When I first heard about Beautycounter it was through someone (who I didn’t know) who had DM’d me trying to sell me products. It was kinda the same old MLM sell and to be honest, I was really turned off from the brand, without knowing ANYTHING about them. In my mind the connection was immediately made,  “Beautycounter = Another makeup MLM”. NO THANKS.

It wasn’t until a few years later that I started seeing Beautycounter in more of my feed, used by people I had grown to trust in their product recommendations and who were explaining more about the brand’s mission and priority of providing clean beauty – I was intrigued. Clean beauty had recently become something I was more and more interested in, after having a serious “aha” moment.

THE AHA MOMENT

I was recommending a new lotion I was really enjoying on instagram and a friend messaged me to tell me to look it up on the Think Dirty app bc it was coming up as full of potentially harmful chemicals. UM WHAT?! I immediately downloaded the app, scanned the product only to find it was a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being bad). The potential harmful health impacts of the chemicals included in the product were: potential to depress the central nervous system, toxic to children if ingested, carcinogens, studies that included the chemical in breast tumors, and hormone system disruption. All in one product, all something I casually put on my skin to SOAK IN everyday.

I WAS SHOOKETH.

I took my new app and started frantically scanning more things I had in my personal care line up – soaps, makeup, lotion and more. None of them were ranking lower than a 7 on a scale that was quite unsettling. I was frustrated, but also just SO confused – how was it that these companies were able to get away with this? Why were they putting all these things in their products if they are potentially harmful? WHY DIDN’T I KNOW ABOUT ANY OF THIS UNTIL NOW?!

I didn’t know where to start, but I knew I cared enough about my health to START. I was eating healthier foods, working out and doing other things to maintain a good health, why wouldn’t I also adjust this as well? Sure, none of these things are CERTAIN to cause the potential impacts but with all of the inexplicable illnesses and causes in the world these days, why take ANY chance? Wasn’t there a better way?

MY CLEAN BEAUTY EVOLUTION

There have been a few particular moments in my life that have led to the evolution of my clean beauty journey. The first was that shocking moment I learned about the potential harm in my everyday products and started using the Think Dirty App. I was more aware at this point, but not quite ready to ditch all the products I loved and also not about to throw away all those dollars. So when I ran out of something new and would replace it, I would use the app to scan things at the store and would try to find something that was cleaner than most (which honestly was VERY hard to come by). When a sale came up with a clean company that had skincare and lotions, I bought a full lineup ready to as least replace that category of items. I wasn’t thrilled with how they worked, but I convinced myself that using something safe was better than using something that could cause harm, even if it didn’t match up.

When I got pregnant, my clean beauty journey took another leap as I was determined to do all the things healthy for my baby. I knew that there were products that not were not pregnancy-safe and I made sure to avoid them, and started doing more research about pregnancy-safe skincare. Which got me thinking – if this isn’t safe for me while I’m pregnant, why is it safe when I’m not pregnant? Isn’t there something strange about that? Aren’t there products that are safe pregnant or not? Beautycounter came up in my research but again I avoided it because I still had a bad taste in my mouth about it from a poor sales pitch. I tried other brands and liked some new skincare products that I still have in my line-up today. I made sure to truly stop using skincare products that were scoring poor on the Think Dirty app and also got very invested in buying all safe and clean baby personal care products – because baby definitely deserved only the best.

The biggest evolution to my clean beauty journey has happened in the last year, and even more so in the last couple of months. In my desire to create the safest and healthiest environment for my babe, that’s also involved taking better care of myself as I am currently quite a life-line for my baby (breastfeeding mama). After getting a break from seeing Beautycounter in cheesy sales-pitches, I started seeing them featured on bloggers I followed and admired who were trying to lead the healthiest and cleanest lives, something that I to try to do. They were raving not only about how great the products were, but also about the strict rigor that company takes in selected their product ingredients. I was intrigued and ordered a few items from them – a foundation, bronzer, and blush driven by the notion that my child will probably start eating my face soon, or I would at least be smothering hers in kisses, and I wanted to ensure that any exposure to the products I was wearing was safe for both of us.

After liking the products and continuing to try to educate myself and my following on the topic of clean beauty, one of the bloggers I follow reached out and asked if I would be interested in becoming a Beautycounter consultant since I already was promoting the products organically and seemed passionate about clean beauty. I resisted initially, but after some time and additional research about the company, it was hard to deny it was something I was passionate about and wanting to share with others. I signed up, tried a bunch of their products and realized that beauty can be good for you and still work REALLY well.

SOMETHING I CAN BELIEVE IN

So now I’m a Beautycounter consultant, now I’m my own worst enemy – NOT. I’m not about to be all up in your DM’s trying to sell you stuff, don’t worry. But I am going to share the products from Beautycounter that I love, and the information that I continually learn about the cosmetics industry and why clean beauty even matters.

And that’s the neatest thing about Beautycounter and one of the reasons I was excited to join them. Sure, they are a business and ultimately want to sell products, but they also have a bigger mission, to get safer products in the hands of everyone. But it’s not exclusively their products they are concerned with, they want the industry at large to change and are major advocates working to urge government to do so. It’s why they also commission their own third-party studies on the chemicals used in products, to ensure they are putting only the best into their products and also introduce some much needed research into a somewhat neglected industry.

And for me, that’s something I can support, and something I can feel excited telling other people about when they are interested in clean beauty, Beautycounter and their products.

 

MY OTHER, MOST IMPORTANT WHY

The other most compelling reason why I joined Beautycounter? My daughter.

I want to make sure I’m exposing her to safe and clean products and environment with everything I have control over, and that includes personal care products.

I want to teach her things that are important to believe in and healthy ways of living and how to help others in their journey to health.

I want to teach her that beauty can be safe and fun. And that it’s never to early to start hydrating your skin (ha)

I want to stay home with her and still provide for our little family. Quitting my consulting job and freelancing hasn’t been the smooth transition I was hoping it would be, and my joining Beautycounter means I’m starting my own little business in a way and it’s giving me a means to contribute to my family.

 

Feeling ready for your own clean beauty journey? A few tips to get your there:

1. Sign up for my Better Beauty newsletter where I’m sharing clean beauty 101 and tips and tricks on products
2. Download the Think Dirty or EWG app and start shopping cleaner
3. Start replacing products you are running out of with better beauty swaps
4. Share your new info with a friend – once I found out about clean beauty and the potential harm in my everyday products I couldn’t help but tell everyone I knew so that they could improve their routine as well.

 

XO,

JESS