HELLO BEAUTIFUL SISTERS!!!!!!!! This week we are going to be talking about beauty products and why it is SO IMPORTANT to utilize CLEAN BEAUTY PRODUCTS!!! 

Let’s throw it back to my pre-sick life where Bath & Body Works and Jergens Self-Tanning Lotion were THE SHIT (any maybe still is for some of you)! I used these products religiously because I mean come’on… who doesn’t want to be a bronzed goddess that smells like a coconut sunset???? 

I never really thought much about the products I was using and what was in them because I guess unconsciously I didn’t think that it would be legal to purchase products that were harmful as a consumer… but come to find out, I was wrong!!!!!!!

When I first got diagnosed with Lyme Disease, my naturopathic doctor, Dr. Judy, ran a toxicity test on me through a lab called Cyrex Laboratories (which we re-run about every 6 months). I had already moved back to Texas at the time and had flown back to Arizona for this appointment. The night before the appointment, my mom and I were in our hotel room and I used a L’OREAL tan towel because my skin was getting back to its natural translucent coloring – HOLLA TO ALL MY CASPER SKIN TONE SISTERS, ILY!!!!! The next day, we arrived at my appointment and they took some blood for the toxicity test and 2 weeks later my angel of a doctor called me in horror. She said that all my toxicity levels came back THROUGH THE ROOF – this included parabens, sulfates, aluminum, silicone, heavy metals, BPA toxins, Formaldehyde, and a few other toxins that I couldn’t pronounce or spell even if I tried. 

This was all so crazy to me, as I had assumed I lived a pretty “healthy” life after completely changing my diet post-Lyme diagnosis and on a very strict health regimen. Dr. Judy told me to walk her though exactly what I had done the day prior to the blood test and then asked me a bunch of questions like do I use soy candles only and what kind of makeup products do I use, and do I use plastic versus glass Tupperware, or do I spray my perfume on my skin or just on my clothes?? All of these questions that I hadn’t thought twice about because again, I didn’t think about these products because it’s not our first instinct as consumers to assume what we are buying is BAD for us. Dr. Judy immediately suggested I never buy tan towels again (RIP TAN TOWELS) because of how bad they are for us. She also recommended I completely change the products I use including everything from household cleaning supplies to my tampons… YES I SAID TAMPONS! Who would’ve thought?? 

The thing about toxins is that THEY ARE EVERWHERE and there’s no avoiding it. Paint fumes, air fresheners, cleaning supplies, bug spray, mascara, body wash… you name it, there’s probably something bad in it if you aren’t doing your research. 

When it comes to toxins, your body SHOULD detox quickly if it’s in good condition and if you sweat a lot, drink lots of water, and give those toxins an opportunity to work themselves out… that’s not to say you should consciously put toxins in your body, but if you accidentally come in contact with an overload of toxins (for example, walking into Victoria Secret or Abercrombie and feel like you need a freaking gas mask just to breathe), your body can push them through quicker. 

For me, a person who has a deficient and compromised immune system, my body doesn’t detox well.. meaning that nasty shit and all those toxins just hang in my body for awhile, which causes inflammation and stress on my body (which for lack of a better explanation… makes you feel like absolute shit)

I can do another post on ALL of the clean products I use, because honestly… if you want to make the full transition over to a CLEAN HOUSEHOLD, it can most definitely be overwhelming and you may not know where to start. It’s taken me over two years to finally solidify products that I actually LOVE and that don’t negatively impact our health. 

I figured I would start out with my top 5 favorite clean beauty and skincare products and give you guys some resources to start doing your own research!! I wanted to start with these products because who doesn’t love beauty products??? And also because your skin is your LARGEST ORGAN so it’s so important to be aware of what we put on it.