my story & steps to cleaning up your beauty routine.
Hello, hello, pretty clean followers. I’m currently on a bus to New York; I’ll be attending a design conference for the next few days, and could not be more excited! so hopefully, this four hour + ride will leave me with a plethora of writing time for you all.
Before we start… my apologies for the unannounced 1 week hiatus. My sweet little dog passed this Sunday, and I just was not feeling up to writing the swap … or the weekly ingredient post … or the beauty inspiration post. I also have now gotten off my schedule of sharing two of several monthly features with you all, but I’m currently reworking the schedule and knocking one out right. NOW!.
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Today I’m going to be sharing why I care about clean beauty, and how I strategized the process. I’d love for you to read my story & the full tips, but if you’re busy or just antsy, here’s the gist:
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My clean beauty journey began with an allergic reaction. During my college years, I was barely sleeping and so stressed (design school is so taxing y’all). I woke up one day to prepare for a weekend presentation with my design team for a visiting critic. And since everyone in my studio, including myself, were barely sleeping, rushing to get ready was the norm. So that morning, I was slapping my Revlon foundation on my face, nearly literally. It was faster, plus I had so much stress and hormonal acne that the only way to get full coverage was to blend by patting it in place, rather than spreading across my skin. That being said, I used a lot of product. Just before I was done, I could feel my face stinging, heating and swelling. I immediately, bitterly took all of the product off of my face and freaked out a bit. After some cool water and googling, I grabbed the foundation bottle to look at the ingredients. The label was affixed in a similar manner as information pamphlets are to pain reliever bottles – a plastic seal that incases several laminated pages of tiny text. I was incredibly surprised to see how many ingredients were in that bottle – and I had no idea what any of it meant. Needless to say, my reaction ended up being so strong that I had to be a no-show at my presentation. not cool, not cool.
Now, as I’ve mentioned before, will now, and in the future – the issue is not that there were so many chemicals on the list. Yes, at first my gut response was “oh no, so many chemicals”, but fortunately as a sustainability student, I had a solid group of people to discuss this with and quickly learned otherwise. You see, natural ingredients are considered chemicals too. And, natural ingredients have colloquial names as well as scientific names, the “scary” names. The issue is toxicity, regardless of whether something is natural or synthetic.
I never found out what my body reacted to in that foundation, and to be fair, I have since had allergic reactions to even the most natural products (such as hives from olive oil soap from Marseille). Either way, this experience started a fire in me that ultimately led to the creation of this blog. I quickly discovered the negative effects of ingredients such as sodium lauryl & laureth sulfate, and started cleaning up my make up and hair products. I thought, how could it be that something that is supposed to make my hair healthy is connected to hair loss? How is it okay that something that is supposed to clear my skin is acne inducing, and a carcinogen?
While cleaning out my stash, I bought many products due to green washing, which were better for me, but still not quite right. To this day, I am still trying to figure out how to get better products into my routine. Western women statistically utilize so many products, and while packing last night, I got a pretty astounding glimpse into how much stuff I still “need” for 2.5 days. My hope is my personal research, words, product and brand features can ease the clean switch for all of you.
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Here’s how I did and still do it:
I began my search by buying through Sephora, which has some clean products, but aren’t the best options out there. However, this did allow me to get introduced to the beauty world and return products that didn’t work for me. So, if you are doing your research and buying products from amazing companies from the get-go, be aware that they may not have such a lax return policy. To avoid spending money on products that don’t work for you – figure out what your beauty and hygiene routine requires. Do you require minimal, or a lot of foundation coverage? Do you produce a lot of sweat and need a clean, powerful deodorant? Does your skin lean towards dry and flakey or oily and acne prone? It may require trial and error, but paying attention and honing in on what your body needs will help your pocket & health!
As a college student, I didn’t have enough money around to suddenly just go out and re-stock my medicine cabinet – I still don’t, and don’t think many of us do. This is why prioritization is key. It is easy to make a quick run to the drug store and purchase something without thought when you’re low on a product. Instead, try taking the 15 minutes to research a better alternative and where to buy is the best decision. Each dirty tube you empty is an opportunity to introduce a cleaner product into your life. Otherwise, you will be stuck with that product for 3+ months until you run out again. Its okay to forget, be in a hurry, or be cash strapped, all that matters is that you continue to try!
By being able to read the labels, you’ll know what’s good or bad for you and not solely rely on the manufacturer to tell you so. Green colored packaging, “NO PARABENS” in bold graphics? Not a negative thing at all… but what about all the other stuff in that bottle? Educating yourself is fool proof.
If you can’t find it somewhere else, are low on dollars, or you’ve mastered the beauty world & want to try your own hand – make it yourself! It can be cost-effective, healthy, and fun! Plus you can give your creations away as gifts. I will begin featuring monthly DIY tutorials starting next month.
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That’s it, everyone! A much needed, lengthy post. LOVE, anya.
