Starting a Natural Body Care Routine

Scrub a dub dub! If you care even a teeny tiny bit about what you put in your bod, you likely care about what you put on it, too.

Eating clean means ditching processed foods with lengthy ingredient lists. It means saying adios to funky chemicals, artificial colors, and crapola that makes your body and mind feel not so good.

Now let me ask you this. If you say a big whopping "NO" to fake colors in your cereal, why are you brushing your teeth with them?

Or slathering them on your skin in the shower?

The truth is that the  government does not require health studies or pre-market testing for personal care products. The worst part is that even the products labeled "natural" may contain harsh preservatives or ingredients with environmental concerns. Did you know there are more than 50 ingredients common in conventional body care products that are prohibited in any Whole Foods body care products? The list includes phthalates, microbeads, triclosan, BHT, BHA, aluminum chlorohydrate, and several more.

But the purpose of this post isn't to get on my soap box and preach about how we're all gonna die from Suave shampoo. I partnered up with my friends over at Whole Foods Upper Arlington to give you guys a little peek into the products I love and use personally to help you make your own informed decisions!

The good news is that natural body care is a breeze. A clean body care routine is just like a clean eating routine. You want to be able to recognize ingredients, avoid harsh chemicals and preservatives, stick to naturally derived ingredients and pure fragrances, and still enjoy the products! That's where Whole Foods comes in.

Whole Foods is heaven on earth not only when it comes to eating clean, but also cleaning up your body care routine. Long story short, they make it easy.  From deodorant and body wash to gum and toothpaste, the Whole Body department has numerous of clean, affordable, and effective options. They also forbid animal testing in any of their products. Wahoo! Their Premium Body Care labeling takes this a bit further by ensuring that all products with the label are safe, effective, environmentally sound, and sustainably sourced.  Just look for the logo!

Premium Body Care (PBC) meets strict criteria with ingredients that are minimally processed and have little environmental impact. There are over 400 ingredients that have been deemed unacceptable for PBC, including parabens, polypropylene, and sodium lauryl sulfate. They only allow the safest and most gentle surfactants for cleaning and degreasing and only preservatives that aren't likely to cause allergies and sensitivities. As far as fragrances go, the premium standard only allows natural essential oils.

Another aspect of Whole Foods' personal care products that I adore is their bulk soaks and scrubs section. You can buy however much you want and mix and match all the fun flavors. They're all made in-house with natural ingredients like coconut oil and turbinado sugar. Can I just say that they smell good enough to eat? Literally!

And guess what?! Whole Foods Market Upper Arlington even created a special Hummusapien signature body scrub that all you lovelies can buy in stores! It's made with my all my favorite ingredients, including cacao powder, peppermint, vanilla, and coconut oil. How delish does that sound?! Get ready for some serious exfoliation.

So what exactly are my favorite body care products? Here are some of my go-to choices, all of which I use every single day!

Lip balm: 365 everyday value organic vanilla honey lip balm. Have you ever looked at the ingredients in lip balm? And to think that you're licking 90% of them! I use this every night before bed without fail.

Hand soap: 365 everyday value lavender hand soap. Made with essential oils, I love that it meets the standards for premium body care and doesn't dry out my hands like other soaps do. Critical for all the hand washing I do at Alchemy!

Body Lotion: 365 everyday value maximum moisture body lotion or Kiss My Face lavender shea lotion. I lather this all over my bod after I shower.

Face Lotion: Earth Science fragrance free almond-aloe moisturizer. This guy is super affordable and feels awesome on my skin. I lather it on every time I wash my face.

Feminine care: Conventional cotton tampons are bleached with chlorine dioxide, which eventually turns into a chemical called dioxin. While not harmful in small doses, us ladies go through quite a few tampons in our lives, so I like to stick to the chlorine-free kind. I stick with 365 everyday value tampons and panti-liners. They're a steel at $3.99 per box!

Mouth wash: Tom's Wicked Fresh in cool mountain mint. Why gurgle fake blue coloring and fake sugar around your mouth? I'd rather have bad breath! Or you can chew on a piece of Pur gum, which I have in my purse at all times.

Body wash: Dr. Bronners hemp lavender body wash. This stuff is as clean as it gets when it comes to body wash and a bottle will last you forever.

Shampoo: Acure moroccan argan oil + argan stem cell shampoo or Desert Essence tea tree replenishing shampoo or Nature's Gate biotin strengthening shampoo. Say no to sodium lauryl sulfate! It's like washing your hair with detergent, ladies.

Toothpaste: Kiss My Face triple action tooth paste. Some natural toothpastes taste natural, but this one just tastes minty fresh. It's sweetened with erythritol rather than artificial sweeteners and isn't colored with harmful dyes. No thank you, blue #1.

Deodorant: Lavanilla The Healthy Deoderant in vanilla lavender. This is one of the more pricey items on this list, but it's the only deodorant I've found that doesn't make my armpits smell, so I fork over the cash for it. Plus, conventional deodorants contain aluminum which is linked to Alzheimer's, a disease that happens to run in my family. This deodorant is near and dear to my heart!

Now go take a shower!!

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