If you’ve been a regular reader for a while, you might know that a couple of years ago I made the switch to natural beauty products. For a year or so I was very strict about what products I used and I used a 100% natural beauty and personal care regime. I also used a lot of natural household cleaners, and tried to make an effort to bring natural products into all aspects of my life.
While I loved living a natural lifestyle, I soon realised 100% was really hard to achieve. While some natural products work just as well (if not better) than conventional products, there are many that also don’t do a very good job compared to their less natural counterparts. For example, I found it impossible to find a decent purple shampoo for my hair that was natural, and I also found it hard to find antibacterial cleaners and sanitisers that I felt did a good job. The soapberries that I used in lieu of washing machine powder worked well until we had Jack and had to regularly get stains out of clothes, so we opted back for our regular Persil powder and Sard Stain Remover. Slowly I started letting non-natural and conventional products back in to my life, and I think I have now found a balance between the two.
I now use regular cleaners in our home as I feel like they do a much better job than natural cleaners. I am probably a bit of a germaphobe in some ways, as I never really feel things are clean unless I’ve used my Ajax and Dettol, and I love my hand sanitiser for when I’m out and about. I do still use an Ecostore natural cleaner for Jack’s highchair, toys, and change mat and anywhere where Jack really comes in to contact with things, in order to minimise his chemical exposure.
In terms of beauty and personal care, I would say 80% of products I now use are natural, and 20% are not. I try to use natural where possible, however there are some items where a natural products didn’t quite work for me or I found a more effective option that wasn’t natural. For example, my purple shampoo isn’t natural, neither is my heat protectant or some of my skincare.
In terms of makeup, probably 90% of items I use are natural. When I am looking for new products, I often check the EWG Skin Deep Database which rates makeup and beauty products by the chemicals in them. Generally, anything less than a 3 is good with me. Many brands often have products that are ok and others that aren’t. For example the Fenty Beauty Killawatt Highlighter is rated a 2 (which is really good), but some of the foundations are much higher at a 6 or 7.
In saying that though, I have products in my makeup collection that do contain chemicals that I was previously against, and I use them and that’s ok. While I still try to limit my chemical exposure, I am realistic and am happy to have some ‘traditional’ beauty products that I use.
The reason I’m writing this post, is I want to share where I do stand in regards to natural beauty now. Not everything I share on here anymore is 100% natural, but I will state which products are and which products aren’t. For non-natural products, I still try to aim for those that are paraben and SLS free, and obviously the less chemicals the better – but again sometimes it isn’t always possible. I just wanted to be really open and honest, and if you’ve found my blog through some of my natural beauty posts, then I just wanted to let you know that going forward, not everything will be completely green.
As always, if you have any questions or comments on this, please leave them below!
Oooh interestingly was this post written recently before the flow lab release of purple shampoo or was that the purple shampoo you were using?
I personally can’t afford to but do try and do as much as I can tomprotedt the environment but, wait that’s something else haha 😅