How Toxic is your Beauty Routine?

How Toxic Is Your Beauty Routine?

Wondering where to start?! Here is a Cheat Sheet for you; Download now to snag your list of the TOP Ingredients to AVOID in your beauty products!
Want to find out what your hair needs?!Take this Quiz!

Hello Loves!!

I wanted to share with you today my journey into Non-Toxic Beauty Care. If any of you know me well enough, you know I certainly run a bit on what some might call ‘crunchy’ or ‘hippy’. My oldest brother called me a hippy ever since I can remember; and I honestly never really thought I was much of one; I just enjoy the natural things, like food I grow in my backyard, cloth diapers,  all natural skin care that I can read the ingredients, same with shampoo and laundry detergent etc. And yes my perfume of choice is Patchouli oil so maybe that is what makes my big brother and I different!

TOXIC FREE LIVING

Anyhow, I have to say that growing up we were a pretty natural based family; I think as I went into college and out on my own things changed a bit and I was not very aware of toxins in our foods or beauty products because I bought what was cheap and convenient at the local Target or Wal-Mart right?! Even in the last 10 years however things have certainly changed on the consumer side and the majority of products seem to be deemed unhealthy and hazards to our health! Which can be SO OVERWHELMING. I remember when I first started looking for a non-toxic deodorant...there were SO many out there, and I literally TRIED THEM ALL; even the crystal rock! (like really...does this REALLY work for some?! I”m so curious to know!) Anyhow I reached a point where nothing was working, I smelled all the time (being pregnant and postpartum for the last 4 years (I am pregnant with my 4th currently) I literally said SCREW IT and legit stopped wearing deodorant all together!

So if you are still reading this I really DO want to encourage you to hang in there if you are in the process of purging all your toxic chemicals out of the house and your body; because it literally is a PROCESS and will take some time, so don’t beat yourself up over it!

BUT that is why I wanted to share this with you because I’ve BEEN THERE, overwhelmed, confused, lost, worried, and honestly a cheap ass not wanting to actually spend more money on “natural’ things, like why can’t this stuff be a bit less expensive?! Ya know what I’m saying?!

SO I wanted to share with you the different products that I have done extensive research on; and what ones are currently working for me and why I enjoy them so much! Its like Christmas morning!

First off I want to say did you know that it only takes 60 SECONDS for something to get absorbed into your body through your skin? And did you know that they are currently putting rat poison, ethanol, carcinogens and FRAGRANCE to name a few in your everyday cleaning, laundry, make up, face products, lotions and hair products?! Like seriously what is this nonsense. As mentioned before do NOT feel overwhelmed OK? I know it can be scary but like I said start SMALL.

CLEANING PRODUCTS

My very first thing I started with was cleaning products, I literally went back to the basic, stopped wasting money on “ECO” friendly cleaning supplies and started making my own with literally THREE ingredients. I use a combination of Vinegar, water, and an essential oil blend and use this one product to clean EVERYTHING. My floors, counters, walls, carpets, mirrors, (actually not my toilet but I probably could) high chairs, ovens and so forth. The smell is simply divine and I know that when my kids want to help wash windows it’s not a big deal if some of the stuff is swallowed or sprayed in their eye or what-have-you. I have heard of some ladies who infuse lemon (like cutting a lemon in half and putting in a glass jar with vinegar) before diluting for cleaning. Both are a super amazing and fresh way to clean your house. I have a DIY Tutorial on that RIGHT HERE for you!

SKIN CARE

The second thing I started to dive into was skin care; and ya’ll this literally took me about THREE YEARS--so like I said, don’t sweat it and I really hope that this helps you make a faster choice than that! I used to use Aveeno from your regular old pharmacy or walmart. Then I wanted to start to prevent wrinkles so I started buying who knows what; honestly I’d stand in the isles forever reading labels, looking at what might be decent and what wasn’t a fortune. I don’t even remember half the things I spent money on to be honest--but it was such a wasteee. I dabbled with Beauty Counter to be honest but felt extremely overwhelmed by their variety of choices. I DO use their tinted sunscreen however because I have had a few scares with melanoma and do my best to protect my face. On my body I honestly have the best luck with Badger Sunscreen, and its local-ish, New England to say the least!  You can research yourself, but the first ingredient is Zinc Oxide which is what is going to protect your skin from the sun’s harsh ultra-violet rays naturally. If you pick up a bottle of regular sunscreen from the store the first few ingredients are nothing but chemicals; so you actually end up doing more harm than good...yet we THINK we are doing what is best for our skin and our little kiddos!

I also tried Mary-Kay, Pure Haven and literally started using only coconut oil because I was so frustrated. Maybe these things work for you and that is great! I’m just sharing my journey. When I became pregnant with my third child my skin hit an all time X factor. I was breaking out, and had this weird rash all over my lower chin and cheeks and it did not go away after I had the third baby. It was about 4 months in when I found this company called Primally Pure and my face is forever changed.

