I think most women would agree — we deserve beauty products that make us feel as lovely as they make us look. When applying that lotion, or blending that blush, we shouldn’t have to worry about harming our health!

But how and where to begin? Just thinking about adapting a cleaner beauty regimen can be overwhelming.

In speaking with friends and family through the years, I’ve grown to understand the many obstacles to transitioning products. Top obstacles named include a lack of time, concerns over product efficacy and intimidating prices.

I can relate to all of these concerns, because, at one time or another, I too have experienced each one.

I first became interested in seeking natural products about eight years ago. Back then, there weren’t as many healthy options available; nor was it as easy to access information. My personal path was a meandering one, involving much frustration and a significant amount of wasted time and money.

Through my experiences, I’ve developed a passion for helping others travel a smoother path. As I curate ideas for helping others, I reflect on how to approach this transition more efficiently.

And because I believe safer beauty is for everyone, I focus on resources and ideas that are cost-conscious, along with strategies for discovering affordable product options. I hope to demonstrate how, with a little research, we can discover safer beauty products that work well and are actually equivalent in price to their more toxic counterparts!

Embarking upon a quest for safer products is certainly intimidating, but it’s a worthwhile undertaking. As women, we can have a big impact. A 2019 article from Forbes, reported that “women drive 70-80% of all consumer purchase decisions.” And with the US beauty industry accounting for roughly $93 billion in consumer spending, the sum impact of our choices is powerful.

When we choose to support safer products, we are creating the demand for a better supply.

So if you’re ready for a change, check-out my five first steps below, and empower yourself to make healthier choices!

Five Steps to Launch Your Safer Beauty Journey

• Step 1: Establish a New Habit — Read Ingredients
• Step 2: Discover the Environmental Working Group (EWG)
• Step 3: Make a Plan
• Step 4: Consider Simplifying
• Step 5: Swap Your First Product

US beauty manufacturers have admitted to using 88 chemicals, in more than 73,000 products, that are “linked to cancer, birth defects or reproductive harm.”

If that doesn’t motivate us to start checking labels, what will?

Keeping track of all of these chemicals isn’t easy, but I find it helpful to hone in on some of the more troublesome classes.

Four Ingredients to Learn and to Avoid:

1. Phthalates:
   • Concerns: Hormone disruption and reproductive harm
   • May appear as: Dibutyl and diethylhexyl phthalates
2. Formaldehyde:
   • Concerns: A carcinogen
   • May appear as: Paraformaldehyde, Methylene glycol (a type of formaldehyde), Quaternium 15 (releases formaldehyde)
3. Parabens:
   • Concerns: Hormone disruption and reproductive harm
   • May appear as: Isobutyl and isopropyl parabens
4. Synthetic Fragrance:
   • Concerns: This ingredient description can conceal chemicals like Parabens and Phthalates, and can affect the immune system and allergies
   • May appear as: Fragrance, parfume

In promising news, this June the California Assembly passed Bill AB-2762, also know as the Toxic-Free Cosmetic Act. If approved, it will ban the sale of cosmetics containing 12 toxic ingredients. You can read the entire Bill, and learn about the ingredients its authors have deemed most concerning here.

Luckily, the Environmental Working Group can help. The EWG is a “non-profit, non-partisan organization” working to protect our health and environment. Their team of scientists review beauty and personal care products, and produce scores, on a scale of 1-10, based upon the safety of their ingredients. These scores can be accessed by all, free of charge, through their ‘Skin Deep’ Database.

Visit the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Database here.

Can’t find your product? They offer an additional tool called, Build Your Own Report, which generates a customized score for your ingredients.

These independent scores empower consumers to compare ingredients and products across brands, and to see beyond clever marketing facades. If you haven’t utilized their database before, prepare for some surprises! Products marketed as ‘natural’ or ‘healthy’ may be scored as anything but.

In addition to exploring their website, I recommend downloading their free app, EWG Healthy Living Powered by Skin Deep and Food Scores.

As with anything in life, the EWG isn’t perfect. There are some ingredients that concern me more than their team of scientists, and others that concern me less. It’s important that you bring your own opinions to the table as you consider their scores. This organization provides useful tools for discerning healthier options, but, ultimately, only you can determine which ingredients and products are right for you.

Start Small: Focus on transitioning one product at a time. I recommend waiting until a product is running low, then making a plan for how you will replace it. This way, nothing goes to waste, and you won’t incur additional expenses.

By developing a strategic plan and focusing on one product at a time, you can avoid wasting money and becoming overwhelmed.

Questions to consider:

• As you discover more about the ingredients in your personal care products, does it change how you feel about any of your lotions/serums/masks/sprays?
• Does each still serve a clear and essential purpose?

Don’t feel you have to answer these questions right away, but do revisit this idea of simplifying. Personally, I like to seek out natural products that can serve multiple functions in my regimen. Making even a few cuts, here and there, could result in reduced exposure to toxins, monetary savings, and less physical and mental clutter.

