How to find clean skincare alternatives - Health and Wellness Nashville

I am always on the hunt for clean products in every aspect of my life and skincare is one of them. We are hearing more and more about clean products—from what we use to clean our house to what we eat. Well, we also need to focus on what we put on our skin.

As a model, skincare has always been important to me. I am waking up to the fact that all skin care companies can make beauty claims on their packaging, but that doesn’t mean it is good overall for our health in the long term. Thankfully, more and more companies are starting to come out with clean options for all aspects of the skin. The beauty world will be a $181 billion industry by 2025, we need to educate ourselves on what products we want to use—not only for the best results but also that are nontoxic. Firstly, I believe we need to educate ourselves.

Let’s start with what clean skincare really is. There are many ingredients that use chemicals and are created in laboratories that are known to be harmful or even toxic to your health. So why do we need to stay away from toxic chemicals in skincare products and how detrimental are these toxins to your health?

There are cancer-causing ingredients, hormone disrupters, ingredients that can irritate allergies, and products that are toxic to the environment, all found in many skin creams, lotions, and shampoos. These are the very same products that claim to be “good” for your skin! Europe has banned over 1500 ingredients but here in the USA, the FDA has only banned around 10! So it is up to us as consumers to read the labels and start to really look at what is in all of our products.

Any reasonable person would choose something natural over something that is chemical for their skin if they had the same results. Consumers are so accustomed to thinking performance is the number one reason to buy skin care, they forget to look at what they are really putting on the skin. Remember: our skin is our biggest organ and what we put on it absorbs through the skin into the system.

So, why should we go to the trouble to find clean skin care, as it can take time, money and energy to research these products? I am a firm believer that nature can make whatever we need to nourish, cleanse and protect our skin and that reverting to toxic or harsh chemicals to make us more beautiful, is not only silly but can have lasting effects on health. There is a whole planet filled with plants, flowers roots, and leaves to use.

How to find clean skincare alternatives
Research the companies making skincare that will not use even questionable irritants or ingredients in their products. There are companies that state they will never use toxic ingredients and are very transparent with what they put in their products. I love finding these companies in the store, as it means that I don’t have to read the labels, I can just trust that it is a clean product and buy it.

You can find out how clean or toxic a product is with an app on your phone. They have places to scan the bar code to see what is exactly in that bottle. Two apps that I love are EWG and THINK DIRTY.

It is easier, in my opinion, to go to department stores that have already vetted the clean vs dirty products. Big department stores have a “cleaner” product section but some are not totally free of all the chemicals that you may want to avoid.

Ulta has “Conscious Beauty”
Sephora has “Clean at Sephora”
Saks Fifth Ave has a rigorous clean section
Nordstrom has a section on their website “All Natural Beauty”
Macy’s has a “Conscious Beauty for Good” section online.
Bloomingdales has a clean beauty section also called “WellChemist”.
Whole Foods has taken a stance and all of the beauty products they sell are clean from 215+ toxic ingredients that they list on their website.

As you know, I am a firm believer that a product shouldn’t harm one part of you while stating that it will be beneficial in another. To me, all things affect other parts of us and clean skincare is no different. I am choosing to find beneficial, effective and nourishing skincare that is also not harmful to my overall health.

So come join me and start your clean journey today! For a deeper understanding please read my ebook SKIN WITHIN found on Amazon and my website.