Here are the 28 “essential” products I was using before the beauty detox.  (28?! “essential”?!  wow. How things have changed in a few months!)

Here were the substitutions I started with.

And here’s what I’m doing now:

• Teeth: I’m still using my sage tooth powder, but I also alternate with a natural peppermint tooth powder I bought at a bio shop in France.
• Body Moisturizer: Almond oil mixed with a few drops essential oil.  I like geranium essential oil.  Or frangipani.  I keep this pre-mixed in a pretty bottle on the counter.  I like that it’s really easy to make, so I can try lots of different scent combinations … for a former product-junkie like me, this is important so I don’t get ‘bored’.
• Body: Shower with castille soap.  Getting a bit bored of this. I think I’ll buy unscented next time, and add my own essential oils!  Using natural crystal deodorant.
• Face – morning: Rinse with water.  Every couple of days, I do a baking-soda scrub.  Just make a paste with baking soda and water, and scrub!  Face moisturizer – just a little coconut oil in dry spots. (My skin is generally on the oily side.)  Ok ok, I haven’t totally given up makeup, but I’m only using Bare Escentuals products, which I think are pretty natural.  I’m not using this toner in the winter, but will probably start again in warmer weather.
• Face – evening: After a bad bout of breakouts, I’ve finally found a routine that works for me.   I’m using the Oil Cleansing Method (google it for more info, I’ll write about it soon) on my face every evening.  I also do a face mask at least once a week, usually a honey mask, but I also use green clay when I feel like my skin needs a deep cleaning.
• Hair: I finally figured out the secret to living shampoo free!  Of course, I still wash my hair (breathe a sigh of relief!), but without shampoo.  You can read the details of natural haircare here.

I admit I cheated a couple of times.

I cheated and used hair dye.  I know, that’s the most toxic of toxic products!!!  But it was a weak moment.  I’ve since bought several types of henna, and am going to experiment with those soon.

I’ve also used real anti-perspirant a couple of times, for stressful work days when I couldn’t take the risk of mine not working.

So what’s next?

I want to make my own peppermint tooth powder.  I’d like to make a wider variety of body creams and scrubs.  And more bath bombs. I absolutely loved these lavender bath bombs, and want to start making them in different scents and shapes.  Now that I’ve got the basics covered, I want to experiment with spa-type indulgences – things that aren’t necessary, but that make bath time fun!

What products would you like a natural alternative for?? Let me know what you want, and I’ll test some handmade versions!

But finally, after a couple of months of bad-hair-days, I have solved the mystery to going shampoo-free.  My hair is soft, super shiny, and has good natural wave.  Amazing!

Before I get to that – let’s quickly recap why you might consider ditching your shampoo.

1) More shampoo = more greasies. The theory here is that normal shampoo is a detergent, so it does a really good job removing oil from your hair.  That’s why your hair is so bouncy & shiny right after shampooing.  But then your scalp freaks out because there isn’t any natural oil, and starts producing oil like crazy, giving you greasy hair … so you wash again, and the cycle continues.

You might have noticed that if you wash your hair daily, you HAVE to wash it daily. But if you start training your hair to go 2 days, or 3 days between shampoos, it doesn’t get all that greasy in-between.

Stopping shampoo has similar results – you still ‘wash’, but with baking soda & vinegar, and your hair stays in a happy balance.

2) Shampoos are loaded with chemicals. Standard shampoos usually contain icky ingredients like Sodium Laureth Sulphate, DEA, and artificial fragrances (which is a generic term that can hide a multiude of sins).  If you want to know more, here are some chemicals you might want to avoid in your beauty products.

3) Simplify your life! One less product to buy, store, carry while travelling.  Plus, needing to wash your hair less often saves tons of time!

4) Think of Grandma – all of this daily hair washing is a relatively new invention.  Somehow people lived for millenia without commercial shampoo, and without greasy, stringy hair either.  Remember how your grandma had her hair ‘done’ only once a week?  Seriously, if you let your hair do its thing, it might surprise you.

So how did I make the transition to no shampoo?

I tried the baking soda and vinegar plan before (see this article for complete instructions) but didn’t have much luck.  Then I switched to all-natural, organic shampoos while I was working up the courage to try it again.  This article from Crunchy Betty inspired me to give it another try.

What did I do differently this time?

* Give your hair an adjustment period before going No ‘poo.  First switch to natural (non-detergent) shampoo.  Then try going 2 or 3 (or more) days between shampoos and let your hair adjust to less-frequent washes.  Then you can eliminate the shampoo completely.

