Hey guys!
A friend of mine asked my advice about makeup and skincare recently-which reminded me that I wanted to post about the products I use. Now I have never really had troublesome skin. Every now and then something will pop up on my face, but overall-pretty decent. I also never really had a skincare regimen growing up. I’d wash my face in the morning (with or without whatever face soap I could find in my house) before putting on my makeup and maybe-just maybe- believe it or not-at night before bed. I had a bad habit of doing that-luckily I never really wore much foundation. Anyways, my point is, I never had any specific routine with face wash that I followed. And who knows, maybe that’s why I never had many skin problems. Did you know that over 60% of anything you put on your skin is absorbed? Therefore it makes sense that when you put chemicals ON your skin constantly, it will be unbalanced and will try to compensate and become too dry or too oily. I read somewhere a while back something saying that if you can’t eat it, you shouldn’t put it on your skin. While I believe this, I still do use natural exfoliating products that I’ll discuss below. But anything full of chemicals-I try to avoid as much as possible.
The same goes for deodorant. I never liked the way it felt under my arms or the way it made me smell. I felt icky wearing it honestly. It didn’t feel natural to me. So I never wore it beyond trying it a few times-and guess what? I still don’t wear it and I still don’t feel that I need it. And trust me-I have asked many close people if I’m crazy for thinking I don’t need it and the reaction is always the same- “You always smell good to me!” or “I’ve never noticed anything that would make me think you weren’t wearing deodorant.” And while I realize I don’t ALWAYS smell like roses, I still feel better not wearing any. There’s a short little hippie inside me hehe Joking aside though, most deodorants contain aluminum-which is highly toxic to our bodies-so rubbing that under our arms near our breasts and lymph nodes just doesn’t fly by me. Many brands do make some that do not contain aluminum so my suggestion here is that if you feel you need deodorant -check those out. 2 popular brands that can be found in many drugstores and groceries make some that smell nice: “Tom’s of Maine” and “J/A/S/O/N”. LUSH (which I talk about below) also makes very nice all-natural deodorant bars! They even have a Patchouli-scented one. Eat your hearts out, my hippie friends. 🙂
Now back to my face. Last year, I ran out of my store brand “Clean n Clear” or whatever-it-was face wash that I had been using in the mornings. I got lazy and kept forgetting to buy more. A month or so went by and all I had been doing was rinsing my face off in the shower with just water and then using a clean wet towel afterward to really scrub it a little-And then quickly washing it before bed with just water and a clean towel. I noticed a difference in my skin-it felt healthier and looked clearer than before and I had zero zits pop up. So I decided this was what I was going to do from now on! Who knew beauty could come so inexpensively!?
Over the last year though, I felt I needed to exfoliate because I’d always loved how my skin felt after this. So I read online that taking baking soda and water and making a paste in your hand works great on your face. So I tried it and it honestly does. My face felt clean and smooth and I knew there were no harsh chemicals invading my pores. If you do this, always use Baking Soda that does not contain aluminum. Bob’s Red Mill Baking Soda does NOT contain aluminum and does NOT test on animals. I have been using Whole Foods 365 brand but am having trouble finding out if they test on animals or not. I bought it assuming they do not, being Whole Foods, but am finding it hard to find info on it. If anyone knows anything about this-let me know! (After posting this, a friend of mine who works at Whole Foods tweeted Whole Foods asking about this, and they do NOT test on animals! Yay! Thanks, again Jess!). Arm & Hammer does not contain aluminum, but they DO test on animals, from what I’ve read. So stay away from that for sure. Also, I try to avoid parabens. These are a preservatives used in cosmetics and by pharmacutical companies. They are linked to cancers such as breast cancer and are toxic to our bodies. I recently read an article about a study done where doctors inspected the tissues of breast cancer tumors from patients who died and confirmed that in ALL of them there were parabens in the tumors. Scary stuff.
Moving on, another friend of mine introduced me to LUSH about 6 months ago! Oh my goodness…heaven 🙂 (www.lush.com) Most of their products are made from natural ingredients that you will recognize like rose oil, sea salt, coconut oil, and avocado, to name a few. They do not test on animals and the majority of their products are vegan except for a few that contain honey. So I started out by buying “Dark Angels” face scrub. It’s charcoal black and feels like mud/sand. It smells amazing and exfoliates wonderfully! This is actually made for oily skin, but I have normal skin and I find it still works great! I also bought “UltraBalm” because my lips always seem chappy. This stuff rules. I use it for so many things! It’s like a clean vaseline. The cool part about it is it’s made with jojoba oil which is an oil that most closely resembles our natural skin oils. I use it as lip balm, eye makeup remover, and I put it on my heels after buffing and scrubbing them and on my elbows. Some people put it on their eyelashes before bed and swear it makes them fuller and healthier. If you buy this glorious stuff, google about it because you will find lists upon lists of the awesome things you can do with it.
Ok, moving on to my next LUSH product! Ocean Salt scrub. You can use it on your face and body so I keep it in the shower. It’s like a margarita on your face! It’s full of different salts and it has sweet and saltiness and as you rinse it off your face-you taste the salt and its just great! It also contains vodka as an astringent! Too fun! It feels great though.
LUSH also makes fun bath bombs! I personally didn’t want to buy each bomb for $3-$8 each, so I found recipes online and made my own! But I’m saving that for another post! Stay tuned!
And then there’s the beloved Organic Cold-Pressed Coconut Oil! I have read/seen countless blog posts, YouTube vids, articles, etc. about how great coconut oil is for your skin. So I bought some recently. I used it as yummy lip balm and plan on using it for my face in some way and on my legs.
Something else I’d also like to mention is that my skin again changed for the better once I gave up dairy around 5 months ago. This has to be the best my skin has ever been for an extended period of time. It’s more supple and smooth and I think I’ve had one minor zit pop up since-and whaddaya know-it was right after the holidays filled with sugary treats! It’s all connected my friends. What you put into your body, shows on the outside.
So there you have it. The fun products I use! If you guys use anything that’s cruelty-free, all natural, and vegan please let me know! I’m just a girl and I love fun beauty tips!
XOXO Kelli
Sprout New Roots 