As a mom, keeping my family safe is one of my highest priorities
More than anything, I want my family to be happy, healthy, and safe. I’m sure many of you can relate. We would do anything for our kids, because it’s one of the hardest things ever to watch a child struggle through an injury, an illness, or a health challenge. My oldest son is a cancer survivor. I learned things about caring for him that I never imagined I would have to know how to do or understand in my lifetime. It was a very challenging time, but he got through it, and today he is healthy.
When I started trying to get pregnant a few years ago, I took a hard look at the household and personal care products I was using for myself and my family. For all of the health information I had at my disposal from my son’s journey, along with my experiences in yoga and complementary health modalities, I knew little about ingredient safety. I had an affinity for luxe body products since my days of exploring aromatherapy in my early 20’s. Back then, I looked for any brand that seemed (or even used the word) “natural”, but didn’t pay close attention to what that actually meant. I assumed all of the ingredients in these products were better and of higher quality, especially if they came with a higher price tag.
Since I was “Advanced Maternal Age” (ahem, defined as age 35 and older), I was committed to doing everything possible to optimize my body for a healthy pregnancy. I explored a wide-range of resources from revamping my diet and committing to a fertility-focused meditation practice to switching to the safest personal care products I could find. I didn’t know about Beautycounter at the time, but I discovered the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) Healthy Living app and checked the ingredients of all my products. It was time-consuming, but worth it. However, this search to find safer products left me with a nagging question. Why are companies using questionable or potentially hazardous ingredients in their formulations when it’s obvious there are other, BETTER options?
1938 is the last year Congress passed a major law regulating cosmetics
What I now know is that the U.S. is markedly behind other countries when it comes to cosmetic safety. The beauty industry in our country is virtually unregulated. It’s legal for U.S. cosmetics companies to use known carcinogens in products that we use every day. And crazy as this sounds, the last year Congress passed a major federal law regulating cosmetics was in 1938. On top of this, chronic exposure to toxic chemicals, whether in our foods, our household products, or our personal care products, has been linked to serious health issues like asthma, cancer, and infertility. So how do we ensure that the products we are putting on our skin, our bodies, and our children will not have an adverse impact on our health?
Enter Beautycounter
Founded by CEO Gregg Renfrew in 2013, Beautycounter’s mission is to get safer products into the hands of everyone. As a wife and mother, Gregg had a similar experience to what many of us have gone through. We live in a country with extensive regulations. Why would the products, lotions, and sunscreens we’re using not be safe? Gregg started Beautycounter to COUNTER the beauty industry. Her vision was to create safer products women could trust and rely on, and today these efforts include unparalleled safety screening, ingredient transparency, responsibly sourced raw materials, sustainable packaging, and advocacy for more health protective laws across North America. Beautycounter has a growing collection of safer skin care, hair care, bath and body products, children’s products, anti-aging treatments, and high-performance makeup. With safer ingredients and products that actually WORK, making a switch to safer, cleaner products is one of the easiest things we can do for our health.
The Never List™
Beautycounter omits more than 1,800 questionable ingredients in its formulations that are still used in the personal care industry today. This puts Beautycounter ahead of the EU, which bans 1,400 ingredients, Canada which bans 600, and the U.S. which currently bans only 30 ingredients.
Want to get involved? There are three ways:
Become a Customer
When you become a Beautycounter Customer, you can be assured that you are using safer, high-performing products. No need to track down safety information for a long list of ingredients in your products. That work has been done. Further, your purchases support Beautycounter’s efforts to create change for women and families all over the world. Shop here.
Become a Band of Beauty Member
Band of Beauty Members enjoy perks like product credit to use on future purchases, free shipping on orders over $100, a free welcome gift upon enrollment, and special offers only available to those in the program. This $29 annual membership is an excellent and cost-effective way to start a more focused transition to cleaner personal care products. Sign up here.
Become a Consultant
Sign up as a Consultant, and you’ll receive 25% off personal orders, and the opportunity to earn additional income while sharing the Beautycounter mission. We are a direct sales company with no monthly purchase requirements. The opportunity is as flexible as you need it to be. Sign up here. Click “Enroll Now” and select me as your mentor. You will be required to purchase an Enrollment Kit, which includes business materials and products. Starter Sets are offered to introduce you to a range of products. While deeply discounted, purchase of these sets is optional. You can also shop all products immediately to take advantage of your 25% off discount.