It’s easy to go to CVS and grab the same deodorant and body wash you’ve been using since eighth grade, that’s always advertised on TV with flawless women splashing water on their faces. Buying it is mindless, it’s cheap, and the product gets the job done. What you may not realize, however, is that these advertisements are misleading, and the companies are not telling you what the beautifully packaged product actually contains.
Everything from face wash to pimple cream to makeup can contain harmful chemicals that seep through your skin and into your body. Why would one want to diffuse these substances into your bloodstream? What benefits may they provide? Besides perhaps a nice winged eyeliner, there are very few—if any—positive results. In fact, these products can have an extremely detrimental effect on one’s health.
The processed food industry does the exact same thing. Although packaged foods may feature phrases on their bags such as “all-natural flavoring,” this actually just means the factories extracted sugar from a natural source (ie. fruit) and processed/refined it to maximize potency and sweetness until it no longer resembles its original form (and is far from natural). The industry’s goal is to make their products as sweet and as addictive as possible in order to force consumers to buy their products again and again.
So, toss these products aside and use organic skincare; eat locally sourced foods; do the right thing for your body. This may seem daunting at first, but there are countless influencers and resources who write about transitioning towards a healthy and organic lifestyle—which can be used as powerful sources of inspiration. Some gurus in this field are the renowned Gwyneth Paltrow and Kourtney Kardashian.
Gwyneth’s lifestyle, travel, food, and beauty blog dubbed Goop encourages one to take responsibility over health by refining every element of one’s life. Per Goop, “clean [beauty] means that we only sell non-toxic products that are made without ingredients linked to harmful health effects like hormone disruption, cancer, and plain-old skin irritation. To name a few, we screen for parabens, phthalates, PEGs, ethanolamines, chemical sunscreens, synthetic fragrance, BHT, and BHA.” While Goop is indeed a blog, it is also an online store that sells trusted beauty products and Goop’s personal beauty line, too. This is a great way to dip your toe into the clean-living world, since distinguishing between organic and harmful products is unnecessary here. Goop also provides a plethora of “goopified” recipes for cooking at home.
If you’re a Keeping Up with the Kardashians connoisseur, you may recall Kourtney’s sisters teasing her about her gluten free, ultra-healthy diet. So, she found a platform to preach what she’s passionate about. Poosh, created in 2019, advocates for a balanced lifestyle as an avenue to a healthy one. Indeed, Poosh is not for the “all or nothing” approach and says that “the very essence of healthy living is moderation.” From lifestyle tips to collagen additives, Poosh can serve as a great tool to transition into clean living.
EWG also has an app called “Healthy Living,” which helps with navigating the market and Sephora. One simply types in a product name, and the app generates a rating for how healthy, organic, or safe the item is to use. Their rating scale ranges from EWG verified (as clean as it gets) to a 6, which is not recommended for use. This is a great tool to keep track of how responsible your purchases, your kitchen, and your medicine cabinet are.
When it comes to grocery shopping, farmers markets are a great place to ensure you’re buying fresh and locally sourced produce. Grocery stores like Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and Plum Market also aim to sell healthy options that are as fresh as possible. Buying groceries and skincare products, as well as meals to keep in your fridge from these stores are also great options to explore. Looking flawless and satisfying your cravings are important but be conscious and do it responsibly.
Image Credit: Radiant Marketing