Every day, millions of women begin their day with a beauty routine that can include an extensive list of personal beauty products. This includes everything from face wash to deodorant and mascara. Each woman uses an average of twelve beauty products on their skin each and every single day. These twelve products can contain hundreds of different ingredients creating a chemical cocktail that gets unwittingly slathered, powdered and puffed onto (and into) our bodies.
Choices In Beauty
When it comes to choosing products at the beauty counter, going natural can be confusing, daunting and simply not fun. It may seem that a degree in chemistry is required to be able to decipher the labels on most of the beauty products found in stores today. Some companies use quite creative liberties to add fresh, beautiful and natural looking flowers and butterflies to their label to give the "natural" effect. Needless to say, this does little for the ingredient and toxicity status of the product inside the pretty (non recyclable box). Even going so far as actually printing the word natural or organic does not guarantee anything in terms of the actual ingredient list.
So What's A Lady To Do?
Since becoming a scientist is not a realistic proposition for most of us, there must be another way to conquer the mountain of products facing us in the beauty aisle as we decide on that perfect shade of blush and lipstick. Here are a few beauty tools to pop into your green makeup bag.
- Become a Label Reader - Simply taking the time to read the ingredients listed on the label is a great education in the difference between a more natural based product vs a one filled with synthetic and impossible-to-pronounce chemicals and toxins.
- Know the rating system. Cosmeticsdatabase.com is an amazing website developed by the Environmental Working Group. These dedicated scientists and engineers took the time to scour and compare ingredients databases and create a toxicity rating for beauty products on the market today. Each product and brand that is in the database is rated on a scale of 0-10; 0 being the best, and 10 being the most toxic. You can safely choose a product that is rated between 0 and 3 and rest easy knowing that you are not adding known toxins into your body. Use this tool to check the ratings of existing products in your bag, or visit the site to check out a product before you buy.
- Get to know the top 10 offenders. Organicauthority.com has put together a list of top 10 toxins to avoid in your beauty and skincare products. Becoming familiar with this list is the best way to avoid making the wrong purchase.
- Use less stuff. Ultimately, the less makeup, lotions and potions you put on your body do add to the body burden and the work our system has to do to cleanse our blood. Exercising and eating right can go a long way to adding that natural glow and beauty to skin, hair and nails.
- Drink filtered water – as much as you can every day. Drinking clean water is the key to ridding your body of toxins that do end up in your system. Every day we are bombarded with toxins in the air we breathe, the food we eat and the products we use and trust. Our best defense is to cleanse our body on a consistent basis.
The small green choices we make everyday can make big impacts on our lives and out health. Building awareness for all that we allow to enter on to our skin and into our lives is the first step to going green for life, not just for now.
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