Seeking inspiration? Here are a few things I’ve discovered I can, quite contentedly, live without:

• Perfume (Replaced with rose water)
• Astringent/Toner (Replaced with rose water)
• Acne Creams (Replaced with rose water)
• Make-up remover and wipes (Replaced with rosehip seed oil)
• Hair Spray (Outside of special occasions, my hair holds well with a light tease)
• Nail Salons: I’ve forsaken nail salons, and have been painting my own piggies — for better or worse — for the past six years (More on that journey to come)

How I Swap:

Here are the three criteria I consider as I search for healthier products:

1. Ingredient Safety
2. Product Performance
3. Product Price

In my opinion, considering each of these three factors is essential to ensuring a successful and sustainable journey.

You might love the idea of a more natural product (ingredient safety), but if it doesn’t work (performance), you won’t love the reality of using it! And if you are currently spending $10 for mascara, you may not have room in your budget to begin spending $20 (price).

So before you start searching, I recommend setting parameters for each factor. To help you generate yours, I thought I’d share my personal guidelines below:

1. Ingredient Safety: I prefer to use products that garner a score of a 1 or 2 from the EWG. I have a few additional ingredient parameters as well. For example, I won’t purchase any products that list ‘fragrance’ or ‘parfume’ as an ingredient (synthetic fragrance).
2. Product Performance: I look for products with 4 stars or greater on Amazon or Ulta. Even if I don’t purchase there, I visit for insights on product performance.
3. Product Price: Because we are currently a single-income family, I look for makeup products priced at $15 and under.

With your newly established guidelines in mind, here are two options for discovering your first favorite swap:

Option I: Search a Familiar Brand: Most are probably familiar with the widely available, naturally-focused brand, Burt’s Bees. Starting with a familiar brand can help keep things simple!

Just be sure to verify that any new item meets your parameters for safety!

Unfortunately, even brands that focus on ‘natural’ beauty can produce outliers that may not meet your ingredient standards. It’s important to stay vigilant in checking the ingredients for each item, rather than blindly trusting any one brand.

I’ve outlined two scenarios below to illustrate this point.

Scenario 1: Imagine the first item on your list of priorities is eyeliner. You pull up the EWG website, and enter ‘Burt’s Bees’ + ‘eyeliner’ into the search field.

You’ll find they offer a product called Burt’s Bees Nourishing Eyeliner. Let’s take a look at how this product measures-up to our 3 criteria:

• Ingredient Safety: An overall EWG score of ‘1’ (As of July 2020)
• Performance: 4.5 stars on Amazon
• Price: $9.27 with Prime Shipping on Amazon (As of July 2020)

As outlined above, Burt’s Bees Nourishing Eyeliner meets my personal parameters for safety, performance, and price.

In fact, I chose it as an example, because I am currently using this product in Soft Black, and would recommend it to others. I prefer a pencil liner to the commitment of a liquid, so this fits my needs. The eyeliner offers vibrant color, and lasts through the day without running.

Scenario 2: Let’s imagine the second item on your list is lipstick. To save time, you search for products by Burt’s Bees.

Unfortunately, this time, their lipstick products garner overall scores of ‘4’ and ‘5’ from the EWG.

This wouldn’t meet my personal guidelines for safety. So I’d need to try another brand.

Option II: Search From Scratch: This option involves a bit more leg work, but can be necessary if the brand you had in mind doesn’t fit your criteria.

I like to view starting from scratch as a fun adventure; I can uncover new brands and bring my own ideas to the process.

In this scenario, here are the steps I’d take when starting from scratch:

1. Open the EWG ‘Skin Deep’ App or Website
2. In the search field, enter ‘lipstick’
3. Filter the results from ‘Best to Worst’ so that those with the best scores appear first
4. Begin reviewing the search results; once you spot a product of interest, look it up online to gauge the price
5. Too expensive? Move on down the line!
6. Don’t become discouraged; I promise we can find something in your price range
7. Once you find a product with the right score and price, check performance reviews
8. Only 3 stars? Back to the EWG list…
9. And so it goes, until a lipstick meets all 3 criteria

This process can be time consuming. But it won’t last forever! Once you find a product you love, you can move on to transitioning others.

Should you meet with some frustration, consider taking a peek at these easy-to-implement recommendations: Curating Safer Beauty: Three Simple & Affordable Safer Product Swaps.

I understand the work that goes into curating your own healthier swaps, so I plan to share more of my favorite discoveries soon!

I hope these ideas prove helpful as you launch your safer beauty journey. There will always be more to do and more to learn, but in putting forth the continual effort to seek out safer options, we prioritize our health and maximize our purchasing power. Try to find the fun in this creative process, and remember that each small swap can add-up to big wellness rewards!