Empower yourself to make better choices that affect your health by following these three tips to detox your beauty routine.

Several months ago, I attended a webinar with a “Clean Beauty” expert. It wasn’t long after that I decided to make an effort to detoxify my beauty regime. I hope that this post helps empower you to make better choices in regards to your beauty products. This is your time to find a routine and products that support your health while creating moments to look forward to. Embrace this experience as you focus on your own self-care while being careful of what you put on, or in, your skin.

Why should we consider detoxifying our beauty routine?

• On average, women in the US use over 12 products with over 160 ingredients per day. Think about ingesting 160 ingredients daily, without knowing what they really are. Many of us don’t think about this, but we are ingesting a long list of disease-causing toxins into our skin. According to an article in Eco Watch, women apply an average of 168 chemicals on their bodies every day.
• While Europe has banned over 1,400 common ingredients found in our skin-care products, the US has only banned 10. Unlike other countries, the US is not required to disclose all of the ingredients and often hide them in labels such as ‘fragrance’ or ‘essential-oil derived’.
• Many of the ingredients in our products include toxins and synthetics that cause kidney and nervous system damage, cancer and many other diseases.

How do we get started?

THREE TIPS TO DETOX YOUR BEAUTY ROUTINE

1. START SMALL:
   • Make small changes every month by swapping out one product at a time.
   • Find products with shorter ingredient lists.
   • Do your research by downloading the Environmental Working Group Skin Deep App. EWG’s Skin Deep Cosmetics Database is an online guide with safety ratings for more than 78,000 cosmetics and other personal care products. It was launched in 2004 to help people find safer products with fewer ingredients that are hazardous or haven’t been thoroughly tested.
2. READ LABELS:
   • Reading labels and understanding the top 6 BUZZ WORDS used in marketing will help you choose products that are safe to use.
     • GREEN WASHING: Marketing practices done by larger brands to capture some of the clean beauty consumers and their market-share. For example, labels that say ‘organic’ may actually only contain 1 or 2 organic ingredients, as well as toxic and synthetic ingredients.
     • CRUELTY FREE: Not tested on animals but not necessarily safe or clean.
     • VEGAN: Ingredients are not derived from animals but does not mean that this was ethically sourced or free of pesticides.
     • NATURAL: Ingredients found in nature. ‘All Natural’ could also mean that there is lead, which many lipsticks contain. Lead is a natural ingredient found in nature.
     • ORGANIC: Ingredients weren’t treated using herbicides, pesticides, or growth hormones. This doesn’t mean that every product or formulation wasn’t treated and can also mean that there are only a few organic ingredients mixed in with several synthetic ingredients.
     • GREEN BEAUTY: Made using plant-based ingredients and meet specific eco-friendly sustainability status. Green Beauty products are free of all the harmful ingredients in all of the other products and is a much safer option than all the rest.
3. AVOID TOXIC AND SYNTHETIC INGREDIENTS:
   • The following are a list of ingredients to AVOID:
     • LEAD: Found in lipstick.
     • FRAGRANCE: This is usually a blend of 10-100 chemicals that the manufacturer is not required to disclose. This is where they hide all of the bad stuff.
     • ARTIFICIAL COLORS AND DYES: These contain heavy metals and petroleum which cause skin breakouts and irritation.
     • HYDROQUINONE: Found in nail polish and skin lightening creams. Hydroquinone can cause organ toxicity and cancer.
     • PARABENS: Preservatives that increase the risk for estrogen dependent breast cancers.
     • PHTHALATES: Found in lotions and is an endocrine disrupter and causes male infertility.
     • PEGs/PGs: Cause eczema.
     • PENOCYETONAL: Preservative that causes kidney and nervous system damage as well as dermatitis.
     • CYCLOSILOXANES/D5: Silicone regularly used in cosmetic products. Considered a major endocrine disruptor.

Where can I find products that are clean and safe?

1. ENVIRONMENTAL WORKING GROUP SKIN DEEP APP
2. BEAUTY HEROES: Green Beauty Subscription Box

How are you going to empower yourself to make better choices for your health? Jump-start your clean beauty journey today!