YOUR SKIN in your Lifestyle
The sun rises in the morning peeking through the cracks yelling WAKE UP!
🤣 Just kidding. I know you’re waking up to the ‘beep beep beep’ of your alarm clock because well...LIFE.
What is on your skin? Seems like a simple answer, right?
Although the skin protects us from our environment, the complexity is fascinating. The basic principle is you are what you expose yourself to, and damn that’s the truth.
On average women apply 168 chemicals to our body DAILY.
Let me take you on a little daily routine journey assuming you don’t look at the labels of the products you’re choosing, or only buy products with buzzwords like natural or clean.
After your alarm shakes you awake, you grumble out of your comfy bed and walk to the bathroom shuffling your feet on the cool tile. After making your way to the shower, you flip the water on and while you’re waiting for it to warm up you brush your teeth to awaken your soul, and get that minty fresh feel. Then, you hop into the shower and wash your hair and condition with a step under salon grade quality, and scrub a dub your body with a fruity and fragrant gel. Before leaving, you start your skincare routine by washing your face, then turn off the water knowing you’re going to freeze as you dry off with a towel whose smell takes you to a place of nostalgia, as you stand in the remnants of the warmth. Grasping your towel you meander quickly to get dressed in your fresh scented clothing. As you walk over to the sink to finish your skincare routine, you twist your hair into that same towel to wring out the excess water. Assuming you're done applying your skincare products, you apply your heat protectant and styling products to your hair, followed by your makeup. You dry your hair, maybe add a quick spritz of hair spray to lock in curls or that pesky part. Finally add your lotion, perfume, lip gloss, jewelry and head out the door.
On a morning where you take the time to fully indulge in getting ready, maybe all of this is true. Your skin is your largest organ, and is impacted based on your choices of food, air freshener, laundry soap, perfume, lotion, makeup, water intake, sugar intake, and so many more. Let’s take a look at the story above and breakdown all of the places where you are exposing your skin/body to chemicals.
- Laundry detergent and fabric softener on your pj’s and bedding
- Laundry detergent and fabric softener on the towels
- Air fresheners, or fragranced candles in your bedroom as you sleep
- Floor cleaner
- Toothpaste
- Body wash (Shaving creams and gels)
- Face Wash (exfoliants, face masks)
- Facial toners, serums, creams, moisturizers, spfs
- Hair products (shampoo, conditioner, heat protectant, hair spray)
- Makeup products (foundations, primers, powders, bronzers, blush, eye shadow, mascara)
- Body care (lotion, perfume)
- Deodorant
Before we dive into what ingredients to steer clear of, let’s dive more into the skin, its functions and how we can care for it.
This list can be overwhelming - I hear you, but take a moment, don’t go crazy throwing all of those products away. Let’s empower ourselves to do better with each purchase going forward. By all means, if you can pitch the lot and start over, go for it. A less intimidating way to approach this swap is by replacing as we run out of a product. Simple swaps and baby steps will help improve your overall wellness.