Since I was a child, I have always had sensitive and reactive skin. I also struggled with eczema. My mother usually put cream on my hands before I went outside to play with my friends. I live in a very cold and dry climate. Whenever she forgot, my friends commented on how my hands got dry and cracked while theirs didn’t. My skin and internal system seemed to be more sensitive than others and soon I identified with the term that I just had “sensitive” skin. I felt like I got the lesser end of the deal and that I had the weaker, worse, broken skin type, and everyone else was “normal” and had it way easier. Of course, now my view on that has changed, and thankfully so.
I focused on buying products that were “safe for sensitive skin,” and some of them seemed to work fine, while others would burn and leave me wearing a red mask on my face. I never really understood why that happened. If the product is labeled safe for sensitive skin, then it should be safe, right? Apparently, that is far from being the case. Once again, I figured that something must be wrong with me since most people seem to be fine.
When I was in my late teenage years, I came across a variety of topics that deeply resonated with me. One of them is harmful chemicals in skincare. Harmful chemicals in skincare? In skin. care.? Caring for your skin? Yeah, you read that right. The products we put on our skin can be harmful to us. Even when labelled “safe” and “tested by dermatologists”. This led me down a rabbit hole where things only seemed to get worse, and my trust in the skincare industry faded away.
I have always been the type of person to rely on myself and go against the norm. I continued to do so in this aspect of my life. I started researching different chemicals and their origins, also health, and how the body operates in general. Obviously, if a chemical has been man-made under unnatural circumstances in a lengthy, difficult process, I’d say that chemical has no place in the human body. Maybe not so obvious since companies that sell them in their products boldly label them safe and even good for you!
Take a look and open your bathroom cabinet. How many products do you have in there that you use? 10?, 20?, 50? Now read the label on the back. Do you even know what half of the ingredients are? Think about it for a minute. You are applying and ingesting so many chemicals that you have no idea what they are and where they come from. If you were to ask the manufacturer if the product is safe to ingest, they would probably say, ” Oh, absolutely not, that’s not safe!” That is not safe. Think about it.
I discovered an important thing about the skin. It is an organ, the largest organ in your body. Someone was clearly not paying attention in biology class.
It is the largest organ, and it absorbs everything you put on it. Think about it, when you apply moisturizer to your skin, it gets absorbed. Hence, your skin feels smooth and moisturized. The product went into your skin and into your body. It is inside your body. Now, whether that’s only underneath the first layer or in your bloodstream, the fact remains that it is inside your body. Now I don’t know about you, but I certainly do not want chemicals inside of me, which cannot be healthy.
The skin “eats” whatever you put on it. And that’s how my ideology came to life. If it’s not safe to eat, it’s not safe for your skin.
So I started to experiment with making my own skincare products. I started mixing oils and infusing them to use on my hair to improve hair growth and reduce split ends. Then I moved on to making my own deodorant with coconut oil and baking soda. Now, roughly 2 years later, I make my own moisturizer, body butter, evening oil, hair oils, and even toothpaste! And guess what? My skin and body feel amazing. I don’t get a burning sensation on my skin anymore, or smell that chemical fragrance and feel icky about using the product. I feel confident and secure about the products I use because I know exactly what is in them. I don’t need to guess and hope that they are safe to use, and I feel helpless when I can’t find a product on the shelf that aligns with my needs. Now I make my products at home and know that every ingredient in them is edible and therefore completely safe to use and exceptionally healthy and nourishing for the skin.
I believe that this is the way. Not only the way to do your skincare but the way of life. A newly discovered yet ancient way of living. Living in perfect harmony with your body and with nature. Honoring your body as organic and only applying organic matter to it. This lifestyle is healthier for you, for the animals, and for the planet. It is eco-friendly and in harmony with nature, the way it was for a long time and the way it should be forever. The way of life is to be natural. And it starts with your skincare.
Now there’s no need to freak out and panic and try to replace every single product with something better. Start small. Start with one thing. Maybe your deodorant for example. Switch it out for a natural, non-toxic one, or consider using alum stone. (I use it for deodorant.) It works great, and it is only one completely natural ingredient. Start replacing products one by one, and you will notice the difference it makes. I will write more blogs on transitioning to this lifestyle and how you can easily make swaps almost effortlessly, and sometimes for free! Thank you for reading this post. I hope to see you at another one in the future.