It might come to a surprise, but the multi billion dollar beauty industry is regulated with 1.5 page of literature…..and a federal law overseeing the chemicals in personal care products hasn’t been passed in over 80 years. Eight. Zero….

We wonder why more and more chronic illness pops up every single day, but with the wild west of the beauty world green-washing us into believing that what we are using is safe, it is a systemic failure. When it comes to what we put on our body every day, it matters. It matters a lot! Our skin is our largest organ and without awareness, we could be slathering on toxic chemicals that do in fact get into our bloodstream.

Truly clean beauty is made without ingredients proven or suspected to harm human health. I personally only seek out high-performing, strict ingredient selection process brands such as Beautycounter. I want to spend my money on products that I know will work without sacrificing my health. Whether it’s a body wash, anti-aging collection, vitamin C Serum, or easy simple makeup look, I want to look my best as I age and stay healthy while doing it! Thankfully, the clean beauty movement is expected to grow astronomically over the next few years so there’s less of an excuse for conventional beauty companies to keep making products with potentially harmful ingredients. AMEN TO THAT!

However, I know it’s hard to believe that conventional beauty companies include toxic chemicals in their products, but they do…and it’s still very legal to do so. Until a new federal law is approved, we will still be victims of harmful chemicals in our personal care. Like I shared at the beginning, conventional beauty and personal care industry is still minimally regulated in America. To give you an idea of where we are, consider that there are 30 total ingredients currently banned by the FDA in this country, while in the EU, over 1,300 ingredients are banned. Companies operating in the US are mostly free to do whatever they want, with little government oversight. So they continue to pack products that we use every day (mascara, face wash, shampoo, etc.) with potentially harmful ingredients that can include known carcinogens, irritants, and endocrine disruptors.

And buyer beware, if you haven’t heard about ‘Greenwashing’ yet, it’s happening everywhere. Companies are saying “natural, clean, non-toxic, free & clear, eco friendly, and more to get us to believe that their ingredients are clean. Unfortuantely, it’s essentially a free-for-all and even these companies show the fake marketing tactics work while leaving the American consumer in the dark and very mislead.

What can we do about this? Shift the industry. Find clean and responsible brands that we can trust for the long term and vote with our dollars. We can text BETTERBEAUTY to 52886 and ask our local congress to pass better personal care product laws. We can join movemements and mission based companies such as Beautycounter and share the education with the people we care about. Let them know that they can find safer products that work really well without having to trade in their good health for looking good. More to come on how to know if your products are safe or not and how to identify the safer options!