* Patience!  Pick a week when you don’t have any big meetings/events to eliminate shampoo.  You’ll need at least a week, if not 2 or 3, where you’ll have a lot of ‘ponytail’ days.  The first week  I didn’t wash my hair at all, and it was ugly.  Not horrible, I did leave the house, but a bit greasy and definitely not silky and shiny.  After that first week, things improved dramatically.

* Dissolve the teaspoon of baking soda in warm/hot water, and make sure it’s really dissolved!  Then pour it through your wet hair, massage into your scalp, and rinse, rinse, rinse!  At first I was using cold water so the baking soda never really dissolved – and it got all gritty on my scalp.  I suppose that could be an exfoliant of sorts, but not really what I was looking for in a shampoo!

* If you’re still struggling – check your water.  We moved house between my first and second attempts … and the water seems to make a huge difference!  In our old house the water was very hard, and my hair always felt tangled.  In this new house I can rinse out the baking soda and my hair is really soft & smooth.  If you do have hard water, try using boiled-and-cooled water to rinse your hair and see if it helps!

Are you thinking about ditching your shampoo? Have you tried it? Let us know your experiences in the comments!

So do I.

I have tried, really I have!  But so far, no luck.  I hit rock bottom the other week when my boyfriend said “You know, your hair really doesn’t look very good.”  Which means it must have been really obviously greasy for him to even notice it!

The rest of my beauty detox is going pretty well.  I’m loving making bath treats (like bath bombs, body scrub and herbal bath bags), infused oils and lovely scented creams.  I’m even dealing with my homemade toothpaste and experimenting with face cleansers.  But my hair has been much less successful.

In internet land, there is a cult of “No ‘Poo” converts who preach wonderfully manageable hair by stopping shampoo completely.  I read a great summary of how to go shampoo free with lots of positive comments.  Unfortunately it hasn’t worked for me.  Here’s what I’ve tried so far:

1) Baking Soda – Following these instructions, I washed my hair with baking soda dissolved in water, then rinsed well.  While rinsing, I could barely get my fingers through my hair it was so stuck together – not a pleasant feeling!  When dry, I liked a bit of the texture it gave my hair (lots of natural curls and no flyaways) but it definitely looked greasy, and not shiny.  I tried this for a couple of weeks, and it didn’t seem to improve!

2) Homemade herbal shampoo – I got this recipe from my Rosemary Gladstar book – it’s a combination of castille soap and a herbal infusion (rosemary and sage for my brunette hair).  Smells good.  Foams very little.  Slightly more clean feeling hair than with the baking soda, but still not very good!  Still left my roots looking greasy.

I read somewhere online that if you have very hard water (which we do in London), you should rinse with distilled (or boiled then cooled) water.  I will try this when I get up the courage to test the baking soda again!

I’m a bit frustrated at the moment.  I love the idea of having low-maintenance hair, and being able to travel without numerous hair products … so I really want this to work!  But so far it has just been a greasy disaster.

Have any of you successfully gone shampoo-free? How did you do it?  Please send any tips & tricks my way.

For the moment, I’m going to start testing organic/natural shampoos from the health food store… stay tuned!

If you watched the Story of Cosmetics and want to clean up your act, here are 9 easy tips on how to green your beauty routine.

1. Inventory what you actually use – Spend a few minutes on a product inventory.  What do you have? What do you actually use?  Rather than throwing out the unused products, maybe you can do a product swap with a friend.  Figure out what your essentials are, and then…
2. Multitask – Lots of times one product can fill multiple needs.  Do you need separate moisturizer for body, feet and hands?  Or separate face, neck and eye creams?  How about using hair conditioner as shaving cream?  Or using some lipstick as a cheek color?
3. Buy less stuff – Buying fewer products helps the environment (less packaging, shipping, chemical production), lessens your chemical exposure, and saves money.
4. Go fragrance free – Fragrance in products is a labeling loophole that allows companies to include chemical compounds not listed in the ingredients!  If you want to lighten your chemical load, go fragrance-free in all of your products (except those made with natural essential oils, or ones you make yourself!)
5. Learn which ingredients to avoid – Check out the Environmental Working Group’s tips to learn which ingredients to avoid.
6. Swap your antiperspirant – You can read at length on the internet about whether antiperspirants are safe to use.  Since antiperspirants block the sweat glands, they might cause toxins to build up under the arms,  rather than sweating them out.  No one knows yet, but to be safe, swap your pore-blocking antiperspirant for a natural deodorant like The Crystal.
7. Replace with a greener alternative – No need to throw out all of your existing products … just use them up, and then replace them with a greener alternative.
8. Get crafty – Try making some products yourself.  Use honey as a face mask.  Make some toothpaste.  Or body lotion.  There are lots of recipes online.
9. Skip the daily shampoo – Shampoo less often – you’ll use less product, save money, and probably improve your hair’s condition.  No need for texturizing hair products when you have a bit of natural texture!

