I wasn’t always worried about being well preserved, using good quality, clean products on my face or keeping a strict skincare regimen. When I was younger, and by younger, I mean, even when I was in law school, a lot of the time I would literally just use stridex or clearasil face pads to take my makeup off and clean my face. I 0/10 recommend that as a skincare routine. I used to do this because I was lazy. It was always just so quick and easy to take a face wipe to my face and be done with it—even if that meant drying my skin out or leaving my face feeling raw. I didn’t really care at that point because it was easy.
What is so crazy about that, is that I also separately had good quality, cleanish skincare products that were expensive in my bathroom cabinets. I just didn’t really use them consistently or often because I was literally just that lazy.
Since graduating from law school, which has now been over 3 years, I finally snapped out of my laziness. I now have actually adopted a full-on skincare routine that includes only clean, nontoxic products. And, I actually complete my full routine each morning and night. Literally, just doing a skincare routine consistently is a big feat for me, but then to also find one that works and is nontoxic is an even bigger deal.
Aside from coming up with a skincare routine that works for you. It is really important to use nontoxic skincare products on your skin. Your skin is the largest organ you have, and it literally absorbs everything you put on it. Sadly, the FDA cannot be trusted. (If you do not already know that, you have not been reading my blog or questioning anything you consume, and that’s bad!). You cannot just say, “oh, the FDA allows it, so it’s fine for my skin.” The FDA almost lives by the saying “anything goes”. Basically, the government has not passed a regulation regulating personal care products in almost 100 years. Can you believe that? I mean I can, but I am disgusted by that. They are required to list what’s in their products, but that does not mean the government is analyzing and checking the products to make sure they aren’t damaging. So, during this almost century of time, tens of thousands of chemicals have been introduced into our skincare products, such as parabens, phalates, formaldehyde, lead, artificial fragrance and other carcinogenic chemicals. These chemicals are now known to possibly cause cancer and have carcinogenic effects in your body. So, the products that are supposed to prevent our acne, keep our skin clean, fresh and rejuvenated and looking young could actually kill you and cause toxicity poisoning. And, these terrible chemicals are not just in our skincare. Sadly, we are exposed to these chemicals everyday through our homes, workplaces, water, food, cleaning products, furniture, outdoors, soaps, skincare, toothpaste, deodorant, and makeup. This is basically why I started this blog in the first place.
I generally overhauled my life and changed out all of my products for nontoxic, clean products because of this discovery. I do this because every little bit counts, and exposure to a bunch of toxic chemicals adds up to a lot of exposure. So, not only do I have a full-on skincare routine, but I have one that’s free of parabens, phalates, formaldehyde, lead, artificial fragrance and other carcinogenic chemicals, and below is my routine that I basically swear by. Literally, I bring out my skincare when my besties come over, because I love it that much, and I want them all to convert.
Morning
- Osea – Ocean Cleanser
- Indie Lee – CoQ-10 Toner
- Hynt – Sun Prep Moisturizer
- Note: If I am wearing makeup that day, I mix this with my foundation. You can check out my post about my makeup routine here.
- Dr. Bronner’s – Organic Lip Balm (Naked)
Night
- Mad Hippie – Cleansing Oil
- Note: If I did not wear makeup that day, I skip this step. I use the cleansing oil to remove my makeup safely.
- Osea – Ocean Cleanser
- Indie Lee – CoQ-10 Toner
- Moon Juice – Acid Potion Resurfacing Exfoliator
- Note: I only use this if I feel like I have some extra dead or dry skin that needs exfoliating. Maybe once or twice a week, I use it, on average. Also, moon juice has new packaging now! So, don’t be alarmed that the bottles look different than mine.
- Avalea – Phyo Radiance Concentrate
- Farmaesthetics – Blemish Tincture
- Note: I use this as a spot treatment for any pimples or redness I have. So, some nights I use it and other nights, I don’t.
- Dr. Bronner’s – Organic Lip Balm (Naked)
Please note that everyone’s skin is different, so something what works for me may not work for you. My skin is extremely sensitive—one wrong move and I have redness or breakouts galore, but at the same time my skin is not particularly dry or oily. And it has taken me a long time to perfect my skincare routine and figure out what works for me. Also, you will see from the above that I do not use some of the products everyday; some of the products are just as needed since our skin is different each day.
The most important thing is to make sure you don’t use products that have parabens, phalates, formaldehyde, lead, artificial fragrance and other carcinogenic chemicals. Also, oil isn’t bad for you, and oil doesn’t make you break out the way that you think it would. I have found that a lot of the oils out there actually have anti-bacterial effects and can kill acne, such as tea-tree oil and lavender oil. Don’t shy away from oils and cling to the benzoyl peroxide. Not only does benzoyl peroxide bleach your stuff but it ruthlessly strips your skin.
I hope this post helps and motivates you to make some changes in your life, and if you have any questions, I am only one email or message away.
Always,
Taylor
