I have said this many times but non-toxic skincare is a major passion of mine. Unfortunately, the beauty industry in the US is a JOKE. The list of ingredients that can be put into beauty products is appalling. To give you an understanding of how bad it is, the US has 9 banned chemicals/ingredients for cosmetic purposes. Europe has over 1,400 banned ingredients. In 1938, the US put federal cosmetic laws in place and the list of banned ingredients hasn’t changed much since. It’s just infuriating. Maybe you are wondering why is this so important? Well let me enlighten you.

Since there are hardly any regulations on ingredients in the cosmetic industry, pretty much anything and everything can be put into beauty products. Chemicals that cause cancer, make your skin irritated and cause acne, disrupt your endocrine system, and cause imbalance in your hormones. Let’s not forget your endocrine system influences sleep, mood, sexual function, metabolism, just to name a few. And while it may seem insignificant, think about all the products you use on a daily basis.

For the average woman, there’s body wash, shampoo and conditioner, moisturizer, facial cleanser, deodorant, makeup, facial serum, the list goes on. So just think about how all of those products are impacting your system. I’ve said this 25646416854 times, your skin is your biggest organ. So whatever you are putting onto it is going straight into your bloodstream. You could improve your hormone regulation, sleep, mood, brain fogginess, sex life, and many other things that may be negatively impacting your life by just cleaning up your beauty products!

Before we get into the resources for clean beauty, let’s talk products:

Now you may be like me when I first started switching my chemical-filled products to non-toxic ones, where do you start your clean beauty journey? While I am on the topic of “non-toxic,” let’s just take a little detour for a moment. Do not be fooled by the “natural,” “clean,” “non-toxic,” “organic” labels on the market. Since the regulations for the cosmetic industry are so bad, any company can slap one of these labels on their products but it doesn’t actually mean it’s free of chemicals. One ingredient can be organic but the whole product can be marketed as an organic product. So do not go by that.

Okay back to addressing the question on where to start. I’ve had so many questions about this. Isn’t non-toxic expensive, how do I know if I am buying chemical-free products, do I have to throw out all my products out at once? So let’s go through all these questions. First off, some non-toxic products can be more expensive. However, if you don’t have the extra money in your budget or you don’t want to spend a lot extra on skincare that is totally fine. There are some great non-toxic skincare lines on the market that are super affordable and still amazing products.

Some of my personal favorite affordable skincare lines are:

• Acure  – I’ve used this line for years and it is fantastic. Their most expensive items are $20 
• The Honest Company – Not only do they have great facial cleanses, oils, etc. but their makeup is on point! The mascara and blush are fantastic. 
• CocoKind  – It’s always hard to just pick one thing from this company because everything is so enticing! I swear by their revitalizing eye cream. They also have an overnight moisturizing face mask that feels like silk on your face. My husband also uses their products. And they sell makeup! 

I’m sure there are many more affordable non-toxic skincare lines on the market that I just haven’t found yet! Before I go any further, I’d like to preface that I am not sponsored by any of the resources I am sharing with you. There are just three recourses that I use to keep my life non-toxic, so I hope it helps yours too!

Do I throw out all my skincare products at once?

The answer is, it’s totally up to you! Throwing out all your skincare products at once can be daunting and expensive (trust me, I took this approach). So if you want to do a more gradual approach, start with a few products that you use the most. Then progressively make changes a little bit at a time. Maybe start with skincare first, then go on to haircare, then cleaning products. Or whatever order you want. The important part is that you are taking the steps to change!

How do I know if I am buying chemical-free products?

There are several resources I have found over the years that helps me determine if a product I am buying is actually non-toxic.

First, the Think Dirty app is my go-to every time I want to try a new product.

It’s free and all you have to do is type in your product or scan the barcode and it ranks the product on a 0-10 scale, 10 being full of chemicals. It will also tell you what chemicals make it toxic. It’s my personal favorite and it only takes a minute to look. If you are wanting to find a particular clean beauty product, for instance, a new nail polish, it also has sections where you can search for all different brands of nail polish and their ratings.

The second resource is the Environmental Working Group.

Just go to the website, and click the EWG Verified tab. It pulls up different tabs you can search for non-toxic products. Anything from makeup, skin care, hair care, cleaning products, baby care, pretty much everything. This website also rates on a 10 point scale, 10 being the highest for toxins. Everything is extremely detailed and will back up research for different health concerns caused by certain ingredients.

The third resource I could spend hours down a rabbit hole looking at this website. It’s called the Detox Market.

This website has makeup artists, estheticians, naturopaths, and nutritionists who work together and research every ingredient in each product that is sold. The website has a banned ingredient list that is public and all the products they sell are cruelty free. The banned list shows each ingredient and what the potential health concern is and what products you can typically find it in (example: sunscreen, shampoo, etc). Detox Market sells over 100 different brands that are all free of harsh chemicals and additives. This is a great website to shop from if you don’t want to have to do your own research for clean beauty because it’s already done for you. So you already know that it is non-toxic (truly non-toxic) when purchasing.

I hope all of these resources for clean beauty help you in your clean beauty and non-toxic journey. And speaking of non-toxic, I have to mention my all time FAVORITE brand that sells just about anything, Primally Pure. From deodorant, to bath salts, face serums, to the best body butter you will EVER use (it smells like cake, YES PLEASE) they sell it all. (And whyyy not throw in another bonus: you can save 10% when you enter HEALTHYHIPPIE to checkout!)

Reference:

Faber, S. (2019, March 20). On Cosmetics Safety, U.S. Trails More Than 40 Nations. Environmental Working Group. https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/cosmetics-safety-us-trails-more-40-nations