'clean beauty', 'green beauty', 'non toxic living', 'organic', 'all natural'
If you are trying to detox your life & make the clean switch, these are just a few of the terms you should be mindful of. Unfortunately, due to how unregulated the most important day-to-day industries are, many brands have taken it into their own hands to define these terms, in order to fit their agendas & continue making sales. This is exactly why it is so important to be mindful & stay educated on what to look for yourself so that you aren’t the one suffering in the long run.
The bare minimum definition of clean beauty is a product that can be used without it affecting your health, whether that be short term or long term & this is only going to happen if each ingredient is clean, safe & regulated by strict guidelines. At hide&seek, every potential ingredient is thoroughly researched & put through a very strict process in order to be chosen for a formula — what it does, what long term affects it can have, what short term affects it can have, the different places it can be derived from so that all formulas remain vegan & cruelty-free, the best place to derive it from so it can remain sustainable, the safest version of that ingredient, if it is not only FDA approved but also EU approved — these are all factors when deciding which ingredients can be added to the hide&seek ingredient glossary. Once an ingredient is chosen to be apart of a formula, we assure full transparency on each individual one by doing things like — listing all ingredients on the packaging, having an ingredient glossary on our website that includes all ingredients in each product, where the specific ingredient we used was derived from, what it does & why we decide to use it in our formula.
Over the years, brands have learned what & what not to put on their packaging in order to capture the attention of all consumers (including conscious living buyers) & drive sales. Using scare tactic words like 'non toxic', 'preservative free', 'organic', 'natural', etc., has allowed brands to market their products in a specific way without having to follow any rules or guidelines. Doing so helps convince consumers that the product they are marketing is actually 'clean' — leading us to the term 'greenwashing'.
Definition of greenwashing — Greenwashing is the process of conveying a false impression or providing misleading information about how a company's products are more environmentally sound. Greenwashing is considered an unsubstantiated claim to deceive consumers into believing that a company's products are environmentally friendly.
This is why education & transparency really go hand in hand. In order to be completely sure that the products you are using are safe, clean & effective, you need to be able to know what to look for. Make yourself familiar with the most common toxins & stay away from them, know what ingredients the product is formulated with & learn about them - what they do, where they are from & if / how they will affect you & your health. By doing this, you not only stay on the right path to conscious living but you also save yourself from being fooled by these companies, like so many of us have been.
To jump start your conscious living journey, here are just a handful of the toxins you need to be sure you stay away from —
Parabens like propylparaben and iosbutylparaben (methyl-, isobutyl-, proply- and others), “fragrance”, chemical UV filtered octinoxate and oxybenzone, triclosan, phthalates like dibutyl phthalate, Sodium lauryl sulfate and Sodium laureth sulfate (SLS and SLES), formaldehyde, polyethylene (PEGs) like PEG-10 laureate, butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA and BHT), benzalkonium chloride, Coal tar Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), Ethanolamines (MEA/DEA/TEA), Hydroquinone, Methylisothiazolinone and methylchloroisothiazolinone, Toluene, Triclocarba
Here are a few tips you can use to make the switch & start your conscious living journey —
- Start "small" — Start with the products you use on yourself, whether that be your face, head or body. Now i say “small” because it really is a gigantic step into the right direction but at the same time such a small portion of our life that we aren’t too conscious of. To put it into prospective, think about how many products you use on yourself from the minute you wake up, to the minute you go to sleep. I can easily count 20 of my very own — face wash, deodorant, shampoo, conditioner — there are a ton of products in your daily life that can & should be detoxed.
- Support — Find one or two brands in each lifestyle category (food, home, beauty, etc.) that you really love & stick with them. This will help make the entire process just a little easier by narrowing down the options you’re given. If you see that a brand you love has something you have been looking to make the switch on, all you have left to do is look into their ingredients & make a decision rather than looking into 5 other formulas from other brands you have no knowledge on & make your decision from there.
- Know your resources — Keeping an eye out for these ingredients is definitely going to take some time & if you’re like me, having to remember long words I can barely pronounce is definitely the biggest struggle. To make this process just a bit easier, I suggest using the app EWG where you can scan each product & in only a matter of seconds, it will breakdown the ingredient list, listing the worst ingredients first & why/how they could be harmful.
By using these tools & incorporating them into your life, it will not only help you take the first step to making the switch but it will also make your journey a lot less intimidating. Remember, small steps lead to big change. Being educated on the subject & becoming familiar with your surroundings is only going to lead you to success.
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