Why I chose Beautycounter

In this introductory post to all things Beautycounter I really wanted to share with you the facts and a quick overview. This is where it really all came together for me. It combines my interest in serving others, connecting with women, and cleaner living- but I’ll share more on that in a separate post. To appease my nerdy heart I’m going to start this thing out with some stats (shall we?)-

• On average, women in the United States use approximately 12-15 products in a day, resulting in exposure to over 100 potentially harmful chemicals being applied daily.

• Currently, the European Union bans 1,400 ingredients from their products, Canada bans around 600, and the US only bans 30.

• The US has not passed a major federal law governing the beauty industry since 1938. Since then over 80,000 ingredients have been introduced into our market place.

• Only 20% of the ingredients used in beauty products have ever been screened for safety.

• Currently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not have power to recall products that have proven to be harmful, or mandate safety tests.

So where does Beautycounter come in? Beautycounter is a mission-based clean beauty and lifestyle brand working to get safer products into the hands of everyone while simultaneously working on changing the laws that govern the beauty industry. As a company, Beautycounter bans over 1800 harmful or even questionable ingredients by implementing what we call the Never List.

The three pillars of Beautycounter are:

education, advocacy, and formulation

The number one priority is always educating consumers on the current state of the industry and the use of harmful ingredients in personal care products. Beautycounter is a true boots-on-the-ground kind of company, taking the education efforts a step further and advocating for more health protective legislation at both the state and national level. (I really like to call us “advocates” because that’s what we do and who we are!) Lastly, formulation. Beautycounter formulates high-performing and significantly safer personal care products. We believe that you should never have to sacrifice safety for performance (and vice-versa).

We all want to feel beautiful. We all want to feel and look like the best versions of ourselves but we believe that you should never have to sacrifice your health or that of your family’s in the name of beauty.

---

When I first started trying to navigate this new information (that I was completely skeptical of) I started with the products that I already had in my home. Even before Beautycounter we were intentional about the things we brought into our home and purchased what we thought were higher-quality/”safer” products. I turned my products around and started comparing the ingredient’s list to the condensed Never List. After finding several things listed on my products, I started to do more research (Cue inevitable rabbit hole).

The thing is, I couldn’t just stop there. Call it my Ennegram type 6 skeptical nature- I wanted more information. I wanted to know WHY those ingredients were on a company’s Never List. I wanted to know the specific research (or lack thereof ) of why they would be allowed in the products I was using. From here I turned to:

This database rates products based on a specific safety criteria on a scale of EWG verified (being the lowest) and 10 being the highest. My personal opinion is that I will not use something or bring it in my home if it is rated anything above a 3. At this point, almost all of the products we use in our home are either EWG verified or a level 1/2.

My best piece of advice is to just start ( in everything in life really.. but especially here.) Start by looking into your personal care products and what you’re using on your family. Then.. tell your friends about it.

This is where it really gets me.. I can’t help it when I hear that another friend is sick, dealing with infertility, or their baby has health issues. My mind immediately goes there-

“What would have happened if they would have been using safer products since the beginning?”

What if their mom and their mom’s mom had never been unknowingly exposed to harmful ingredients in personal care products?

Listen, I know this isn’t the be all end all. What I’m not saying is that personal care products are the reason for every chronic illness out there. But what I AM saying is that decades of research indicate that there is a correlation. We are exposed to environmental toxins every day-most of which are completely out of our control. But this, this you can control. (see what happened there, I said I was going to hold the personal stuff off for another post-can’t help it. Sorry!)

I promise to go more in depth about our personal story on this soon. For now, I just really wanted to provide you with the resources. Take a watch at the video I linked at the bottom, look into your products, and see how your heart feels! If any of this information moved you in any way take action:

Text “better beauty” to 52886 urging congress to pass better beauty laws

My aim is always to help, to serve, and to be a resource and I hope that this was the start of that for you in your journey to clean (er) living! Here’s to better beauty, friends!