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How to Refresh and Detox Your Routine with Clean, Non-Toxic Beauty and Skin Care Products
What makes up your beauty routine? Many women use the same routine for years. They grow attached to certain products and brands and, while they may occasionally add a new product to the rotation, they tend to stick with what they know. If they aren’t sure about what they can use on their skin, some might even treat themselves to spa day or beauty treatment at one of the many spa and beauty experts around, for example, somewhere similar to Jeunesse Medi Spa.
Does that sound familiar?
If it does, then it might be time to try something new. The problem with using the same products for years is that it’s easy to lose track of two important things:
1. What’s in the products that you’re using; and
2. What alternatives are available.
Think about that first item. If you’ve been using the same night cream or concealer for years, you probably haven’t looked at the ingredients in a long time.
Get my list of Clean Beauty Brands + what harmful endocrine disrupting chemicals and other toxic ingredients you need to watch out for in your skin care and personal care products. Download the free guide now.
Do you know what dirty ingredients are hiding in your beauty products – and more importantly, do you know what they might be doing to your body?
Today, there are more non-toxic beauty and skin care products than ever before.
Many women are waking up to the risks associated with putting potentially hazardous chemicals on their skin and they’re insisting on clean and natural beauty and body care products with nourishing ingredients.
If you’re in search of green, safe beauty products to use, you’ve come to the right place.
The 30-day challenge we’re offering is one that will enable you to reboot your beauty regimen by getting rid of synthetic products that are packed with carcinogens, preservatives and other toxins and replace them with clean, safe products that will nourish your skin and have you looking your best.
Why You Need to Detox Your Beauty Routine
Let’s start by talking about why you need to do a beauty routine detox in the first place.
The truth is that you probably have no idea how many potentially harmful chemicals you put in or on your body every day.
The Environmental Working Group, a non-profit consumer health group, did a study that showed that the average women uses a total of 12 beauty products each day containing an average of 168 chemicals.
If that number shocks you, you’re not alone.
While many of these chemicals might be relatively harmless, the law of averages says that some of them are likely to be unsafe to a degree.
Here are some of the categories of chemicals that you need to be wary of using:
Petroleum derivatives are often found in body lotions and moisturizers. They include mineral oil, which used to be known as deodorized kerosene!
Parabens can affect your hormone levels and disrupt your body’s chemistry.
Polyunsaturated oils, or PUFAs, include sunflower oil and apricot kernel oil. They can also cause hormonal imbalances and skin damage.
Phthalates are inexpensive chemicals that are added to fragrances to make them last longer – but they are also hormone disruptors and particularly bad for women.
Aluminum is often used in deodorants and antiperspirants. It blocks the pores and may accumulate in breast tissue.
These are just a few examples, but they illustrate the problem. Every chemical you put into your body has some effect.
Do you really want to fill your beauty routine with products that might be doing far more harm than good?
We’ve put together some recommendations for you to use, but if you are unsure about a product that you use currently, you can check out Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetic Database for the skinny on how safe your favorite products are.
Chemical-Laden Products to Replace with Clean Beauty Products
Now let’s look at the most common categories of beauty products and talk about why you need to replace them.
For each category, we’ll include some of the nasty ingredients to watch out for and what you can safely replace them with, as well as some specific brand and product recommendations. From what I am told, Estee Lauder continue to wow their customers with their innovations and provide some clean beauty products.
Body Lotion
Your skin is the largest organ in your body and it’s also exposed to many chemicals, irritants and pollutants in the course of a day.
You might not be able to control environmental pollution, but you can certainly replace your current moisturizer with a safer alternative.
The ingredients that are most problematic in body lotions include:
Petroleum products such as mineral oil, paraffin wax, petrolatum, and polyethylene glycol. They may be contaminated with carcinogens, they reduce the body’s ability to flush out toxins, and they don’t even really moisturize your skin.
Fragrances can be natural, but many lotions that are scented contain phthalates, which can accumulate in your body.
Phenoxyethanol is a synthetic preservative to that is a known irritant and allergen.
Parabens are a known hormone disruptor.
PUFAs such as almond oil, apricot kernel oil, sesame oil, sunflower oil, and soybean oil may cause damage to the skin.
Instead of these ingredients, look for:
Monounsaturated oils such as coconut oil or macadamia nut oil
Shea butter
Essential oils
One product we like is Ylang Ylang Spa Lotion from Juice Beauty.
Its main ingredients are jojoba oil and evening primrose oil, organic apple, grape and aloe juices, and ylang.
