Years ago, I read the The Truth About Beauty by Kat James. Today you see the word “natural” stamped on everything – from peanut butter to cleaning products, but when I first opened the pages of this book, health food stores were scarce and “green” wasn’t yet a buzzword.
This book changed the way I live. Simple though it is, what we eat as well as what we apply has a direct effect how we feel and look. It’s crazy that we may recognize the need to eat organic food, but we still load chemical laden products onto our skin daily.
why does it matter?
Have you ever counted how many personal care or beauty products you use in a day? Probably 10 or more; and through just 10 products, you expose yourself to more than 126 ingredients or chemicals. Those ingredients could be natural or carcinogenic. It matters.
is there a solution?
Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Just grab the “natural” beauty products on the store shelves or shop local health food stores. Sorry, not so. Beautiful packaging, healthful claims, and even ingredient lists (mostly unpronounceable) are no guarantee that the products you’re buying are chemical free. Fortunately, there is a wonderful tool called EWG (Environmental Working Group) that can help you make safer choices.
The nonprofit organization EWG has a Skin Deep database, which offers hazard ratings for nearly 80,000 products. You can read more about their rating system here. EWG VERIFIED products meet EWG’s health criteria for ingredients and manufacturing practices. Other products are rated from 1 to 10, with 10 posing the greatest health risks. Now, here’s the really cool part. I’ve been using the Skin Deep database for several years, but finally there’s an app! Now, I can just scan barcodes in the store and immediately find out hazard ratings.
now what?
Glad you asked. Now all you have to do is follow my blog. I’ll be sharing my discoveries, as I hunt for natural chemical-free products to add to my make-up bag. My criteria is simple: a safe EWG rating, my personal satisfaction, and availability. Oh, and another thing. Because cosmetics are not always cheap, my plan is to replace all my personal care products as I need them, using up what I currently own.
Let’s begin the journey.
