For years, I was super passionate about all the food I put inside my body. But I didn’t think twice about my toxic beauty regimen. Because I thought of nutrition as only having to do with food, and having nothing to do with lifestyle. Then one day, it hit me…
I started reading the labels on the products I used on my skin and in my home like I read the labels on my food. My gosh, what the hell were these products that I was slathering all over my body? And that made me realize that it was time to improve my beauty regimen.
Just to know a little about me, my background is in the theater. I have a flair for the dramatic.
And as a preteen, I discovered I loved trying different beauty products. I started my applying Noxzema masks to my skin, and graduated to some of the more upscale beauty lines in my teen years.
So I didn’t want to give any of this up. My beauty regimen was part of who I am. I just wanted to do it better. But it wasn’t easy at first. When you’ve grown up using the “toxic stuff”, your natural beauty regimen can feel a little confusing at first.
Where do you begin?
According to The Environmental Working Group, there is little regulating US based beauty products. The ingredients don’t have to be approved by the Federal Food And Drug Administration. Toxic and allergenic ingredients don’t have to be listed on the label. And Dermatologist Tested is a vague term with little regulation.
Here’s a statistic that shocked the heck out of me. 1 in 8 of the ingredients used in conventional personal care products is a carcinogen, pesticide, reproductive toxic or hormone disruptor. 1 in 8??? And that’s legal? Yes, I was shocked.
The David Suzuki Foundation, a Canadian based advocacy group for environmental and human rights, has named a Dirty Dozen list for beauty products. Keep in mind, this list just covers the most harmful ingredients in our beauty regimen. There are many toxins that didn’t make the Dirty Dozen cut. But this is a good place to start.
Dirty Dozen list of harmful ingredients (lurking in our beauty regimen) –
Quite honestly, these don’t sound like they’d be good for you, right? And when I think of all the beauty and household products I’ve used in my lifetime, I can get a little overwhelmed. That’s a lot of toxicity.
This is something I really care about.
If you don’t know, my mother passed away from cancer a few years ago. And she had been a smoker, and a drinker and did a bunch of things that aren’t considered “health promoting”. But I know cancer survivors who ate healthy and didn’t do any of these things.
So I think we have to start looking at many of the toxins in our environment. And we can’t eliminate all of them. They’re in our air, the wall of our homes, our mattresses and more. But if we can eliminate them from our beauty regimen, we’ve made a real, tangible impact.
But here’s the confusing part. Many products have claims like No Parabens or No Formaldehyde. Which is good, especially if you’re allergic or sensitive to those ingredients. But those claims don’t tell the full story about toxicity. Because there are plenty of other toxic ingredients that the manufacturer could have used.
Environmental Working Group Verified products: The answer to your natural beauty regimen?
You can go on the Environmental Working Group’s website where they rank most US beauty products based on their toxicity. This is really helpful if you want to see if a product’s health claims are real.
But you can also choose a brand that is EWG verified. EWG verified products have submitted detailed manufacturing information to The Environmental Working Group. And the product becomes EWG Verified if it meets the highest standard for product safety and transparency. I like using EWG verified products because I feel safe knowing that the company’s manufacturing policies are clear.
Having said that, just because a product isn’t EWG verified doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be part of your natural beauty regimen. Many cleaner brands don’t try to become EWG verified. So you still have to do your own research.
Some of my favorite EWG verified brands:
- W3LL People
- MyChelle Dermaceuticals
- Beautycounter
The bad news to your beauty regimen?
These products are going to be more expensive than your average drugstore brand But here’s the good news. You can experiment with making your own products at home for a lot cheaper.
Lately I’ve been making my own body wash and moisturizer. It takes just seconds to make, is much cheaper than store bought brands in my beauty regimen, and keeps me clean. Oh, and they smell great too!
Homemade body wash
- 2 cups purified water
- ¼ cup castile soap
- 10 -12 drops essential oils
I like peppermint essential oil for the morning or lavender essential oils for the evening. Or for general use, I use wild orange which makes me feel good any time of day.
Homemade facial moisturizer for oily, acne-prone skin
I love coconut oil or jojoba oil based homemade moisturizers. But these always upset my skin. And while my skin doesn’t break out under normal circumstances, it gets crazy upset at me when I use these oils. But the following works really well for me.
- ⅔ cup grapeseed oil
- ⅓ cup evening primrose oil
- 10 drops lavender essential oil (so calming!)
*I stay away from the cheap “knock off” essential oils. Essential oil ingredients aren’t regulated and those cheap oils are usually just chemical filled fragrance or other synthetic scents.
Move to a non-toxic, natural beauty regimen
Start today by swapping a toxic product for a more natural one. This is how you start to make change. And you can clean up your beauty regimen by making one small positive change at a time.
I feel so much better now that I use more less toxic ingredients on my body. I haven’t eliminated my toxicity. As I stated before, that’s pretty impossible. But I’ve gotten a really sizable chunk of my toxin exposure out of my daily routine. And that feels good.
So, I encourage you to do the same. What is one of the more toxic products in your beauty regimen for which you can find a better substitution? Which healthier brand have you wanted to try, but haven’t yet had the chance?
What you put on your body is as important for your health as what you put in your body. So I encourage you to give this part of your life some attention. And you too will be amazed at how much better you feel.
It’s so alarming how many toxic items we use on a daily basis. I know more and more companies are trying to help with this problem, which I am so thankful for!
It’s so important to know exactly what you are putting into your body and exposing your skin to. I’m a lot more conscientious than I was years ago.
