Great Natural Facial Care Products

I went to college in Utah, where the winters are dry and cold, and my skin would get really chapped.  I went through crazy amounts of lotion, and was always looking for the cheapest one the grocery store carried, because I had to buy it so much.  After a few bad experiences though, I realized I really had a preference when it came to lotion, and that even if I had to spend an extra $2 for it, I was willing to get the kind I liked better.

Fast forward 6 years, and I have made a lot of life changes to make my life as whole food oriented, organic and natural as possible.

The one area that I have been thinking about changing for a year or so is my skincare and cosmetics.  But where to start?  About a year ago, I switched to a more natural deodorant, but I kind of put everything else on pause after that, because I felt really overwhelmed.

Natural and organic are thrown around flippantly these days, and often companies that claim to be natural and organic are not.  After discovering the "Think Dirty" app a few months ago and seeing the ratings on some of the products I used everyday, I decided to make the plunge (another great resource for looking up cosmetics is the Environmental Working Group, which also has a database with 80,000 rated products on it).

I started by spending some birthday money on a box from the Honest Company.  Their products were low on the toxicity list from the ThinkDirty App, so I felt pretty good about ordering them.  I figured I would take some baby steps into the natural world realm.

The lotion was okay, the toothpaste was 'meh', and the shampoo and conditioner were downright awful.  I had one terrible hair day after another, and couldn't figure out why.  Then finally it clicked, and I stopped using it, and immediately my hair started looking better.  The shampoo doubles as a body wash, and is great for that, but it totally killed my hair.  Suddenly, I was terrified about trying out natural products, and my old Pantene shampoo seemed so much safer.

But, I said I would do a post about some good natural products, so I took the plunge (thank goodness for public accountability!).  And I have found some great stuff!

This may end up becoming a quarterly post, because there is SO much stuff out there, and after buying what I thought was a ton of stuff (I contacted about 20 companies, and went to many stores, many times), I realized I had actually only tried out about 20 products, so I will tell you about the stuff I have tried, and currently like, and check back in 3 months with the latest stuff I have been trying out.

Also, I am working on a natural makeup post (slowly, slowly acquiring stuff for it! Makeup is expensive! Hopefully it will go up after the New Year), and a natural hair care post, but after the initial post, I will probably roll the quarterly updates about skincare, haircare and makeup into one.

WHAT I HAVE TRIED OUT (parentheses indicate ThinkDirty App Score, if applicable):

Credo Tester Bag (none of these were on the ThinkDirtyApp, but their company mission is all about having clean beauty and skincare products and products that they sell are cited all over the internet as clean beauty products) c/o:

• De Mamiel Restorative Cleansing Balm - Meh... I don't like washing my face with oil very much.  
• Pai Chamomile & Rosehip and calming day cream - I didn't like this at first, but then 
• Skin Owl Eye+:  I don't know if this is the perfect eye cream, I haven't actually ever used eye cream before, but I like this one.  I haven't noticed a huge difference yet, but it gives me peace of mind :) 
• Love fresh Grapefruit deodorant: Not great.  It is okay in the winter, but one day I had it one, and after some medium exercise I completely stunk.  Not a pleasant feeling.  
• Tata Harper Resurfacing Mask: I totally love this product.  I have used it twice, and it makes my skin so soft and smooth!  

Pacifica Skin Care Set

• Sea Foam Complete Face Wash (1): This one kind of dried out my face, but wasn't too bad.  I need to use it a few more times to know for sure.  
• Dreamy Youth Day and Night Face Cream (5):  I liked this quite a lot.  

Other Items:

• SheaMoisture Argan Oil & Raw Shea Butter Body Lotion w/ Frankincense and Myrrh Extract (1):  I love this lotion.  It is thick, creamy and smells great.  It is also a recommended product on ThinkDirty.  Available on Amazon and Target. 
• Acure Face Wash (5): Pretty decent, and it smells nice. Available on Amazon and Target.  
• The Honest Company Lip Balm (1): This was the one thing in the Honest Box that I really liked.  Available on Amazon and the Honest Company.  
• The Honest Company Body Lotion  (3):  This was not great.  Super slippery, and didn't actually moisturize that much.  Available on Amazon and the Honest Company.  
• Burt's Bees Lip Balm (3):  This one smells amazing.  Fox also LOVES using it.  
• Unrefined coconut oil (with a drop or two of lavender essential oil): Not my favorite.  I have never felt like coconut oil was a good moisturizer.  My skin always feels so... oily, when I use it.  
• InstaNatural Moisturizer Cream - Face lotion, that I didn't like at all.  Super slippery and it smells kind of yucky... A friend gave this to me (she didn't like it either), but you can buy it on Amazon should you want to try it out. 
• Tom's of Maine Deodorant - This didn't work well at all for me.  I just stunk when I exercised.  Bleh.  
• Schmidt's Deodorant - This is my favorite deodorant so far.  I want to try this deodorant, too. 
• Acure Argan Oil Face Towelettes: These were super convenient, but also really wasteful... 
• Acure Brightening Face Mask:  I haven't used this yet.  Get back to you once I use this.  I always forget to use face masks.  I like the idea of them, but never use them.  

My top picks in the Natural Beauty World:

Acure Face Wash (I want to try this one next.  It has a lower ThinkDirty score, and has amazing reviews.  They just didn't carry it at my Target).

Shea Moisture Body Lotion

Pacifica Face Cream

Tata Harper Resurfacing Mask

Skin Owl Eye+

Burt's Bees Lip Balm

Schmidt's Deodorant (not pictured)

*Disclaimer:  I was sent a few of these products to test out, everything else was was purchased by me.



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