When I went vegan last year it wasn’t just what I was eating I needed to consider, also what I wear and what I put on my skin. Not to mention looking into household cleaning products etc. At the same time as watching documentaries that led to me becoming vegan on Netflix I also watched a documentary about the chemicals used in a lot of products. That’s where it gets more confusing because something can be vegan but it can also be full of chemicals. I decided I also wanted to opt for more natural products to use, so the list then was for them to be natural, preferably organic, cruelty free and vegan.
It’s definitely not as easy to find these kind of products, you can’t just pop into a supermarket to buy shampoo or find make-up easily. It takes a lot more planning and the problem is that to replace all your products means finding ones that work as well, this means spending money on them and they generally cost more so you can end up wasting a lot.
I found this to be an issue when switching my deodorant, my old one had aluminium in it which I no longer wanted to use so I went on the hunt for a natural, vegan one. There are LOTS out there but finding one that worked for me was really tricky. I drove Matt mad for about a month as I was constantly sniffing my armpits and commenting on how well they were working. Annoyingly I did find one that worked but the bicarbonate of soda in it irritating my skin and basically left me with raw skin patches! So the hunt continued, I have now found one that works okay but it needs applying a lot. So the hunt continues…
Here are a few of the things I’ve learnt when trying to switch your beauty products to natural ones.
1. Find some natural beauty bloggers to follow on Instagram, I have discovered a lot of new products through them, especially make-up brands who I’d never heard of. Balanced Beauty Bristol is one of my favourites.
2. A lot of healthfood shops have beauty product sections and have testers out so you can smell / try the products before buying them. I find this really helpful with face creams as I like them to be really moisturising and you need to try them to know that.
3. Order from websites that send out free samples. I’ve ordered from a couple of websites that have let you choose 5 free samples for spending over a certain amount.
4. Sign up to a vegan beauty box subscription. I personally haven’t got around to this yet but I love the idea of being sent new products to try.
5. Google the products to find reviews on them. I find this really helpful as if something has mainly bad reviews then I don’t bother buying it.
I hope these tips help you.
If you want to know more about the beauty trends for 2017 then Ellisons have put together an eBook. You can find it over on their blog.
Thanks to Ellisons for working with me on this post.