Skin Cleanser
The next products you should consider replacing are your facial cleanser and body wash. Since these are also products that get used every day – and sometimes more than once — it’s important to make sure that you are using green and clean products that won’t harm your skin.
The ingredients that you should avoid in facial and body cleansers include:
Sulfates, including two of the biggest offenders, sodium laurel sulfate and sodium laureth sulfate. These ingredients are there to create lather and give your skin a squeaky-clean feeling, but they also can irritate your eyes, cause dermatitis, and make it easier for other chemicals to be absorbed through your skin.
PUFAs and petroleum products, as previously mentioned.
Triclosan is an anti-bacterial ingredient that can mess with your hormonal balance and also helps bacteria become more resistant to antibiotics.
Some clean alternatives to these ingredients include:
Glycerin
Essential oils
It’s also a good idea to look for cleansers that market themselves as being sulfate free. One product we like is Hydraganics Daily Facial Cleansing Cloths from Ogee Cosmetics. The primary ingredients are aloe juice, bilberry extract, oat kernel extract, and honey.
If you want to replace your body wash, try the Plant-Based Hand & Body Wash from Sattva Pure. It has glycerin and calendula extract, it’s free of sulfates, petroleum products, and parabens, and it comes in a total of seven scents: sweet orange, lime, lavender, rosemary mint, peppermint, ginger lemongrass, and pineapple coconut.
Shampoo and Conditioner
Shampoo and conditioner keep your hair clean, soft, and shiny – but they are also often repositories for a huge conglomeration of hazardous ingredients and chemicals.
Since you need to wash your hair regularly, let’s review some of the most scary ingredients that appear in shampoos and conditioners and talk about some alternatives.
Sulfates, including sodium laurel sulfate and sodium laureth sulfate, as mentioned earlier.
Fragrances, which may include phthalates.
Silicone, a common ingredient in conditioners
PUFAs
Here again, the key is to buy products that are sulfate-free and (in the case of conditioner) silicone-free.
One line of hair care products we like comes from 100% Pure, an organic beauty company. Their Virgin Coconut & Honey shampoo and conditioner are both free of sulfates, synthetic fragrances, and detergents.
They get their cleaning and restoring power from all-natural ingredients such as virgin coconut oil, honey, aloe juice, and rose centifolia flower water.
Cosmetics
Many women are reluctant to make the switch from regular cosmetics to natural cosmetics. For a long time, natural cosmetics were definitely sub-par products. They smelled funny, the ingredients separated, and they didn’t last as long or work as effectively as other products.
However, if you wear makeup every day – or even just on special occasions – it’s worth taking a step back and considering what you’re putting on your face.
Here are some potentially harmful endocrine disrupting ingredients found in cosmetics:
Silicones find their way into all kinds of cosmetics, including foundations, crème blushes and eyeshadows, and more. Some of the specific ingredients to look out for include dimethicone, cyclopentasiloxane, cyclohexasiloxane, phenyl trimethicone and methicone. Manufacturers add silicones to make their products feel silky smooth on your skin, but silicones have been shown to interfere with the way your skin regulates itself and gets rid of dead skin cells.
Synthetic fragrances are also commonly added to makeup even though few of us expect our blush or mascara to be scented. As mentioned previously, some fragrances can irritate the skin and eyes, and some may contain phthalates.
Talc is often added to makeup to give skin a smooth, matte finish. However, talc can be toxic if inhaled and has been linked to respiratory problems. Talc may also sometimes be contaminated with other substances, including asbestos.
Instead of using cosmetics with these ingredients, try looking for foundation that includes silica, a natural mineral powder, and products that include botanical extracts and essential oils.
We like Honest Beauty’s line of cosmetics, which contain natural ingredients.
Other Products to Consider Replacing
Before we share our 30-day Beauty Detox Challenge, here are some other conventional beauty products that you may want to consider replacing with greener, cleaner alternatives:
Skin toner
Deodorant
Sunscreen
Toothpaste
Hair styling products such as gel and hairspray
We recommend taking a complete inventory of the products you use. At the very least, it’s a good idea for women to eliminate ingredients that can mess with their hormones, such as the three Ps: paraben, PUFAs, and phthalates.
Again, you don’t have to change out every product for a natural alternative. But in our beauty cleanse, we’ll give you plenty of ideas for DIY beauty products and beauty hacks that can help you eliminate toxic endocrine disrupting chemicals from your beauty routine without spending a ton of money to do it.
Get my list of Clean Beauty Brands + what harmful endocrine disrupting chemicals and other toxic ingredients you need to watch out for in your skin care and personal care products. Download the free guide now.
