Okay, you’re ready. You want to make the switch to safer, but you really don’t know where to start. It can be a little overwhelming. Paralyzing even. Either you are terrified and just want to throw away everything in your bathroom. Or, you are afraid to even get started down the rabbit hole.
I get it. Really I do. But, don’t let the pursuit of perfection, keep you from making progress.
Rather than let the overwhelm paralyze you, I have found it is a lot easier to tackle in small steps. One small change at a time.
Here are some simple ways you can prioritize your clean swaps:
- Focus first on products you use every day. That lipstick you carry in your bag. The moisturizer you apply every day. Your eye cream. Mascara. Find a clean swap for those products first. It’s your daily exposure where you can make the biggest positive impact.
- Remove the worst offenders first. Once you identify your daily products, look them up on the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Database (www.ewg.org/skin-deep). You will get a score of 1 to 10 (1 being safest to 10 being most toxic). Focus on removing those scoring 5 or above first.
- Start with products you leave on your skin. Another great place to focus is to address the products that you leave on your skin first (lotions, face creams, sunscreens) as opposed to products you rinse off.
- Replace as you replenish. If you feel guilty throwing a product away, start by replacing things you are running low on. You can make clean swaps as you need to replace something.
- Start reading ingredients. This seems obvious, but how many times do we rely on the claims we see on the labels, rather than turning over the products and reading the ingredient list? Before you buy any new product, flip it over and read the ingredients. Not sure which ingredients to avoid? Start with The NEVER List.
And, if you need some help, please reach out! Happy to help you as you sift and sort your way to a cleaner routine.
