All-Natural greener grooming routine

Out with the old-fashioned cosmetics, and in with the All-Natural. I’ve listed 5 ways to innovate your beauty and grooming routines this 2017.

As much as we love Alicia Keys’ dewy skin, our beauty consumption has caused more harm than good. From islands of floating napkins and wipes in our oceans, marine life choking on cosmetic waste, to the slow yet sure effects of chemicals on our health, we can no longer ignore the downward spiral we’ve put our world in.

But thankfully, more and more people have discovered ways to create beauty products that are ethical and 100% natural. Homegrown companies have provided us safe and effective alternatives to our usual drugstore brands. Here you can find our compilation of skin and beauty resolutions you can take for an innovative routine that doesn’t harm you or the planet.

1. Instead of sheet masks, choose wash-off masks, creams, or oils.

While our idea of unwinding is to luxuriate in a sheet mask every night, wet wipes are now the fastest growing cause of pollution on beaches all over the planet.

According to the Marine Conversation Society UK, Britain saw a 50% increase of wet wipe waste along their beaches in 2014. During their annual beach cleanup, 35 of these non-biodegradable wipes were found per kilometer. These wipes not only posed a threat to Britain’s sewage system, but also to the migratory turtles who mistook them for jellyfish—an integral part of a turtle’s diet.

How can you help? Instead of sheet masks or wet wipes, go for wash-off masks, essential oils like Rosehip or Pili—100% natural, and your face will love the moisture it provides every night.

I recommend: – Pili Body Oil

2. At the height of dengue season, go for plant-based bug-repellent

Mosquito-borne diseases are not to be trifled with. Health agencies across the globe encourage the regular use of insect repellents at the height of mosquito season. But the question that circles repellents these days is: To DEET or not to DEET? DEET (N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide) is a common active ingredient in most repellents, which the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) classified as Category 3 or “Slightly toxic.”

One alternative is to go for plant-based repellents and balms which are just as effective at repelling mosquitos from your skin.

I recommend:  Bug Me Not Balm

3. Before checking out, check the chemicals, check for animal testing

Before you take home that product, be sure to check the ingredients list for the following chemicals: Formaldehyde, cocamide DEA, 1,4 dioxane, polyacrymalide, and polytetrafluoroethylene. According to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, these chemicals have been linked to carcinogens and endocrine disruption.

Go local and all natural. Support companies that support local communities. Ask them personally if they test on animals.

4. Avoid facial/body scrubs with microbeads

Microbeads are tiny beads of plastic found in facial scrubs and body washes. They’re so small (about 1 micrometer in diameter) that our Wastewater treatment facilities can’t filter them out. The result is they end up in lakes, rivers, and oceans, and look very much like tiny eggs—a natural food source for our fish.

So use face and body washes that don’t contain polyethylene, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polymethyl methacrylate, polylactic acid, or nylon—the common plastics used to make microbeads. Instead, use soaps made from plant-based ingredients and natural exfoliants.

I recommend: PILI Bath Soap, available in Citron and Citrus Blooms

5. Dump your lipstick today

A kiss is just a kiss, until you realize how much lead is inside a tube of lipstick. A 2010 study by the US Food and Drug administration found traces of lead in all the lipsticks they sampled, with levels ranging from 0.09 to 7.19 ppm.

Lead, a dangerous neurotoxin, can pose serious threats to one’s health even with just a little exposure. In fact, there is no safe level of exposure to lead. Better to avoid lead at all costs.

But this doesn’t mean you should avoid lipsticks and tints at all costs. Instead, choose local and homegrown lipsticks made from whole ingredients.

I recommend: PILI Tinted Lip Balm

Products available at Beauty MNL and Kultura at all SM Department stores.