As a species, we want trust. Trust in our relationships. Trust in our our food system, in our healthcare system, in our own intuition. We even want to trust the products we’re using on our skin.
-
The federal laws regulating cosmetic safety have not been updated in over 80 years. Think about how far research, science and ingredients have come in 80 years. So why hasn’t the skincare industry adopted ANY of this new data?
-
The average woman puts 515 chemicals on her skin (her largest and most permeable organ) every single day.
-
Due to an outdated and weak law governing cosmetics, even carcinogens have NOT been banned – or even restricted for use in cosmetics in the US.
-
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates cosmetics and personal care products. Even though the FDA is a government agency, their power is limited. They cannot perform even basic functions to ensure the safety of cosmetics and personal care products.
-
The cosmetics and personal care industry products bring in an estimated $200 billion in revenue each year.
Now. Sit back. Sip on that warm tea and let’s breathe. These facts may sound scary, but there is always so much hope.
There Is Another Way
Research. Facts like these are scary. And that means we cannot look to a government agency to ensure our safety. We have to be responsible. That’s why I’m an advocate of research into sourcing of ingredients and the ethics behind the brands we use.
I suggest my clients do a deeper dive into skincare and everyday household items. That means beginning with one important step. This step begins with using the third party, non-profit agency, Environmental Working Group. The EWG helps begin the search to identify the purity within each ingredient of your product. Simply visit their Skin Deep website or download the app, Skin Deep. You will type in your brand and product name. The website or app give you an ingredient profile of your product. And then it will rate each ingredient’s safety for your health.
To say I’m thankful for a company as great at EWG is an understatement.
It’s Clean, But Does It Work?
The EWG organization can help you know if you have a clean product. But that’s not the only question you have. You want to know about the effectiveness of a personal care product.
This information is something you won’t find on EWG. Since everyone reacts differently to different products, this may take some trial and error. You may also need dig deep into the brand and their ethics. A brand that I could easily gush about, really gush about all day, is evanhealy.
Who and what is evanhealy?
Evan Healy is a holistic ethnetistican. This woman launched her skin care line from a passion. She wanted to provide ethical skin care products (and now makeup) without compromising. Evan tells us that “We view clean as the starting point. At evanhealy we will NEVER use preservatives, GMOs, parabens, artificial fragrances or sulfates.”
So, why are these specific ingredients so bad for our skin? Parabens have been shown to disrupt our hormones. And some studies have linked them to cancer. Sulfates are highly irritant to our lungs, eyes, and skin. There are also high instances of contamination during production. For more information on the toxicity of specific ingredients, you can do a search on the EWG website.
Evan maintains a close relationship with everyone involved in harvesting plants and herbs for her products. Our lives have seasons. And Evan believes our skin has rhythmical season shifts as well. Our skin is alway adapting to our environment, justas the rest of our body organs do the same. Imagine our tiny little skin capillaries, constantly expanding and contracting. Our skin is ‘inhaling and exhaling.’ It is adapting us to our internal and external environment.
Winter Skincare Tips & Routines
For most women the winter season requires more moisture and hydration. The cool temperatures cause us to use more indoor heating. And that heat dries out the air in our environments.
Below I’ve put together some winter skin routine tips. I’ve researched sources like Evan Healy and other clean beauty experts. And now I’m boiling it down for you into 4 way to care for your skin during winter.
- Cleanse. Always wash with a pH balanced cleanser. Use warm water, not hot or cold, when you wash your face.
- Sensitive skin or acne? Attempt to steer away from harsh exfoliants and acid peels during the winter months. Instead lean into earth’s natural exfoliant, clay mask
- Remove all makeup at night. If the bedroom is heated, use a humidifier to add moisture back into the air.
- For deeply penetrating moisture I look for products that feature organic, cold pressed oils and butters. As a bonus, I look for wild-crafted and sustainably grown whenever possible. I adore evanhealy’s hydrosoul + serum . This product protects our skin’s natural oil production after cleansing.
- Finally, for all over body moisture my absolute favorite single nut oil, especially for the more harsh winter months, is shea butter. Shea butter protects, nourishes, and even drives deep moisture into the skin because of its unique nutritional profile, containing unique fatty acids, cinnamic acid, allatonin, antioxidants and phytosterols that heal our beautiful skin.
Evan’s website beautifully describes winter for us with a Rumi quote. “Don’t think the garden loses its ecstasy in winter. It’s quiet, but the roots are down there.” With this winter skin care routine, we hope you can enjoy the rest this winter brings to us all.
Research For You and With You
We’re always staying up-to-date on the latest research so you can trust the products we provide. We look for science-backed studies, clinical trials, and transparency in product disclosures.
If you want to know more about our research, come into the store and talk to one of our wellness product experts. If you want advice about doing research on your own, we always provide links to sources for our articles. We are also happy to share who and what we follow to stay abreast of what’s next in wellness.
Because we know it’s clean and ethically sourced, we stock evanhealy products here at Nutrition World. To shop our selection of evanhealy products click here. They have great kits that bundle everything you need to take care of your skin this winter and year round!
