This post is part 2 of my clean essential beauty series and is all about taking your clean beauty routine to the next level with a step by step tutorial on how to detox your beauty cabinet. Read Part 1 here to follow my clean beauty journey.
With helpful tips from clean beauty experts Beauty Heroes, you’ll be able to detox your beauty cabinet in under 30 minutes.
Fun fact: back in the day I made my own skincare products when clean beauty wasn’t a “thing”. Using techniques from a class I took from a UC Davis Botanist I cooked up a range of products made from beeswax and botanical ingredients. Under the name Honey Apothecary I sold my “kitchen cosmetic” at farmers markets and online. My product line included a range of lip balms, hand & cuticle salve, lotions, and body butters. All beautifully packed with a professionally designed logo. For years I only used my own products on myself and family. My products were even featured in a magazine! But that was many years ago. I’ve since fallen back on to commercially produced beauty products.
Today my beauty cabinet is brimming with products containing ingredients I can’t pronounce. The “clean” brands I thought I purchased don’t qualify as clean! To make things worse my 16 year old daughter had collected a stash of prettily packaged but potentially harmful teen skincare products.
With lightening speed access to information and a wealth of products on offer, women of all ages can attain a cleaner beauty routine.
How to detox your beauty cabinet in 3 easy steps.
- Take Everything Out
- Like starting a capsule wardrobe or Marie Kondo-ing your bookshelf the first step to any detox is to take it all out and assess the damage.
- You may have only a few products that you stick by. But for many of we have up to 10 or more products. Either way, don’t judge yourself – you’ve taken the first step.
- Set aside any products you don’t plan to repurchase (the ones that just didn’t work out but you’re holding on to) from the products you plan to keep.
2. Download the Free Beauty Heroes Pocket Beauty Guide
- This is where you will find the list of beauty Villians. Get familiar with common harmful ingredients and the reasons why you want to steer clear of them.
- Many of us already steer clear of Parabens and Sulfates, but clean beauty goes beyond avoiding just these two products. Many companies highlight the absence of parabens in their marketing while still sneaking in a ton of Villain ingredients.
- Check to see if your “keepers” contain these Villain ingredients. One thing I learned from my natural skin care business is that government agencies require companies to list ingredients in order of greatest quantity to least. The takeaway from this? That “Rose” face cream that you bought may only trace amounts of actual rose extract/oil. Or worse it may just be an artificial fragrance or lab manufactured additive.
- Consider either tossing those products or committing to purchasing something different when you run out.
3. Take Stock and Restock
- When you’re ready to purchase new products keep marketing ploys in mind. My personal pitfall was assuming a particular company with a “Fresh” sounding name was by default a clean beauty brand. Upon further review of their website it became clear that they don’t tick the boxes of a clean beauty brand. For my daughter the Insta-famous products were the culprit. Turns out, most of her products containing alcohol as a main ingredient only exacerbated my baby girl’s skincare woes.
- When shopping, take the Beauty Heroes Pocket Guide with you. It folds neatly to fit in your wallet and summarizes the Villain ingredients to avoid as well as the Superpower ingredients to seek out.
- Are you a Sephora VIB or Drugstore beauty maven? Then look for products containing less than 8 ingredients. But before you add to cart head over to the website of the actual product to read the full ingredient list, not just the highlights. Remember those marketing traps? If the company website is less than forthcoming then keep it pushing until you uncover a company with better transparency.
- If you’re like me and love the convenience of “setting it and forgetting it” I recommend a subscription to Beauty Heroes monthly box. As low as $59/month you’ll will receive one clean beauty brand always valued at $90 or more. Each box includes one full size product plus sidekicks. The subscription box is a great way to SAMPLE clean beauty products and decide what works for you. If you want to start more slowly Beauty Heroes has a wealth of products under $25.
Once you’ve detoxed your beauty cabinet sit back, pamper your skin, and watch it glow with the knowledge that you can be your own Beauty Hero.
