bit of a hexagon shape. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter which way you make them, but if you want a perfect circle, try staggering your double-crochets in Round 2-4.

What are some other eco-friendly options you’ve switched to?