How are you greening your beauty routine? Let us know in the comments.

1. Face cleanser – I made a cleansing cream, recipe to come soon.
2. Face scrub – almond oatmeal cleansing grains from Rosemary Gladstar’s book
3. Face moisturizer – using a lightweight sage and yarrow moisturizer from the Natural Beauty Book
4. Acne spot treatment – using teatree or lavender oil
5. Facial mask – using honey as a face mask at the moment
6. shampoo – again a recipe from Rosemary Gladstar’s book, recipe coming soon.
7. conditioner – sage vinegar! This is great, I’ll write about it soon.
8. anti-frizz hair serum – don’t need it yet!
9. Sea salt texture hair spray – don’t need it, my hair definitely has more texture with these natural products
10. dry shampoo – have tried sprinkling arrow root powder on my roots a couple of times … has potential.
11. shaving cream – using baby oil
12. shower gel – using Dr. Bronners castille soap
13. body moisturizer – I’m making body cream like this one! More recipes to come soon.
14. ultra rich body cream – not yet
15. hand cream – not yet
16. body scrub – using coffee scrub like this, and a sugar scrub I made, recipe to come soon.
17. perfume – none yet
18. deodorant – using the natural crystal deodorant
19. toothpaste – using sage tooth powder
20. mouthwash – none yet
21. nail polish – just leaving the existing polish on my toes for the moment until I find an alternative
22. nail polish remover – none yet
23. makeup (foundation, concealer, powder, blush, bronzer, eye shadow, mascara, eyeliner, lip gloss) – currently only using Bare Minerals foundation and ‘warmth’ powder.
24. astringent/toner – rosewater or Queen of Hungary water
25. self tanner – none yet
26. night time face treatment – made a light facial oil with grapeseed oil and essential oils, recipe to come soon
27. hair color/dye – none yet, will try henna soon!
28. hand sanitizer (does this count?!) – none yet, will find a recipe for this though!

Have better alternatives for what I’m using above? Have you tried any of them yourself? Let us know in the comments!

First, check out the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Database.  You can look up any of your existing products to see their rank on the toxicity scale (0-10, 10 being most toxic).  While they don’t state which products to avoid, you can us the information to set your own threshold.   During this beauty detox I won’t use anything higher than a 5 (and hopefully won’t have to use many purchased products at all, if I can help it!).   My biggest surprise was that my favorite NARS blush scored a 7, and contains BHA which is a known immune system toxin, possible carcinogen and has been banned in Europe.  And I used it daily for about 7 years.  Awesome!

Also check out their What Not to Buy list of the top 10 ingredients to avoid in your beauty products.  Did you know that some products still contain mercury and lead??  I thought those were removed years ago.  It’s interesting reading.

Want to learn more about what’s in our cosmetics?  Watch the Story of Cosmetics video.  If you only do one thing, watch this video!

One of the most eye-opening points for me is that while chemicals in beauty products are regulated, we are getting exposure from the chemicals in multiple products at the same time.  So while your shampoo might have safe levels of a chemical, what happens when you also use conditioner, perfume, moisturizer and toothpaste with the same chemical in it??  Your exposure to that chemical just increased.  But the effects?  We just don’t know.

Although this project started as a way to save some money and make homemade beauty products, I’m starting to realize it’s a much more important issue that affects everyone.

If you look up any of your products in the Skin Deep database and have any surprises, let us know in the comments!

My new plan will be to pick a couple of homemade products, and try them for several weeks at a time.  After all, I do have a whole year to experiment.

So, my first ‘stick to it product’ is going to be a homemade toner or astringent.  We’re having warm summer weather here in England, and I really need a decongesting product to keep away the greasies.

This recipe for Queen of Hungary water has intrigued me for awhile.  I found this version in my favorite recipe book by Rosemary Gladstar.  Queen of Hungary water is an old gypsy remedy supposedly invented by the Queen of Hungary (and no, that is not her in the picture, that’s the Queen of Greece, but it was a good image!)  There are many variations including different herbs in a base of either strong alcohol or vinegar.  The recipe I used makes an herbal vinegar, and then dilutes it with a combination of rose water and witch hazel.