I try to get as many natural beauty products as I can. I love that there are so many more options now.
Thanks for the list. I have thought about making my own cleanser and I do use some natural beauty products.
I also used to use all sorts of chemically ridden products! Just recently in the last few hours I switched to natural, and my skin, hair and home feel a lot better than they used to. I still haven’t made my own beauty products though, might try soon.
If you want to start somewhere, start with making your own body wash. It is seriously so easy.
As a cancer survivor I do everything I can to help my chances of not getting it again! I love your recipes and the information about carcinogens in our self care items. Thank you!
Terri, I’m sorry you had to go cancer but I’m happy you’re a survivor. And I wish our doctors talked about this type of stuff more.
I know how you feel. I’ve tried going all natural with my beauty supplies and make up but it’s hard. I do make a lot of my body products using essential oils, but it’s the make up i’m having trouble with. You have very good valid points here.
I totally get it about the makeup because you have to buy it. I started wearing less makeup to compensate for the extra cost and I’ve actually become happy with less makeup. Go figure.
I love your recipes for those homemade products. They look so easy and probably save a lot of money too. I am definitely going to have to try that instead of the chemical laden products I use.
I remember being really uppity about what I put in/on my body when I was pregnant. All of that went out the door when I stopped breastfeeding. Opps. I’m slooooowly starting to get back into it and I will DEFINITELY be replacing my make up with natural products. You know, one at a time because the price hike is REAL. My sister makes a lot of beauty stuff from home too, so I might have to convince her to learn to make body washes and moisturisers.
Making certain products at home is totally doable so definitely talk to your sister. Because natural products are totally more expensive.
I wish I had more free time to make certain products at home, but I’m trying really hard to avoid harsh chemicals in products by choosing wisely and reading labels.
Yana, if you ever want to give it a try, the body wash recipe literally only takes 60 seconds to make.
I have used the same facial wash for over two decades – Clean and Clear exfoliating wash. I have sensitive skin and like to avoid break outs at all costs. It works for me so why change it?
As a young teen, my friend and I would experiment with those peel off face marks which had fruity fragrances. Oh how grown up we thought we were!
There is something special about pampering yourself. I would love to do this more often.
This is such a good subject to educate yoursefl with. If you know what ingredients to look out for, the beauty routines become so much better.
What an awesome post. It’s important to know what you are putting on your face and I must prefer a natural beauty product it’s 100% safe
This was such a great article and thanks for sharing. I never thought about this until now and must look into what I’m using. I’ll have to watch out and rethink my beauty stuff.
This makes a lot of sense! Like you say if we try and eat naturally we should use more natural products on our faces and bodies. I think my breakouts are likely to be linked to toxins in products so this is definitely something I’m going to be aware of from now on!
Jean, just from my own experience with skin products and breakouts, switch over slowly if moving to more natural skin products. Like alternate between your old skin product and the new one every other day for a week or two. Switching over to fast has caused breakouts for me in the past.
This is also why I prefer brands that use natural ingredients. It’s good to know that you’re not just saving the environment but being good to yourself as well. Toxins can really damage a lot of of things and I don’t want to be a part of that.
Wonderful post, Erica. I always try and buy chemical free makeup whenever possible, and additive free lotions. What a terrific idea to make our own body wash! Thx for the idea.
I try to use organic and animal-cruelty free products but I think I still need to pay more attention to what I put on my skin like how I do with my food. I actually don’t know much about toxic ingredients in beauty products so I think I will start educating myself more on these topics.
This is awesome! I started making a lot of changes to the products I use on my hair and skin in 2010. Since then, I purchase most of my products from the health food store, but even then you have to read the labels. Coconut oil and mango butter have become two of my go-to products.
Such a great point about being mindful, even when at a health food store!
I love this post Erica! I grew up with a chain-smoking alcoholic so maybe it’s no wonder that I’ve always had a thing about substance abuse and resisted taking drugs of any kind. I don’t even pop an aspirin unless absolutely necessary, so I really appreciate this information. In fact, a couple of months ago I started experimenting with homemade moisturizers so I am definitely going to try your recipes. Thanks!
Marquita, I’m happy to hear that you turned a negative life experience to something positive in your own life. I hope you enjoy the recipes!
I think is such a great post Erica! It is so important to take care of our bodies largest organ in a natural non harmful way. I love washing my face with baking soda and coconut oil it has done wonders for my skin!
I figured that as I age, I should start some skin care (better late than never) and it seems most of the stuff I’ve found contained the toxic ingredients you listed. And the ones I tried made my skin red. I should try some of your homemade recipes.
It is amazing what they put into products that go into us.
I understand, most of these products go onto our skin, but through simple osmosis alone, it is being sucked into our bodies.
Thanks for sharing such a revealing post.
Love this post, too, Erica! I’m definitely going to try your recipes for body wash and moisturizer. Thanks! And as for the make-up, I recently switched to the Jane Iredale line, which scores ridiculously high on the EWG. I’m really happy with it!
Good to read this and think about it–which started with your sunscreen blog. I’ve been using my sister’s homemade soaps for years and love knowing the ingredients are good ones. But time to go farther!
You just hit me in the face with a needed reality check. I make a point to watch what I put in my body but haven’t been conscious enough about the beauty products I’m using. I keep it simple face wash at night moisturiser, I don’t wear makeup but I will be taking a look at the face wash, I’ve been using it since I was like 12 but should take a look. Thank you.
I am definitely learning more about natural beauty and skincare products. Thank you for sharing this post!