Why I Ditched ALL My Makeup and Skincare!
A few years ago I visited a dermatologist to ask about a couple brown spots that had shown up on my face and she asked if I’d been wearing sunscreen.
Chagrined, I admitted that I hadn’t been doing much of that (I DO live in the PNW for goodness sake), and she told me that they would continue to get darker if I didn’t start to protect them. Ugh! So I quickly went to a big department store and found a lovely tinted moisturizer with SPF called Laura Mercier. Spending more money for a product in the past made me feel I was buying something that worked ‘better’ and over the years I’ve bought many things that were touted in the makeup and skin-care multi-billion dollar industry that I thought would not only work but be safe for me to use.
About a year later I was told by my doctor that I had a sluggish thyroid and thus began a journey to get my hormones balanced, which meant throwing out anything that was an endocrine disruptor. Those are toxins found in household products, makeup, plastics, canned foods and sun screen that mess up your hormones.
I flew to my bathroom to look at my makeup and skin care, just to make sure I didn’t have any evil products lurking around. I proceeded to look up each one on ewg.org/skindeep/ — an independent organization which shows how safe (or unsafe) our health and beauty aids are. Boy, was it an eye opener!!!
The first one I checked was my Laura Mercier:
Do you see that 4?
That’s not a good rating (7 is the highest!). In fact, if you look you can see the allergies and immunotoxicity are getting quite high. And I was putting it on my face every day.
I quickly looked up all my shampoo, lipsticks, lotions, and my boys’ products too – I didn’t want them slathering on unsafe products! The Neutrogena (which, by the way, says it’s ‘healthy’ right on the label) I used to use for them came up a 7!!!
It just shows how we get sucked into brand loyalty, or caught up in marketing, and believe it…especially when their product says “healthy” right on the label. I didn’t stop to question if that statement was true.
Sadly, the skin care and makeup industry is very poorly regulated.
Over 1,400 chemicals banned or restricted in personal care products by the European Union.
Can you guess how many are banned in the United States? 11!
Isn’t that crazy?!
That means that products created here in the U.S. have to be changed to be safe enough to be sold in Europe. But we Americans still get the toxic version! WHA?!
Enough is enough! Too many women are suffering from hormonal disruption, and their bodies are already overloaded with environmental stressors like pollution, chemicals and pesticides. Shouldn’t we feel safe and confident when we put products on our bodies to protect our skin or simply want to bright our lips and make our eyes ‘pop’?
If I’m putting a product on my face to protect me from cancer, than shouldn’t that product protect me from cancer itself?
So I started my search: after trying a gazillion product lines on the market for both safety and effectiveness, I finally settled on Beautycounter. (this link should go to Ready to Makeover Your Makeup post, below)
This company has everything I care about in every single product:
• They work beautifully (and bonus, they feel like a LUXE product, for sure!)
• They’re safe and non-toxic
They cost less than most fancy brands (which are mostly unsafe)
From lipstick to the plumping facial oil, I have loved every single product I’ve used. Very few of the products have any scent at all, and the ones that do are very light with essential oils.
That’s why I’ve decided to partner with Beautycounter as a consultant! They have a “Never List” of 1,500 ingredients you’ll never find in their products.
I know that you and I use between 3-15 products a day. If every product has toxins in them, that’s a boatload of hormone upsetting, possibly-cancer causing stuff getting soaked into our bodies.
So, I’m officially throwing my name in with Beautycounter, and hope that you’ll join me in their mission to get better, safer products into everyone’s hands.
They’re even using their profits to lobby national legislation to better protect us from those 1,400 chemicals already banned in Europe.
If you want to learn more, shop, or read more about why I love this company, details are here!
And I’ve listed all my favorite products for you here as well. That’s the fun part!
In the meanwhile, let me know if you have any questions!
To your beautiful and healthy skin,
Stephanie
P.S. If you want to just shop directly, go here!