The finished product can be used as a facial toner or astringent, but was traditionally used as a cure-all.  According to Nicholas Culpepper, a famous English herbalist:

“The water (containing an infusion of spirits) is admirable cure-all remedy of all kinds of cold and humidity-induced head ailments, apoplexies, epilepsies, dizziness, lethargy, crippleness, nerves diseases, rheumatism, flaws, spasms, loss of memory, coma, drowsiness, deafness, ear buzzing, derangement of vision, blood coagulation, mood-induced headaches. Relieves toothache, useful for stomach cramps, pleuritis, lack of appetite, indigestion, obstruction of the liver, obstruction of the spleen, intestinal obstruction and contraction of the uterus… There are not many remedies producing that many good effects.”

Brilliant! Sounds like it will fix all of my ills.  Ok, maybe not, but it should be a refreshing, soothing skin daily skin toner that just might clear up my skin too.

Queen of Hungary Water

Adapted from Rosemary Gladstar’s Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health

Herb Mix: (use whatever you have on hand, I used these below.  I used dried herbs for everything except the sage and rosemary, since I have lots of that in my garden).

6TB. Lemon Balm

4 TB Chamomile

4 TB Roses

3 TB Calendula/Marigold

1 TB Lemon zest

1 TB dried rosemary (or 2 TB fresh)

1 TB dried sage (or 2 TB fresh)

Liquid

Organic cider vinegar

Rose Water and/or Witch Hazel

Essential oil of lavender or rose (optional

Method:

Place herbs in jar.  Cover with vinegar until completely submerged.  Leave in a sunny spot for 2-3 weeks.

Strain out the herbs (you want to get all the bits out – this helps the product keep longer).  To each cup of herbal vinegar, add 1c. total extra liquid (I used 1/2 c. rose water and 1/2c. witch hazel).  Add several drops of essential oil, if using.  Put into clean, pretty bottle.   Rosemary Gladstar says this will keep indefinitely and does not need to be refrigerated.

How does it smell? Really nice and herby…but slightly vinegary.  I can see how it would make a nice body splash if you made it with vodka instead of vinegar.  I’ve used it as a toner for a couple of days and it feels refreshing and cleansing on my skin.  Will report back after a few weeks of use!

Have you tried any homemade beauty products yourself? Let us know how it went in the comments.

Toothpowder. What a vintage word and concept.  It sounds like a product straight out of an apothecary.  A stained old box that you’d see on a shelf in a reenacted historic home.  But now it lives in my bathroom!

During this year of detoxing my beauty routine, toothpaste was one of my top priorities to recreate.

The array of tooth care products in the drugstore today is overwhelming: whitening, tartar control, extra-long breath freshening, sensitive teeth, with flouride or flouride-free, in different sized and shaped tubes, with a variety of flavors.  Do we really need all that to take care of our teeth?

As soon as I started experimenting with homemade toothpaste, my boyfriend admitted that he was a bit concerned about it.  While I won’t seriously hurt myself experimenting with shampoo and moisturizer, he was worried that I might get serious tooth damage if I really go an entire year without commercial toothpaste.

So I did some research.

According to wikipedia, toothpaste doesn’t clean your teeth – the friction of the toothbrush does.  And tooth pastes and powders weren’t common until the 19th century.   So I think as long as I do a thorough brushing, I should be fine with my homemade toothpaste.  Or if not, you’ll definitely hear about it!

Attempt #1: Baking Soda

The first thing I tried was plain baking soda – just dip your toothbrush in the baking soda and brush.  My teeth felt really smooth afterwards, but the taste was pretty bad.

Attempt #2: Sage Toothpowder

This time, I made a toothpowder from crushed dried sage leaves and baking soda.  Sage is antibacterial, breath-freshing and is supposed to whiten your teeth.  The major problem with this attempt is that I mixed the sage and baking soda together first, and then tried to grind them in a mortar-and-pestle.  As a result, the sage pieces were still too big (it’s hard to grind baking soda since it’s powdery), so I ended up with green bits in my teeth.  Not what I was looking for in a toothpaste!  I did like the taste of the sage, so I’ll keep working on this recipe.

Attempt #3: Sage Toothpowder v2

This time I ground up the sage separately first, then mixed with some baking soda – much better!  I carried some of this with me on a recent weekend trip and it worked well, and is easy to carry in a small container.  There are still some bits, but they’re small and rinse away easily.  I’ll probably continue to tweak this recipe over the year!

The sage flavor is nice, but I’m still missing the ‘minty fresh’ feeling – so next up is to experiment with some peppermint essential oil and actually making a toothpaste!

I’ve cleaned out my cabinets and shelves.  Offending beauty products are in the basement for safe keeping until next year.

