Now to culminate our spring cleaning series, let's cover a topic all women are dying to know: how your makeup and hair care choices can sabotage your efforts to lose weight and maintain your health. This is a topic so foreign to people's idea of health and weight management because it doesn't have anything to do with the foods we eat or the way we move our bodies. We automatically discredit it as something that has nothing to do with the health of our bodies because of that aforementioned association, or disassociation, rather. But nothing could be further from the truth. Remember the ideas I introduced in part one on skincare?
What we put on our skin is directly absorbed
into our bloodstream, with no filter.
So it would make sense that certain chemicals that we wouldn't ever consider ingesting could definitely play a role in our health if applied to the skin. If you'd like to know the link to toxic ingredients and your inability to lose weight, be sure to read part 1 and part 2 of this blog series.
Steer clear of these ingredients in any personal care product or cosmetics:
DMDM hydantoin
Diazolidinyl urea
Imidazolidinyl urea
Ceteareth
PEG and polyethylene
Avoid these chemicals found in hair products:
“Fragrance”
PEG, ceteareth, and polyethylene
Parabens: propyl, isopropyl, butyl, isobutyl
DMDM hydantoin
Avoid this ingredient in lip products: Retinyl palmitate or retinol.
Use the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep list...
Go here to get the details on the safety and concerns of the products you're currently using and to find the best choices that will have a better impact on your health and weight. You won't start seeing shifts in your weight immediately, but it has a big impact in the long-run. You just need to give your body time to adjust to the hormonal changes it will go through as you eliminate some of these toxins and hormone-disrupting substances.
My Personal Faves!
Let's start with Makeup...
Anything Mineral Fusion I pretty much love, from face tint to lipstick. It's EWG verified, so totally safe to use, and you'll find they're probably the most affordable of all my faves. My particular favorites are the sheer tint foundation, cream foundation, concealer, blushes & eye shadows, all things lips and eyeliners. The mascara is great quality, but it burns my eyes if I have any tears. You can buy MF here!
Seacret is my absolute FAVORITE mascara! It doesn't smudge, it lasts all day, it doesn't burn, and it even lasts in water for me. It comes off with warm water, so no need to scrub to get it off either. I've used both the curvy and straight brush and love them both. The curvy brush produces longer looking lashes, while the straight brush makes them look thicker and they both work. It's just hard deciding which one I like more! Ha! You can purchase it here. I usually stock up so I can qualify for the Seacret VIP program and save on shipping as well. That way you can also try both with a friend!
Young Living Essential Oils has a makeup line called Savvy Minerals which I'm crazy in love with! I can't believe the quality and love the different looks you can get when using the spray with the powder and amplifying the lipsticks with layering or powder application as well. You can customize it so your coverage looks different based on your unique needs (changing skin tone throughout the year, casual or more formal occasions). It's absolutely my favorite makeup and provides so many options for different skin tones. It's mostly powder-based, with liquid primers. It's also completely safe and very high quality, with some of the products having essential oils infused into them. They're not EWG verified because the agency hasn't tested these products yet. Contact me if you'd like to try any of the products. I'm glad to help and can send you information on all the color options!
W3LL PEOPLE is a brand I've just started trying as well. They are also EWG Verified and great quality. I particularly like the Bio Correct Concealer pictured here (left) and the Bio Brightener Invisible Powder pictured here (right). You can purchase the brand here.
Beauty Counter is another great brand that is EWG Verified. They make very high quality products as well. I've tried the Tint Skin Hydrating Foundation and liked it. It's a very light coverage liquid foundation. They place samples in Target stores from time to time, but you'd most likely need to contact a consultant to purchase. Feel free to contact me, as I know a few of their representatives I can put you in touch with, depending on where you're located.
On to hair...
This is a snapshot of what I use for my hair. You can get all of them here. Yes, I use a "man care" product for my hair. It smells delicious! The shampoos and conditioner also smell great without having any harmful fragrances in them. I love when I find something good FOR me and good TO me!
It can be hard to find good quality products that are safe too. It might take a little testing on your part to really find out what works best for you, but is that really any different than finding and testing "unsafe" products? Be patient and you'll find some amazing products you love and feel really good about using too!
Am I missing a product you'd like to know more about? Have you tested some safe options for yourself that you love? Please let us know in the comments below.
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To your health,