The thing I enjoyed the MOST about this company was that it was literally all natural, very few ingredients, and SIMPLE. I didn’t need a cleanser, a scrub, a toner, a this and a that. They have an oil cleanser you use in the evenings, a toner if you wish and then you can use a night cream/day cream if you want. It was THAT simple. I went through a few weeks of a purge cycle but ya’ll; after that...I have had the clearest, brightest, smoothest skin of my life. I’m a total lifeer You can Read my FULL REVIEW HERE! I also use Primally Pure’s Deodorant. It is 5 or 6 ingredients and I suffered with STANK for a longggg time; especially with all my hormone issues from being pregnant, to breastfeeding, to pregnant and breastfeeding for 4 years in a row.

Primally Pure

SHAMPOO

The third thing I’ve been trying to weed out is my shampoo. And Literally since I’ve been married I started looking into this more and would research, buy, spend money, try this that and the other thing and had NO idea what I was looking for or why I should even care. Ya feel me?! I would try using just Dr. Bronners, but this would leave my hair flatter than a pancake and I already had fine, thin and greasy hair. I wanted to be safe with my products but I DID want my hair to appear clean ya know what I’m sayin?! Like why did I have to sacrifice flat, boring, dull hair in order to feel confident at the same time. And honestly ya’ll I am NOT a fancy, tons of makeup, hair product kind of person. I did not even start wearing Mascara until I got to college and even then I thought everyone could tell that I had make-up on and it felt weird!

To be honest I spent SO much money, time searching on Amazon, Thrive and the grocery isle searching for the ONE that would just make my hair feel better. I ultimately stuck with Suave because I would clip the 1.00 coupons from the Sunday paper, and literally a bottle of shampoo would cost me about .75cents. I mean winning right?! I felt like I had tried so many ‘All Natural’ brands but it never felt good or it wouldn’t suds up and again my hair was left still dry, greasy and gross.

RESEARCH OH MY!

SO I started doing the research, and surprise I realized that the United States only bans 11-30 toxic chemicals from their beauty products that are allowed to go out on the market; while the European Union, Asia and Canada have a list of over 1300 ingredients that they do not allow in their products. It really starts to make you wonder; all of these ‘toxic’ ingredients that are allowed here in the United States (You can read HERE a list of the ingredients you SHOULD AVOID) and the things that it causes such as every type of cancer, neurological defects, skin conditions, ADHD, Autism, there are studies that link these chemicals in women's breast milk which where does that go?! I think all these years I’ve been pregnant with my babies, the things I may have exposed them too! Yikes! I certainly was conscious of ingredients for the most part but i still avoided a lot of things because I didn’t WANT to understand it yet; or allow myself to think that the US beauty industry allows such toxic, toxic things to be into things that go onto our skin. Studies show that women have a higher percentage of these toxins in their bodies due to the fact women enjoy beauty products more.

There was this individual in one of my mastermind support groups for blogging that started talking about these hair products a year ago. It initially perked my interested but I only glanced at them and didn’t think much more about it. I started following her on social media and started to watch her transformation (because honestly I was like its SHAMPOO. How much of a change can really take place?) Well I kept checking in on this chicka. And finally this past October I reached out and said OK; I’m ready to take the plunge! Help me with my hair! After having 3 babies in 3 years and currently cooking my 4th, my hair has fallen out year after year, the hormones have made it so dry, coarse and thick that it just kind of hangs there and I have no idea what to do with it! SO she set me up and said girl, your gonna love it.

My initial reaction was OH MY GOSH...my hair immediately felt softer, looked shinner and I really was extremely shocked. After a few uses I will be honest and transparent with you; it was feeling greasy again! But it was literally my hair purging and going through its cycle to get rid of the toxins and crap that was on it before. I am almost three months into using the products and my hair is still going through a bit of a purge but I am extremely happy with the products and will never use anything else.  What I really enjoy about the company and the products is that they focus soley on HAIR. They do the research, use botanically, all natural ingredients that come from nature and you can tell they put a lot of effort into this. The other thing I enjoy is that they different lines specific to your type of your hair, and sometimes its a mix and match of a few, because everyone has different types of hair right?! So you can really individualize your hair care routine while feeling fabulous and confident at the same time! I’m going through the purge process and willing to stick it out because I KNOW my body and my babies will be better off! If you’d like to try this Hair Quiz you can see what types you would need for your hair! It might help start the process be a bit less overwhelming!

The beauty industry is a 450 Billion Market Industry; let that sink in. To think the amount of CHEMICALS that pumped into these products and are then sold to us in order to ‘prevent this’ and ‘prevent that’, is sickening. I want good skin and hair but I also believe fully on using what nature, what God put on this planet and use that. Science can only take you so far and there is a point where science becomes too man-made and causes more harm than good. I think it is important to remember that using non-toxic ingredients takes time. You cannot overhaul every single product at once; it would be too much for you. I recommended these companies because they focus solely on that one individual area and truly believe that is what makes the difference. They have passion and love for what they do and I see that in the quality and results.

Wondering where to start?! Here is a Cheat Sheet for you; Download now to snag your list of the TOP Ingredients to AVOID in your beauty products!

Curious how to help your hair?! Check out this Free Hair Quiz!

References: Here & Here