Today I’m switching things up a little. I’m not offering you a recipe, but I’m instead addressing a topic that is close to my heart and that I’ve been meaning to talk about for a while here. I have a lot to say, so I apologize in advance for the long post! BUT, I also have an awesome giveaway for you from a brand I absolutely LOVE, so I promise, you’ll want to stick around for this!
I have to admit something. I used to be addicted to beauty and personal care products. From my teenage years up until about a couple years ago, I was literally obsessed with buying and trying every new cream, cosmetic or hair product available on the market. I was hooked by the promising claims the beauty industry would throw at me dozens of times a day on TV, in magazines, or as I was walking down the street. Not only was I over-consuming beauty products (most of the time I wouldn’t even finish them!), but most importantly, I was completely unaware of the chemicals they contained and their potential harmful effects on my body.
Who would think that an innocent shampoo could contain carcinogenic substances?
Although I was raised on processed foods and frozen meals, making healthier food choices and switching from a refined diet to a whole-foods diet was something I did naturally over time. The more I started to real labels on the food I was buying, the more I became aware of what I was putting in my body and informed enough to make better choices. So I stopped buying packaged foods that contained ingredients I could not pronounce. However, it took me a while before realizing that perhaps I should read the labels on my beauty products too. Never did it occur to me that what I was putting on my skin could be equally, if not even more harmful as ingesting chemicals through food.
Let’s think about it for a second. Skin is the body’s largest organ. It absorbs about 60-70% of what we feed it with. What we put on our skin makes its way into our blood, tissues and organs, and therefore has an impact on our health just as much as, if not more than what we put in our mouth.
If you are putting toxic chemicals on your skin, I’m sorry to tell you that you are inevitably making yourself toxic.
Allergies, sensitivities, hormone imbalances and infertility issues have increased tremendously in the last decades. Our bodies are facing an overabundance of toxins every day through the environment, pollution, exposure to pesticides, herbicides and chemicals, causing numerous imbalances and health issues.
Now I’d like you to do something very important. I’d like you to go in your bathroom cabinet, pick a few products (shampoo, creams, deodorant, toothpaste, cosmetics), and take a look at the ingredient list. I bet you’ll find that most if not all of them list words that you can’t recognize or pronounce. The number of ingredients alone in some products is troubling. Does one cream really need 15, 20 or even 40 different chemicals?
Shockingly, beauty and skin care companies are allowed to use almost any ingredient they wish in their formulations, and products are not reviewed for safety before they’re put on the market. A few of the most common chemicals/harmful substances found in beauty products, cosmetics and household products include phthalates, lead, aluminum, sodium lauryl sulfate, BHA, boric acid, fragrance (or parfum), and parabens, among many others.
These substances have been linked to a long list of health problems, including allergies, headaches, asthma, respiratory issues, endocrine and immune disruption, infertility, developmental problems, organ toxicity, cancers, and many more. The global spread of toxic man-made substances is not only a threat to our health, it is also a threat to the environment and the planet’s natural eco-system.
Reversing this spread starts with each and every one of us. It starts by making small changes, such as replacing a Procter & Gamble shampoo by an organic and eco-friendly one. And the great news is there are tons of healthier and safer alternatives. The key is to be more conscious of our choices, read labels, and encourage companies that are making safe and environment-friendly products. Whenever looking for a beauty product, try to go for one that is labelled organic and that use a short list of natural ingredients such as plants and oils (plants are usually identified by their latin name).
Don’t try to replace your entire bathroom cabinet all at once, you will soon feel overwhelmed. Instead, make a slow transition into switching to organic products by replacing a toxic product by a safe one, one at a time. Next time you run out of moisturizer, make the effort to buy a new organic one. Slowly, you’ll clean your entire cabinet and you’ll set your home and your body free of chemicals!
If you want to learn more about the health hazards of your everyday products, I highly recommend checking out Skin Deep, a wonderful online resource by the Environmental Working Group. It allows you to search among thousands of specific products and brands and evaluate their potential health risk or safety.
Finding a really good organic brand that you love and that works for your skin type can be a challenge. After transitioning to organic products, it took me a few months before finding a brand I would swear by. Thankfully, I had the privilege to attend a conference last year given by David Brooke from Skin Essence Organics, a company based right here in Ontario. David passionately shared the company’s philosophy, which promotes a holistic approach to health. He explained how the Skin Essence line of products was made from the most natural, high-quality ingredients, carefully selected for their ability to nourish and rejuvenate the skin. He has been using the line himself for over 10 years and I must say his skin is absolutely flawless!! By the end of the conference, I was totally hooked! I left with a bag full of products (I basically bought the entire line!). I’ve been using them ever since and it has become my favorite skin care line.
The Skin Essence products are 100% organic, cruelty-free, and made of plant, fruit and vegetable extracts, essential oils and minerals. Their products are never filled with water (drug store products usually contain large quantities of water which is used as a cheap filling) and are stored in tinted glass bottles to protect from UV light damage and avoid leaching from chemicals found in plastics. They smell amazing (you can even eat them!) and leave my skin nourished, fresh and vibrant. I love that their products are high-quality, but very affordable, and that you can select based on your skin type (dry, sensitive or aging skin). My favorites are the Facial Cleanser (it smells heavenly!) and the Facial Moisturizer. I also keep the Chocolate Mandarin Hand and Body Balm in my handbag at all times. It does wonders for my dry hands and is wonderful as a lip balm too.
I love their products so much that I decided to reach out to David to ask him if he would collaborate with me and offer my wonderful readers (that’s you!) a little gift. So here we are! We’re very excited to give one of you the chance to receive a $132.21 value 4pc Skin Essence Organics Facial Care Set!
GIVEAWAY
Enter to win a Skin Essence Organics Facial Care Set (pictured in the above photo) by filling out this form before Thursday November 26th. Best of luck to everyone!
I also invite you to shop the Skin Essence Organics products here and use code “thegreenlife” to get 15% off your order. Shipping is free on orders over $50 in the US and Canada. They also offer worldwide shipping.
Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart.
This post was done in collaboration with Skin Essence Organics. All thoughts and opinions are my own and I absolutely love their line of products! Giveaway ends at 11:59 pm Eastern Time on November 26th. Open to Canada and US residents only.
The post Why You Should Switch to Natural Skin Care & Beauty Products (+ A Giveaway!) appeared first on The Green Life.