HEALTHY SKIN CHALLENGE #5: Clean Up Your Skin Care & A Giveaway!

Welcome to the fifth, and final, installment of the Healthy Skin Challenge in honor of National Healthy Skin Month! 

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TODAY'S CHALLENGE: CLEAN UP YOUR SKIN CARE

There are so many skin and body care products on the shelves these days, it can be overwhelming to make the right product choices. The correct skin products for your skin type aside, simply choosing a product that is healthy for your skin, body and the environment can prove to be very, very difficult.

Many products (such as lotions, shampoos, nail polish and toothpaste) in the mass market contain ingredients that are suspected to contribute to cancer, reproductive issues and skin irritation, just to name a few concerns. A great resource to quickly assess the safety of your body care products is the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep® Cosmetics Database. This handy tool allows you to search over 80,000 body care products to determine their safety. You can also look up ratings for individual ingredients.

The database rates products and ingredients with an easy numbering system (from low risk to moderate risk to high risk) that is calculated based on the overall health hazard, as well things such as cancer risk and immunotoxicity. This data is based on what is known about the product's ingredients and scientific studies that may have been completed. 

Not all products are included in the database, obviously, and some ratings may not be accurate due to little being known about individual products or certain ingredients. The rating can also vary depending on how the product is being used. For example, some ingredients may be more dangerous when inhaled rather than used topically on skin. 

Hazard score key:

Low hazard	Moderate hazard	High hazard

Data score key:

Data: None		Data availability rating: the scope of ingredient safety data contained in Skin Deep®, and the number of studies available in the open scientific literature
Data: Limited
Data: Fair
Data: Good
Data: Robust

So the database is not entirely accurate (and some even argue that it sensationalizes the issue of product safety), but, with that being said, it can still be a good resource to begin incorporating healthier skin care into your daily routine, as it offers a ton of options for healthier choices. 

Say, for example, you want to explore a healthier nail polish option. Traditional nail polish contains not-so-yummy ingredients like formaldehyde, dibutyl phthalate and toluene (ingredients shown to contribute to cancer, birth defects and nervous system damage). Select "Nail Polish" from the "Nails" menu and you can browse a list of nail polishes available, starting at a "0" risk rating (and continuing up to the higher risk product offerings). 

Honeybee Gardens WaterColors Nail Polish from Skin Deep Database.

So, your final challenge for Healthy Skin Month is to grab the skin and body care products you are currently using and research their safety in the EWG database. If there is a product that appears to be suspect, use the database to find a healthy alternative. Many healthy alternatives are available for purchase online or at your local natural foods store. And don't forget handcrafted products from individual artisans, like those that you can find either locally at farmer's markets or online on sites like Poppy Swap. These products are often superior to anything you can buy at a store and you can talk to the crafter to find out all of the details about the product and ingredients used.

Have fun with this! Make slow changes, one product at a time, or go for the gold and overhaul your entire product stash all at once. Whatever you are comfortable with and makes sense for you. :)

...AND NOW THE GIVEAWAY!!!

DeVita Solar Protective Moisturizer SPF 30+ from Skin Deep Database

I hope you have enjoyed the Healthy Skin Challenge and have incorporated some healthy changes into your life that will make a big impact on your skin's health. To celebrate, I am giving away a package of DeVita Solar Protective Moisturizer SPF 30+! A great all-natural, year-round daytime moisturizer plus sunblock with good-for-skin ingredients like organic aloe gel and glycerin.

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment below with one healthy change you have made during the Healthy Skin Challenge. I will choose a winner with a random generator on Friday, December 6 at Noon.

Blessings and happy skin!