As well as learning to understand food labels, it makes sense to get savvy about what’s in your skincare and beauty products. Unfortunately this is a huge issue as the beauty industry are notorious for harmful chemicals that can be carcinogens or hormone disruptors such as lead and formaldehyde. This industry also holds unrealistic standards that impact mental health. As consumers, it’s important to be discerning and to champion brands that are kinder to our bodies and the planet, and more inclusive for everybody.

I’m particularly conscious of brands that include people of colour, and promote self-care for all genders, as well as those that have a positive stance on the privilege of aging. Recyclable packaging also matters to me as reducing harmful plastics and other waste is important. If it doesn’t make me feel good on the inside, I don’t want to be trapped into thinking I need to purchase another product or sign up for an uncomfortable regime.

And this is an issue for the whole family. At birth, there are already around 200 chemicals in a newborn’s umbilical cord blood (ref ewg.org). It doesn’t have to be another thing to get overwhelmed about though, you can slowly shift the products you put in your basket to ones that are more conducive to a non-toxic lifestyle.

I was fortunate to speak with Kirsten Arnett, an international makeup artist who has been a longtime advocate of natural beauty. Here’s the episode on Speak From the Body. Kirsten has lots of resources on her website and this guide on toxic ingredients is well worth referring to whenever you’re buying new products. We also talked about ‘greenwashing’ where clever marketing makes products sound better when really they’re full of fillers or low on active ingredients.

I often say that if I wasn’t a bodyworker, I’d make oils and ointments. Here is a list of some of the brands and products I enjoy using:

Skincare

Nini Organics - Alex Nicolaou was a guest on my podcast and is knowledgable and enthusiastic about skin rituals, ingredients and inner beauty. Infinity balm, Moonlight oil and Natura Miracle mask are particular favourites.
Dr Alkaitis (esp the Nourishing oil).
Antonia Burrell (esp Polishing powder).

Twelve Beauty - the Hyaluroil for lips is incredible.
Liha Beauty - Idan Oil is a versatile oil for hair and body as well as a natural perfume and I use their shea butter to make my own beauty products.
Pamoja skincare- the cleansing balm is lovely.
De Mamiel - Altitude oil is great and there are lots of aromatherapy-based products in this range.
Evolve- It’s great to see this range available on the high street as some natural skincare is priced at ‘high-end’ levels. The body butter and scrub with monoi smell and feel amazing.
John Masters Organics- esp the vanilla and blood orange body milk.
Josh Rosebrook - hydrating accelerator
Weleda one of the original ranges of natural skincare for the whole family. Skin Food is a wonder product- esp for dry or chapped skin. I’ve recommended it a lot for handwashing-related soreness eg post-pandemic or for those who are caring for someone.

I’m a big advocate of natural skincare that respects traditional practices and techniques. Lanshin Beauty and Wildling are great for the Traditional Chinese Medicine technique of gua sha and have a lot of useful videos. For Ayurvedic tools such as the kansa wand, I’m a fan of Mauli Rituals and Ranavat.

And if like me, you enjoy making things, then try your hand at body butters, scrubs and oils. There are so many resources out there and it can be very cost-effective to buy good quality ingredients in bulk. A giant jar of coconut oil can have so many uses such as for oil pulling, hair masks and intensive body hydration.

I’ll write another post about make up but brands I recommend include Kjaer-Weis, Kosas, RMS, Vapour Beauty and Ilia.

Further reading: https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/

And a quick glance of ingredients to consider avoiding, from Content, who I recommend for natural beauty.