Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
HEATWAVE HITS - help vendors work safely with a summer support kit
Buy a kit
Social Justice

Changemakers: Beauty Banks is solving hygiene poverty

With austerity hitting hard, Beauty Banks was established to fight hygiene poverty by redistributing cosmetics and hygiene products to charity

Beauty Banks

This week’s Changemakers Top 100 special edition features the world’s leading thinkers, shakers and agitators. Throughout the week we’ll be highlighting just a few online.

Beauty Banks was launched by journalist Sali Hughes and global director of beauty for PR firm The Communications Store, Jo Jones, last year. A charity running on a foodbank model, donations of essential care and cosmetic products are collected, repackaged and redistributed to charities who can ensure they end up in the hands of people who will benefit most.

Frustrated by seeing increasing waste and excessive luxury within the industry, Hughes and Jones set up the organisation, fighting hygiene poverty while many hit by austerity and Universal Credit have to choose between cleanliness and food.

Beauty Banks has also linked up with online cash-and-carry Easho to allow people to donate remotely – by buying products online to be sent straight to the charity. This year they want to encourage others to set up similar projects in their communities, meanwhile expanding their network of ‘beauty spot’ donation drop-off points across the country. To donate head to easho.co.uk/beauty-bank

Read the full article in this week's Big Issue.
Find your vendor
Days Out Guide

Image: Sali Hughes

Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty

Feeling the heat?

It's even tougher on the street. Could you buy a summer support kit for £35 to help vendors work safely in the sun?

Recommended for you

View all
Home Office extends 56-day refugee move-on period – but it doesn't go far enough, campaigners say
a tent on the street
Refugees

Home Office extends 56-day refugee move-on period – but it doesn't go far enough, campaigners say

DWP’s 'unhealthy' AI obsession is trapping people in poverty, Amnesty report finds
dwp
Artificial intelligence

DWP’s 'unhealthy' AI obsession is trapping people in poverty, Amnesty report finds

One in nine children hit by two-child benefit cap: 'The public will not stomach inaction'
A mother and three children.
Child poverty

One in nine children hit by two-child benefit cap: 'The public will not stomach inaction'

Meet the furious Gen Z protesters who want the super-rich to pay their fair share: 'We have a voice'
Protest

Meet the furious Gen Z protesters who want the super-rich to pay their fair share: 'We have a voice'

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know
4.

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know

Support our vendors with a subscription

For each subscription to the magazine, we’ll provide a vendor with a reusable water bottle, making it easier for them to access cold water on hot days.