I’m going to start with just the basics, and I plan to have a full, indulgent beauty routine reestablished by the end of the year – sans chemicals.  At least I hope so.  Because a year of just using soap, baking soda and vinegar makes me really depressed!

The four products I can’t live without

Keep in mind, I’m a product addict so this stripped down routine will not last long … but these are the very basics I need to get going!

1. Cleanser – Castile soap is an olive oil based soap about as pure as you can get.  I bought a bottle of Dr. Bronner’s rose scented soap which can be used for body, face, hands, hair — just about everything!
2. Moisturizer – I’m starting with some grapeseed oil mixed with some essential oils.  I’ve been doing this as a nighttime facial oil for awhile, and will just expand it to body use.  But making some real body cream is one of my top priorities!
3. Deodorant – Fortunately I switched to this crystal deodorant a few months back, so I’ll just continue using that.
4. Toothpaste – For lack of anything else, I know I can use baking soda as a tooth powder.  Definitely need to improve this one ASAP though, because baking soda is not very tasty.

This feels very back-to-basics to me and not very vintage-beauty-creative-fabulous!  I think I’ll last with this routine for a few days, max.  I am nervous about it, really.  I am however 100% sure that this sparse ‘essentials’ routine will motivate me to make some products, and fast.

I recently announced my year-long Beauty Detox.  The first step is an inventory of everything I currently own and use.  Partially to understand the scope of my addiction, but also to put these products out of sight for the next year (they’re going in a box in the basement.)   It would be way too easy to fall off the natural-beauty wagon in a moment of (bad hair) desperation.

Amanda’s beauty product inventory – July 2010

1. Face cleanser
2. Face scrub
3. Face moisturizer (with and without sunscreen)
4. Acne spot treatment
5. Facial mask
6. shampoo
7. conditioner
8. anti-frizz hair serum
9. Sea salt texture hair spray
10. dry shampoo
11. shaving cream
12. shower gel
13. body moisturizer
14. ultra rich body cream
15. hand cream
16. body scrub
17. perfume
18. deodorant
19. toothpaste
20. mouthwash
21. nail polish
22. nail polish remover
23. makeup (foundation, concealer, powder, blush, bronzer, eye shadow, mascara, eyeliner, lip gloss)
24. astringent/toner
25. self tanner
26. night time face treatment
27. hair color/dye
28. hand sanitizer (does this count?!)

When I actually tot up my number of products, it’s 115, including 10 hair products, 24 body products, 6 kind of perfume, and 52 pieces of makeup (not including my 48 shade Sephora pallet).

This number is staggering to me.  I really had no idea of the scope of my beauty product habit.   And I just remembered I forgot to include my nail polishes… ack.

I am starting to realize that this Beauty Detox is going to help my wallet significantly as well.

The lesson from this clean out?  That my beauty habit has gotten a bit out of control.  And that these 28 types of products are the ones I need to find natural alternatives for, or live without, in the next 12 months.

What’s your beauty product number?? Let us know in the comments.

Recently I’ve been thinking about the amount of chemicals and manufactured products I put on and in my body. There’s only so much I can do about environmental chemicals since I live in London, but I can control what I choose to eat, drink, smear, scrub, smooth and otherwise put on myself.

So, this weekend I started thinking about doing a year long chemical detox of my beauty routine.

Lip gloss, body scrub, face masks, minty foot cream, nail polish, spa nights – if it’s beauty-related, I love it!  It started with my first hand-me-down lipstick at age 9, and now takes up several shelves in my bathroom and bedroom.   I can’t even begin to calculate the amount of money I’ve spent on beauty products over my lifetime.

My year long beauty detox means that I need to first eliminate all ‘chemicals’ from my beauty routine – and try to find natural alternatives.  To be honest, I don’t know where to draw the line with defining ‘chemicals’, that’s something I’ll have to figure out as I go.

I will try to make every product I use myself – based on traditional recipes where possible, and using high-quality ingredients.  I’m also hoping I’ll save a lot of money, even with using really nice ingredients.  When I can’t make a product, I’ll try to find the most natural (but still effective) alternative available to buy.

So why am I freaking out?  I don’t want to become a hippy/crunchy/smelly/weird-looking person.  My challenge for this year is to detox my beauty routine without it being noticeable to people on the street.  I need to look, smell and feel normal.  I need to fit into regular society.  It’s a beauty detox for everywoman.

Also, I admit I’m freaking out because I won’t be able to use my favorite perfume!  Or nail polish.  Or eyeliner!  I love eye makeup and have a lot of it.  The smoky-eye-pale-lip combination is my best friend.   I can only hope there are good natural alternatives…