Natural Skincare: Better for You AND the Earth

It’s no secret that using clean, all-natural hygiene products is better for you and your health. Quite simply, less toxins and chemicals in your products means less toxins and chemicals in your body.
But did you realize it also means less toxins and chemicals in the environment?
 
Maybe the climate crisis is something that keeps you up at night or maybe its periphery info that barely makes it onto your radar. Either way, using all-natural products is the ultimate twofer. By going natural, you help reduce the risks that synthetic, highly processed products have on both you and the planet.
 
It’s hard to believe, but your super-sudsy shampoo or biggie-size body wash might just be more damaging than beneficial thanks to two key factors: how they’re made and what they’re made of.

The Manufacturing Process

From the fashion industry to skincare, how we mass produce our products (and dispose of them) causes pollution. The amount of pollution we generate to make said goods leave a carbon footprint on our environment. That carbon footprint—or the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions we release into the atmosphere—directly impacts the Earth’s temperature which is responsible for the climate crisis. 
 
Although there’s no way to completely eliminate our impact on the earth during the mass production of everyday items, choosing all-natural products can help keep our carbon footprint smaller (and oftentimes, neutral), thereby reducing pollution and CO2 emissions. Avoiding extractions from the earth to mine for materials like aluminum or lead, preventing farming for ingredients like palm oil, and packaging products in recyclable or compostable packaging keeps that footprint smaller. Though natural products won’t eliminate pollution altogether, it will greatly reduce it.
 

The Synthetic Ingredients

Just like the risks synthetics pose to humans, they also can harm plants and animals both on land and sea. And just in case you’re thinking, “eh, the bunnies will be fine,” think bigger.
 
If plants and animals are coming into contact with these chemicals that means they’re finding them in our ecosystems, our water, our soil—all things we humans also come in contact with. We’re talking parabens, phthalates, sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) and other common ingredients in hygiene and household products that can make their way into bloodstreams and food sources.
 
Reducing and eliminating our intake of these chemicals will influence manufacturers to reduce their use of them which ultimately keeps us all out of harm’s way, bunnies included.
 
So even if you don’t count yourself among the bleeding-heart environmentalists, using natural solutions as part of your hygiene routine promises a more conscientious, less harmful effect on the planet than the alternative. If it’s better for you, it’s better for the Earth and that means, it’s better for everyone.