The 30-Day Challenge
Now, without further ado, let’s get started with our 30-day challenge. Each day, we’ll provide you with a beauty tip, hack, or DIY product to try, and some brand and product recommendations if you’d rather buy products to try.
We’ll also let you know which brands offer free samples and trial packages so you can test them out first.
Day 1: Rethink Your Body Lotion
If you want to switch out your body lotion but don’t want to spend a ton of money, consider buying a jar of organic extra virgin coconut oil. You can buy it at the supermarket or health food store, and it’s safe to use on your face and body.
Incidentally, coconut oil can also be used as an all-natural deep conditioner for your hair. It’s light, absorbs easily, and has a pleasant coconut scent that isn’t overwhelming.
Other moisturizers we like include the moisturizing line from Michael Todd Beauty. This brand also sells cleansers, toners, skin serums, and complete skincare regimens. They don’t offer free samples, but there are trial sizes of some of their best-selling products available.
Day 2: Use Green Sunscreen
One of the best things you can do for your skin now and in the long-term is to wear sunscreen every day. Of course, a lot of conventional sunscreens contain harmful ingredients such as parabens.
One line of clean sunscreen products we like is from Derma-e. Their products include zinc oxide, a natural skin protectant, along with essential oils and other safe ingredients.
Keep in mind that you should use sunscreen every day, even during the winter. It’s never too cold for your skin to sustain sun damage.
Day 3: Detox and Manicure Your Nails
DIY manicures can be hard to get right unless you have a lot of time – and very steady hands. To get a trendy graduated manicure, try this hack from The Beauty Thesis.
Apply multi-colored nail polish in the design you want to a makeup sponge. Then, simply press the sponge to your nail to apply the color. You can find a pictorial showing how to do it here.
Speaking of nail polish, two green brands we like include ZOYA Nail Polish, Mineral Fusion Nail Polish, and RGB Nail Color.
Day 4: Make a DIY Skin Toner
Do you want a quick and easy skin toner that you can make at home? Organic apple cider vinegar is the key ingredient here. You can make it simply by mixing one part apple cider vinegar with two parts distilled water.
You can put the mixture into a spray bottle and spritz it on, or keep it in a regular bottle or jar and use a cotton ball to apply it.
If DIY isn’t your style, consider one of the toning products from Juice Beauty. They also sell serums, moisturizers, hair care products and more – and they have travel sizes available, too.
Day 5: Soften Up Your Feet
Don’t neglect your feet while you’re revamping your beauty routine.
You can soften up your feet overnight by following these steps:
1. Take a shower or bath
2. Exfoliate your feet using a scrub or gentle rasp
3. Put a gentle, natural moisturizer on your feet (an unscented natural lotion with a drop of peppermint oil is a good choice, or plain coconut oil works too)
4. Put on a pair of fluffy socks
5. Got to sleep
The moisturizer will soak into your feet overnight and you’ll wake up with baby-soft feet.
Day 6: Repair Your Hair
Today, try a DIY hair mask. This is a particularly good remedy if your hair is dry and brittle. This simple mask has only four ingredients:
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Coconut oil
- Almond milk or regular milk
- Banana
You can find a video demonstrating how to make this simple mask below
And if you prefer some hair repair products that you don’t have to make at home, consider the products from Just Natural Skin Care.
Day 7: Hydrate
Today’s beauty tip is a very simple one.
Do you drink enough water?
The chances are good that you don’t – because most of us don’t.
The fact is that water is your body’s best ally when it comes to detoxifying your body. As you make a break from conventional cosmetics and rid your body of toxins, you need to give those harmful ingredients somewhere to go.
The typical recommendation is 64 ounces of water per day. However, depending on how much you weigh, that may not be enough.
A better formula to use is to drink between ½ and one ounce of water for each pound you weigh.
In other words, a person who weighed 140 pounds would need between 70 and 140 ounces of water per day.If you live in a cool climate and don’t exercise heavily, you can probably drink less.
But, if you sweat a lot, you’ll need to steer closer to the high end of that range to make sure you don’t get dehydrated.
Day 8: Try Some Natural Beauty Products for Free
Are you still unconvinced that natural beauty products are the way to go? Maybe you’re skittish about trying something new when you know the products you use now work.
Here’s a painless way to try out a great brand. Honest Beauty offers a free beauty trial so you can check out their products for yourself. They offer a full line of skin care, hair care, and cosmetics.
Day 9: Make Your Own Cuticle Oil
Keeping your cuticles looking great can be a real struggle – and it’s easy to spend a ton of money on expensive nail care products that do more harm than good.
