6 Tips For Transitioning To Clean Beauty

A lot of people know that they need to make the switch to clean, non-toxic beauty + body products but it can be such an incredibly overwhelming process, and without a good strategy...expensive! 

I’ll never forget reading an article when I first started Araza from a big guru in the beauty industry that thought clean beauty was just a trend and not worth investing in. I kinda laughed but was slightly disturbed. For anybody who has faced health issues and has completely overhauled their diet and lifestyle, you know that a big part of improving health is removing/reducing the toxic burden to your overall system. And if you didn’t know already, conventional beauty products contain a whole slew of health harming ingredients like parabens, artificial dyes, fragrances and the list goes on. For me, clean beauty was never ‘trendy’ is was imperative to my health. Fast forward to 2020 and I bet that ‘guru’ feels a little stumped as clean beauty is now a multi-billion dollar industry and projected to grow even more.  

It’s an exciting time as the clean beauty industry continues to grow because we are now able to find high quality swaps for all of our favorite conventional products. However, as more companies are seeing the clean beauty demand by consumers they are using some rather untruthful marketing to make you feel like their products are clean, when in fact they are anything but. This can create so much confusion in the marketplace I know. Swapping out the old for truly clean, non-toxic beauty + body products does require a little elbow grease in the beginning but the benefits are well worth it! Here are my 6 tips that I put together to help you more easily and confidently transition to cleaner products: 

1. Replace as you use: maybe you are not ready to throw out all your conventional products in the trash and start fresh today. That is totally fine! Commit to replacing all of your conventional beauty products as you use them up. Covergirl foundation run out? Now is the time to swap it out for a cleaner one. By using what you already have you’re cutting down on overall waste and being a little nicer to your budget. Plus, as you can see that you’re running low, it will give you time to do some research on a good swap. I loved this method for me because when I started transitioning to clean products, I was fresh out of college and broke. Replacing as I used up my products also allowed me time to research what my next swap was going to be so it also felt more seamless.  
2. Make a list: Another option is to start making a list of all the products that you use on your body...this includes, makeup, skin, hair, body products etc. Try to order the list from what you use most often, to what you use rarely. Then start by replacing the product that you use the most often since it’s coming into contact with your body everyday. My very first clean swap was body lotion!   
3. Set your expectations: Truly clean, non-toxic makeup, skincare and body products can take a little getting used to at first. When transitioning to a product that is made with 98% certified organic ingredients it will probably perform a little different than the conventional products you are used too. Stick with it and play around with different techniques. Don’t be afraid to ask the company for their best practices. Keep in mind also, that the more natural a product is, the less shelf life it will probably have. Some might even require refrigeration. Another difference can be the smell of natural products. If a product is truly natural it will not contain any ‘fragrance’. Seeing the term fragrance under any ingredient list should be a red flag as a lot of these contain parabens and other health harming additives. Because conventional fragrance should not be used in truly natural products, the product might have a different smell then what you are used too. Companies turn to more natural ways to scent their products by using essential oils and natural extracts. Another thing I wanted to bring to your attention is what I noticed when I switched to clean foundation. At first my skin almost went through a purging period where it broke out a little more than normal but overtime, my skin improved greatly. In fact, I found that the more that I used it, the less I actually needed to wear, because my skin was improving so much. Conventional makeup contains skin damaging ingredients like alcohols and processed, cheap pore clogging oils that can perpetuate breakouts and skin issues, keeping you in a vicious cycling of feeling like you have to wear makeup. Makeup should be beneficial and protective for your skin...also it should be fun and optional.  My #1 recommendation for clean foundation is our All In One Coconut Cream Foundation made with 98% organic ingredients like a coconut postbiotic, MCT oil and araza fruit extract.  
4. READ the ingredient labels, don’t be afraid to ask questions. I cannot stress this one enough! Don’t fall to the claims on the fancy packaging that might elude to the product being clean. Greenwashing in beauty is when a company leads you to falsely believe that a product is truly natural or organic by the marketing imagery and words they use. In greenwashing, terms are thrown around loosely in marketing to convey a false sense to the consumer that they are putting healthy ingredients on their skin. A product labeled as 'natural' does not necessarily mean that it is..... in fact, it could be mostly un-natural. Although some companies adhere to strict definitions and standards when it comes to using terms like natural and organic, others do not. Super frustrating, I get it!! The only way to truly know what is in your products is to read every single ingredient label and question everything.  If you need to search an individual ingredient for safety, check out the environmental working groups individual ingredient data base. I promise the more time you spend learning to read labels and figure out what you do and don’t want in your products, the easier it becomes. To make this process easier for you, every ingredient we use in our products is posted on each individual product page at arazabeauty.com with it's purpose and the reason we choose to include it in our formula. ⠀ 
5. Look for products with credible certifying agencies such as the Paleo Foundation. Third party certifications can be helpful because normally it means the product has undergone an un-bias auditing process to ensure the companies claims are actually being met. For example, Araza Beauty is Paleo Certified through the Paleo Foundation. This means that each product that bears the paleo certified logo has undergone a strict auditing process to ensure that it free from legumes, dairy, gluten, grains and anything artificial and harmful. This is important for several reasons. One, it allows for honest transparency of our ingredients, so those folks with severe allergic reactions and autoimmune conditions know just what they are putting on their skin. Two, because it is a really good idea to limit or avoid unnecessary environmental toxins on our already burdened systems, and as we mentioned above, conventional products contain health harming and skin damaging ingredients. Three, it ensures a commitment to choosing organic whole superfood ingredients like healthy fats, earth minerals and plant-based extracts that actually feed and nourish your skin... not just make it look good. Make sure you understand exactly what the company means when they say that their products are certified with a particular agency. Go to that agency’s website and understand the exact process for becoming certified. This always reminds me of the vegan or cruelty free certification. The vegan certification simply means no animal ingredients are used and the cruelty free certification means the company does not test on animals but it DOES NOT MEAN they are healthy products. Both of these certifications can be used by companies whose products contain health-harming ingredients like parabens, phthalates and gosh knows what else in them.  
6. Order samples! This one is so dang helpful! Transitioning all of your products can be an expensive endeavor as you really only know if something is going to work for your skin/body by using the product; no matter what the online reviews say. Araza offer samples of most products and colors so you can get a feel for the product, make sure it works for your skin and in the case of makeup, find the right color match.  Araza’s samples are $2.50 and it’s such a low-risk way to dip your toe in clean beauty. 

 I really hope this offered some helpful advice for making the switch to clean products! If you have any questions at all, please reach out to us at service@arazabeauty.com or find us on IG @arazabeauty. We want to be apart of your clean beauty journey!  

In health and happy skin,  

Lindsey