About a year ago my naturopath suggested that I make the switch to all-natural beauty products. I was open to the idea but also had an army of not-so-natural products that I was currently using and loving. Why fix something if it isn’t broken?
After talking with my naturopath more, and doing a bit of my own research, I realized it was worth a shot to make the switch. Fast forward a year later, by old products are still collecting dust and I haven’t looked back! Curious what convinced me to swap out my old products? Keep reading for my top three reasons to switch to natural beauty products.
Our Skin is our Biggest Organ
This probably isn’t news to most readers, but in the context of skincare, it’s a major newsflash worth paying attention to. Our skin is our biggest organ. And you better believe that what you are applying to your skin is being absorbed into your body. After all, isn’t that the goal when we apply our serums, moisturizers and toners?
While we have made huge strides in the world of nutrition, reading food labels and removing unnecessary chemicals from our diets, most of us haven’t applied these practices to skincare. If we aren’t willing to ingest unknown ingredients, why are we so willing to apply them to our skin?
It was this realization that drove me to give natural beauty products a try. I was going above and beyond, researching nutrition and trying to figure out the perfect diet for my body. Yet I was neglecting to consider how my products might be impacting my health.
Don’t be like me. Don’t invest time and energy into nutrition, only to undo your efforts by exposing your body to harmful chemicals. To live our healthiest lives, we must consider all of the factors that may be helping or harming us, and skincare is a huge piece of this puzzle.
The United States Allows Chemicals Banned by Other Countries
Is this the wild wild west? Not quite. But when comparing the standards for beauty products in the U.S. to other countries, it kind of feels like it.
There are a whole host of chemicals that have been banned from cosmetic products in other countries that the United States has deemed “safe”. Petroleum, propyl paraben, hydroquinone and phthalates, to name a few, have been found in cancer tissue. Such findings suggest that prolonged use could be linked to cancer later in life. Propyl paraben may also be linked to decreased fertility. And this is just the beginning of the list!
There are plenty of other chemicals found in sun block, nail polish, hair treatments, etc. that could have equally scary side effects. With that, I encourage you to think twice and review the ingredient list before buying new products! Just because we use an ingredient in the U.S. doesn’t mean its safe for use.
Speaking of scary chemicals….allow me to introduce you to the granddaddy of them all:
Fragrance/Parfum
When my naturopath suggested I make the switch to natural beauty products, step one was taking a closer look at the products I was already using. Turns out 100% of them contained the ingredient Fragrance or Parfum.
Ok, so I like nice smelling products! What could be the problem?
Unfortunately, Fragrance and Parfum are catch-all ingredients. Hundreds of ingredients fall under the Fragrance/Parfum umbrella and companies are not required to separately disclose them. This is to allow companies to protect their trade secrets. Good for businesses. Bad for consumers.
Because of this, consumers have no visibility into the ingredients captured by this single ingredient on the ingredient label. And what’s even scarier, there could be dozens, even 100 ingredients, used in a single product, and yet all you see on the label is “Fragrance” or “Parfum”.
This is what gave me the final push to switch to natural products. Would you buy food containing a catch-all, mystery ingredient? No. So why buy a cosmetic product that does the same?
Parting Words
I could go on and on about the other reasons to switch to all natural products. Did I mention that are more eco-friendly? Budget friendly? The list goes on.
Now that you are hopefully considering making the switch, stay tuned for a few of my favorite products! Next article coming soon!
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