I feel I must touch on a subject I feel very strongly about. Although it has not always been such.
The devilish ways of the cosmetics industry and what it is doing to you!
They lure you in at a young age. Pictures in magazines and beauty add campaigns showing you how fabulous you will look using their products.
I, up until the last year or so fought with my inner vanity so much so that I could care less about the chemicals I had been slathering all over my body. In fact I still have not gotten away from some products that I am just so happy with that I do not know what I would do with out them ( aerosol hairspray...I know, awful right!?).
So here is the question I ask myself and you the reader. What do you consider an acceptable balance between natural products and the ones that most of us have been using all our lives?
I feel that the balance is different to each individual. We have to decide weather we care about cancer causing chemical or are we going to pretend it is not true because we love our scented body lotion so much it would just die thinking about not being able to have it.
It is a hard change to make. Harder than I would imagine. Who can say they aren't excited every time they walk into a fancy body product store. Well it is even harder to just walk by and not go in anymore....lemme tell ya from experience.
The soapbox ( no pun intended ) that I am jumping on here kind of came out of necessity for me. My body started rejecting all the usual chemicaly products I had been using for years. I looked everywhere but at the obvious. I thought food allergies maybe, or could it be something I am living with in my home. Never mind the things I was using everyday on my skin. So I stopped using fragranced products, but even that was not enough. They had to be specific brands too. They were the more expensive brands, boasting to have "natural ingredients". I thought to heck with this. Why can't I make my own beauty products that are more cost effective, suited to my tastes, not harmful to me or the environment and just plain made me feel good about doing something smart for myself.
So I started with skincare. Well that backfired at first, but I am here to say, that with a lot of things, it was trial and error. I had to scale it back, one thing at a time. I now use an oil blend I make myself of unrefined coconut oil, sweet almond oil, olive and hazelnut oils to moisturize with as I finishing a bath or shower. My skin feels how skin should. Nourished. That's it. No weird greasy layer sitting on the surface of my skin. As for my face, I have been slowly transitioning into things. I have stopped using all acne controlling chemical products and will soon be switching to the Oil Cleansing Method (OCM). Sounds freaky to clean your skin with oil right? Well check out Crunchybetty.com and there are many others who explain why and how it works. My next battle will be my hair. And oh boy will it ever be one. But that is a whole different blog post.
I will say that being pregnant has turned my thoughts to something completely different. How are all of these products affecting my unborn child and once she is here would I dare put them all over her? Well the answer is yes they are effecting her, for the skin is the largest organ and amazingly great at protecting us as well as absorbing all the things we come in contact with. So what I absorb so does she. Would I put them all over her, well no way jose! That's because I also believe that our children are born into bodies that do not need the chemical baby products that line your local super center shelves. All the products in the world are no match for the mother nature made alternative. So sue me if I am being a little radical or hippie chick here, but I plan on hopefully making most of what I put on my little pea pod or buying the natural alternative.
So what I am currently doing is lots of research. Teaching myself the better alternative. I am slowly purging the things I feel are harmful. I am also one to not waste money, so I am forcing myself to use up things I have already spent hard earned money on. Little by little being a little bit more "down to earth" and not feeling like I am fighting with my own body to feel great everyday. Here are some links that have helped me in my pursuits, hope they can be helpful to you as well.
Oil Cleansing Method
http://www.theoilcleansingmethod.com/
http://www.crunchybetty.com/nitty-gritty-on-the-oil-cleansing-method
Living more naturally for myself and baby
http://simplehomemade.net/natural-homemade-baby-care-recipe-baby-massage-oil/
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