Today, make a change by whipping up a batch of DIY cuticle oil using this free printable. All you need is coconut oil and a few essential oils (plus beeswax if you want to make the lotion version.)
Just a few minutes of time provides you with an all-natural, inexpensive cuticle oil that will prevent your cuticles from peeling and cracking.
Day 10: Pamper Your Skin with a Mask
Whether your skin is dry, oily, or somewhere in between, using a facial mask can be a great way to refresh and restore it.
We particularly like the line of facial masks from MyChelle dermaceuticals. If you have dry skin, try their Hydrating Cactus Mask. And for oily skin, try their Clear Skin Cranberry Mud Mask, which uses cranberry extract, colloidal sulfur, and a host of botanicals to absorb excess oil and revitalize your skin.
Day 11: Add Honey to Your Beauty Regimen
Oh, honey. Did you know that honey is one of the most versatile products around when it comes to enhancing your natural beauty?
It’s true.You can use honey as is to fade scars, heal blemishes, and moisturize your skin.
Mixed with a few other simple ingredients, it becomes an exfoliating scrub, a gentle bath soak, or a hair mask. Click here to find 16 incredible ways to use honey to detoxify your beauty routine.
Day 12: Sniff the Stress Away
Real outer beauty starts on the inside.
Let’s face it – when you feel good, you also look good.
But how can you shed the stress of the day without compromising your new beauty regimen?
We think the answer is using one of La Isha’s Personal Aromatherapy Sniffers. With fun names like Not Tonight Honey, Sharp as a Tack, and C’mon Get Happy, these handy products can help you banish headaches, get a good night’s sleep, or destress after a long day at work.
In addition to aromatherapy, La Isha sells facial creams and scrubs, body cremes, and they offer a travel size skin care sampler if you want to try several of their products for a low price.
Day 13: Shield Your Hair from Heat Damage
If you blow dry, curl, or straighten your hair, then the chances are good that it’s sustained some damage as a result. Since we know you want beautiful, shiny, and touchable hair, use today to repair and strengthen your hair.
This hair protecting treatment from Just Natural Skin Care contains nourishing coconut oil, olive oil, and kukui nut oil to restore your hair’s natural shine and softness. Use it now to replenish your hair – and on an ongoing basis to prevent future damage.
Day 14: Create a Sleep Schedule
One of the best things you can do to make sure that your natural beauty shines through is getting your beauty rest. Most of us don’t get enough sleep, and that can lead to under-eye circles, dull-looking skin and hair, and a general lack of pep and energy.
To make sleep part of your beauty routine, set up a sleep schedule and stick to it. That means paying attention to how long you sleep when you don’t have to get up in the morning and working backward to determine what time you should go to bed.
It’s also a good idea to go to bed at the same time every night and get up at the same time each morning. That way, your body will settle into a routine and you’ll always feel well-rested.
Day 15: Mineralize Your Makeup
Makeup with minerals in it is a great alternative to products containing harmful talc and other toxins. We really love the Minerals Multi-Purpose Foundation from Ann Marie Gianni. Safer than conventional beauty products, this foundation comes in 8 shades, or you can mix to create a custom shade.
Day 16: Get Rid of Dead Skin
Do you have dry, rough skin on your knees and elbows? Try this super-simple treatment to soften and exfoliate your skin.
Cut an orange in half and rub it on the rough patches of skin. The natural acid in the orange will soften the skin and remove dead skin cells in a flash. And as a bonus, it smells great, too!
Day 17: Plump Up Your Lips
In cold or hot weather, your lips can dry out, chap, and even peel. Using a natural lip moisturizer can help your lips stay plump, smooth, and sexy.
Try the Sculpted Lip Oil from Ogee for a luxurious shine that keeps your lips looking great. The key ingredients are jojoba oil, coconut oil, peppermint oil, and beeswax.
Day 18: Make Homemade Shower Scrub
Speaking of exfoliating, you might want to know how to make a quick and easy all-over body scrub that you can use in the shower. Here’s all you need to do:
- Mix two parts olive oil with one part natural sea salt
- Put in a jar
It’s that easy! Simply scoop out a small amount of the scrub and apply it gently, rubbing in circles to remove dead skin. Rinse, and when you towel off, your skin will be silky smooth.
Day 19: Soothe Your Tired Eyes
It would be great if we could always stick to a sleep schedule, but what can you do when work commitments or a special occasion dictate a late night out?
Instead of resigning yourself to puffy eyes in the morning, try stashing your eye cream in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning, the cold cream will sooth your tired eyes.
