So, you’ve read the science. You’re totally on board with the green beauty revolution. But where do you begin? Don’t worry, it’s really not as hard as it seems. And I’ve been scouring all the resources, so my hard work will hopefully make it easier for you. Today, I’ll give you the information you need to get started (hint hint- avoid the toxic ten) & walk you through my process for transitioning quickly.
The first step is to arm yourself with info. Hopefully, you read my previous post on why I’m switching to green beauty. In that post, I outlined some of the scientific & personal reasons that I am making the switch. If not, be sure to check it out because I link to a lot of great resources and research.
But if you’re thinking, “Um, girl, that was a book… I just want to know what to get rid of”
Don’t worry, I got you.
We’ve all heard of the Dirty Dozen + Clean 15 as it pertains to buying organic produce. Well, I think a similar principle can be applied to green beauty. There are the Big Time No-Nos which I think are most important to keep in mind when you’re first transitioning. Once you’ve got a number of your products transitioned and you’re feeling braver, you may want to begin keeping an eye out for a much more extensive list of unfriendly ingredients. Because man is that list long.
Start Here – The Toxic Ten
- DEA/TEA/MEA
- PEGs
- Parabens
- Phenoxyethanol
- Sodium Laurel Sulfate (SLS) or Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES)
- Synthetic Dyes
- Propylene glycol
- Phthalates ( dimethyl phthalate or diethyl phthalate)
- Triclosan
- Fragrance or Parfum/Perfume
- EXCEPTION: Natural fragrances from essential oils and plant extracts are great, use those.
So, at this point you’re probably thinking, “ok- I get it, my products are the devil, but what do I do?”
Three steps to start your transition
Get Organized
I don’t know about you, but I feel the need to get my thoughts and processes organized before I take on any new endeavor. So, first I recommend you do an inventory. In fact, I would go so far as to say this is a non-negotiable, and here’s why; you’re situation may not be a dire as you initially think. Over the last several years I have made little changes here & there to the products that I use. I’ve done this either because of sensitivities or at the recommendation of friends, and even at the recommendation of my hair guy (I’m a curly girl). These recommendations were unrelated to the toxic ingredients, but rather because of how well they performed. In doing an inventory I immediately felt more at ease & less overwhelmed. Rather than thinking “omg, I’ve got to throw everything out!” I was able to see that I was most of the way there already. I needed the win. And I bet you’ll find that you have a similar situation.
Once you know which items you want to replace with green beauty products, it’s merely a matter of choosing your adventure. You can certainly throw everything away and start over from scratch, but I don’t recommend it. I don’t recommend this for two reasons: first, just because its a green beauty product doesn’t mean you’ll like it, or that it’ll address your needs. And second, that can be a really expensive decision and take all the fun out of discovering new products. Hey, just because you’re making a transition from conventional beauty to green beauty doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy the discovery.
I chose, and recommend, Adventure B. I picked a few categories at a time, trying out new products until I found some that I loved— or at least liked enough to make them the current staple — and then moved on to the next category. This route, in particular, works well because it makes the process a whole lot more digestible and lessens the chance of becoming overwhelmed. So how can you begin this process today?
Get Sorted
There are a million ways to do this, but I’ll share exactly how I sorted things out.
It only took about an hour. I went into my bathroom and pulled out all of my personal care products, from hair care to feminine hygiene and (everything in between). Looking at the ingredient lists, I scanned each product until I saw the first “No-No” ingredient and then I set that product into an appropriate swap pile.
The three piles on my bathroom floor were: Keep – Swap ASAP – Swap ASA-reasonably-Possible.
There were several products that looked really good. In fact, I had to get all the way to the bottom of the ingredient list before I saw “Fragrance.” Those products got their own pile because I felt that they were a lower priority swap. And if I had a product that was practically new, it also went into the lower priority pile or the”Swap ASA-reasonably-Possible pile. You won’t find me telling anyone to throw away their hard earned money. Sure, some items I threw away because I found replacements pretty quickly, but the point is I was willing to pace myself. This is the long game, you want to make sure you stay the course, so be willing to pace yourself.
And finally, Set a game plan
Once I had everything organized into their respective piles I returned the “keeps” to their homes, then made a list of the lower priority swaps before returning them to their homes, as well, and lastly, I further prioritized the “swap asap” pile. This pile was the most important because it was the pile that would dictate my next steps. An example of something that was a lower priority swap for me was a replacement for my everyday face makeup, a tinted moisturizer. It’s been winter and I’ve been basically hibernating, so I haven’t been wearing makeup daily anyway. A higher priority swap for me was mascara because I do wear that regularly. The thing that made this swap easier is that I have naturally long and curly lashes, so I’m not really particular about what I use, just so long as I have something. Figure out what your easy wins are and attack those first. Having a game plan to capitalizes on both easy wins and high priority swaps is a recipe for success.
And there you have it. Its really not that hard once you break it all down, but remember big changes require baby steps. Next up in the Green Beauty series, I’ll share the four products I think you should swap first. Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss it.
Until next time.
Xo, Kimberly Fe'Lix
