Amanda Cook

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9 tips to detox your beauty routine

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Do you want to detox your beauty routine? Reduce the amount of chemicals you put on your body?  Use greener products?

If you watched the Story of Cosmetics and want to clean up your act, here are 9 easy tips on how to green your beauty routine.

  1. Inventory what you actually use – Spend a few minutes on a product inventory.  What do you have? What do you actually use?  Rather than throwing out the unused products, maybe you can do a product swap with a friend.  Figure out what your essentials are, and then…
  2. Multitask – Lots of times one product can fill multiple needs.  Do you need separate moisturizer for body, feet and hands?  Or separate face, neck and eye creams?  How about using hair conditioner as shaving cream?  Or using some lipstick as a cheek color?
  3. Buy less stuff – Buying fewer products helps the environment (less packaging, shipping, chemical production), lessens your chemical exposure, and saves money.
  4. Go fragrance free – Fragrance in products is a labeling loophole that allows companies to include chemical compounds not listed in the ingredients!  If you want to lighten your chemical load, go fragrance-free in all of your products (except those made with natural essential oils, or ones you make yourself!)
  5. Learn which ingredients to avoid – Check out the Environmental Working Group’s tips to learn which ingredients to avoid.
  6. Swap your antiperspirant – You can read at length on the internet about whether antiperspirants are safe to use.  Since antiperspirants block the sweat glands, they might cause toxins to build up under the arms,  rather than sweating them out.  No one knows yet, but to be safe, swap your pore-blocking antiperspirant for a natural deodorant like The Crystal.
  7. Replace with a greener alternative – No need to throw out all of your existing products … just use them up, and then replace them with a greener alternative.
  8. Get crafty – Try making some products yourself.  Use honey as a face mask.  Make some toothpaste.  Or body lotion.  There are lots of recipes online.
  9. Skip the daily shampoo – Shampoo less often – you’ll use less product, save money, and probably improve your hair’s condition.  No need for texturizing hair products when you have a bit of natural texture!

How are you greening your beauty routine? Let us know in the comments.

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Comments

  1. I actually make my own deodorant from cornstarch, baking soda and coconut oil (and really the oil is optional, just dusting the powder under the arms works — but it shows, whereas the oil turns it into an invisible cream.) I found it works better than any other deodorant I ever used.

  2. I am so glad I stumbled upon your site. You address a lot of issues I am really concerned about but can’t seem to find others in my area that share these concerns. They must be somewhere. I am inspired by your attempts. It is one of my dreams to create a sustainable and healthy line of products and to educate others about the toxins carelessly used in the world.
    Keep up the great work and thanks for the inspiration. It is so refreshing to find others that are share similar concerns and interests!

  3. Honey facial cleanser, beer/ coconut milk conditioned hair, coffee+brown sugar body scrub… thats my beauty routine for now ;D

  4. I’ve been using crystal deodorant for awhile and like it, but it doesn’t block wetness, just makes it not smell. I would like something a little more powerful for certain times so I’m going to experiment with some homemade deodorant recipes though and will let you know if any of those are better!

    This article on finding a natural deodorant might be interesting for you to check out:
    http://www.gorgeouslygreen.com/deodorants-which-stick-works-best/

  5. I’m curious to know how the crystal deodorant is working as opposed to using an antiperspirant. Are you quite satisfied with the results and have you tried rigorous, sweat producing activity while wearing it? I’m just afraid to have too much underarm “wetness.”

    Also, love the idea of swapping products with friends!

    And, I know someone who did an experiment with rinsing hair daily, but not shampooing for a week. She said in the beginning, her hair texture was strange, but afterward it improved. Has anyone else tried this?