One cream we recommend is the Green Apple Brightening Eye Cream from Juice Beauty. If you would like to try a more alternative option, then this CBD Eye Cream is a vegan and organic cream which contains a wide range of cannabinoids and essential oils to help soothe inflammed and puffy eyes. It can be found at cannaunion.com.
Day 20: Tan and Protect at the Same Time
If you want to look sun-kissed without spending a ton of money or damaging your skin, try mixing a bit of organic sunscreen such as this SPF 30 with a sprinkling of mineral-based bronzer. You’ll get a dewy glow in an instant!
Day 21: Exercise Your Face
Beauty products are useful – and we love them – but sometimes you need an alternative.
Instead of using products to reduce wrinkles, why not try some face yoga?
Yoga relaxes the body and mind. It also works the muscles of the face which helps to tone them and support the skin around them.
Watch this video to find out which exercises can help tone your face and neck.
Day 22: Deodorize Naturally
Many deodorants contain aluminum, harsh fragrances, and other toxins. Of course, you want to smell good, but natural deodorants can work surprisingly well.
We really like this Lavender Tangerine Deodorant from Leaves of Trees. It comes in a tube, and all you have to do is apply a small amount under your arms in the morning and it will keep you smelling great all day.
Day 23: Get the Beach Look
Do you want beachy waves in your hair without visiting the beach?
Try this quick DIY recipe to get the results you want. Mix:
- 8 ounces spring water
- 1 tablespoon sea salt
- 8 drops lavender essential oil
Combine the three ingredients in a spray bottle. Spritz your hair while it’s damp and let it air dry. This will simulate the effects of a day at the beach!
Day 24: Splurge on a Beauty Product
Treat your skin to a luxurious moisturizing treatment that can help eliminate redness and acne and leave your skin feeling smooth and beautiful.
It’s the Rose Argan Oil from Leaves of Trees. It’s a splurge – but not every beauty tip has to be an inexpensive one. Treat yourself!
Day 25: Get Moving
Getting enough exercise is important to any beauty regime. Even if you don’t have time to hit the gym every day, try to get outside for a walk. Not only is walking great exercise that gets your blood moving, there are also real psychological benefits to walking.
It clears the mind and relieves stress.
Walking for 30 minutes a day at a brisk pace is enough to keep you feeling great.
Day 26: Clear Your Skin with an Egg Mask
Using natural products can help to clear your skin, but acne and blackheads can be incredibly stubborn – and some of us are more prone to them than others.
If that sounds familiar, watch this video to learn how to make a quick and easy egg mask.
Day 27: Peel and Refresh Your Face
Using a facial peel can be a good way to brighten your skin. The Overnight Peel from Derma-E is a good option to try.
This peel contains lemon and green tea extracts, and the company even offers a subscribe and save option if you want to get it at a reduced price.
Day 28: Pass the Mayo
Just because you don’t like mayonnaise on your sandwiches doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use it in your hair. If your hair is dry and damaged, try this quick and easy treatment to moisturize it and heal split ends.
Take one half cup of mayonnaise (use the full-fat kind, and preferably organic) and apply it to your hair. Comb it through to make sure each strand is coated.
Let it sit for 15 minutes, and then rinse it with cool water. Shampoo as usual (with a sulfate-free shampoo, of course) and your hair will be soft and silky.
Day 29: Banish Dandruff without Chemicals
If you have dandruff, then a DIY treatment might not be enough to take care of the problem. Instead, try this Scalp Relief Shampoo and Conditioner, which contains salicylic acid, coconut oil, and white willow bark. The gentle formula takes care of dandruff while protecting your sensitive scalp.
Day 30: Brighten Your Smile
To finish up our 30-day beauty challenge, let’s talk about how to get a white smile. While there are certainly plenty of commercial tooth whiteners available, many of them contain bleach and other toxins.
Instead, try making one of these four DIY whiteners, which use ingredients you probably already have, such as peroxide, baking soda, strawberries, apple cider vinegar, and bananas.
If are the type of person who isn’t in to DIY, then you could look to getting a Dentist to help you with getting your teeth white. If this is something that interests you then you could take a look at something like this Cosmetic Dentist Prices in Melbourne to give you a better idea of how much you would have to spend on this type of procedure.
There you have it! 30 days of natural beauty products, tips, and tricks that you can use to banish toxins and harsh chemicals from your beauty routine and reclaim your natural beauty.Are there some natural products you love that we missed? Tell us in the comments!
Get my list of Clean Beauty Brands + what harmful endocrine disrupting chemicals and other toxic ingredients you need to watch out for in your skin care and personal care products. Download the free guide now.