How To Shop For Clean Beauty

Two years ago, I started doing a lot of research on what’s in my beauty cabinet and have been much more conscious about making better beauty choices.

Did you know that the average woman puts 168 chemicals on her body DAILY and that it takes just 26 seconds for these chemicals to be absorbed in the bloodstream?

Couple that with the fact that 1938 was the LAST year the USA passed a law to regulate the safety of ingredients in personal care products, which essentially means the industry is extremely unregulated and companies are essentially free to do whatever they want.

I’m certainly not perfect but I knew I could be doing better. MUCH better.

It’s taken a lot of trial-and-error (and money) to find cleaner beauty products that actually work. During the trial-and-error process I quickly learned that the words “natural, green and eco” literally have no enforceable definition, so doing my OWN research on each and every ingredient on the back of products and making my own informed decision was going to be essential.

Today I thought I’d share my process on how to shop for clean beauty if you’re also looking to tidy up your personal care routine.

I highly suggest and encourage you to do the research and make your own informed decisions, rather than blindly follow my advice. While I do my best to share only the most exceptional clean beauty products, I am not a trained professional… just a girl trying to reduce her toxic load!

How To Shop For Clean Beauty:

Resources:

EWG Website/APP– this is my go-to when it comes to making product decisions. EWG rates products based on the ingredients and associated risks on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being the best score and 10 being the worst). You can search by a product/brand name which is usually my first move. If the product or brand isn’t in the database, my second line of defense is to search each ingredient on the back of the product and make a decision based on what I find. I am GENERALLY comfortable using products or ingredients that score a 1-3 but I always check to make sure none of the ingredients contain hormone disruptors or carcinogens.
Think Dirty APP-I like to use this when I’m on the go and need to make a quick decision in-store. I love it because you can just scan the bar code of a product and get a quick ranking on how clean the ingredients are inside the product.
Another rule of thumb is to look for USDA-certified organic, Soil Association and the Leaping Bunny seals on packaging. These will guarantee a product is free from harmful synthetic ingredients, non-toxic, non-animal tested and GMO free, but plant based.

Favorite Clean Beauty Stores:

Top Ingredients To Avoid: