‘What natural beauty & skincare products do you use?’ This is a question I get asked quite often. It’s a fair question, because we use mostly (at least within our possibilities) everything organic and as pure as we can get. Most people initially think that maybe the quality or the performance of such items would not be as good as the more commercial counterparts, but this is far from the truth I think. Going the natural and organic way was something that greatly helped me to reduce the amount of items we need to have in the household- most of what i had when we made this transition was not good enough as they had loads of hidden chemicals and ingredients that I learnt where not good for us. But in the last couple of years more and more brands are making accessible and good beauty products for whole family, what present us with more choice.
My preferences lay with Ila-spa and Neals Yard, but I have recently tried Miss Organics and I find her beauty oils are the best I have ever used before.
From Neals Yards I use hand wash, hand creams, serums and deodorants. Neals Yards has the passionate belief that beauty should be natural, not synthetic, and that belief has been at the heart of their business since the company started over 30 years ago. They believe in nature, honesty and transparency, and the consumers right to know what goes into the products we buy. Their labels are easy to understand and they use a relatively small amount of ingredients in each product. They also sell unscented base creams etc that you can make your own.
From Ila Spa I use body and face creams and aroma rollers (these are amazing!). ila Spa is the best brand for fully organic and pure products in the world. All their products are created in a meditative environment, by hand in the Cotswolds using unsurpassed ingredients and minimal processing. The company also supports tribal communities, villages and farmers all over the world. What makes ila different is that every product is imbued with a very strong intent, an intent to nurture way beyond the surface of the skin.
Once you try Miss Organics body oils, which I highly recommend, you will find difficult going back to using the so loved cococnut oil as a body mosturising. Miss Organics oils are dry, which means that while they hydrate deeply, they don’t leave a greasy residue, they are absorbed instantly, and they wont stain your clothes. I was amazed at how good these work!
My husband, Eric, loves to use all my beauty products (and I cannot blame him because they are great! ;0) but I buy him the men range from Neals Yard and he really loves that as well. Although he seems to run out of his quite quickly and use mine instead until we both run out- maybe he is hiding his products in a cupboard to have an excuse to get his hands on mine… ummmm 😉
The kids used exclusively Neals Yards for their first year of life. I am not so keen on washing the children with soap often, specially while they were essentially not moving much being babies and all, so I bought the Neals Yard body and hair wash for kids that has lasted over a year for them both. I love the light smell of it, the fact that doesn’t make their skin dry at all and that is not itchy on the eyes- bonus! Now, they are using Neals Yard as well as some from Organic Babies. I interchange them and we haven’t had any skin issues so far.
For our oral care, we use either activated charcoal or a natural fluoride free toothpaste like Aloe Dent. The kids use the Jack & Jills brand that we buy in Ocado and they seem to enjoy brushing their teeth every day (twice a day!).
In terms of shampoo for us (the adults) I enjoy changing brands often, so I alternate various- I have so far tried Jason, Sukin, Urtecram & Green People. I have thin hair, so I tend to use any volume adding shampoos or protein shampoos to get a little more body from my hair… my husband would use any available except he has been badly hit by eczema since a couple of years (due to stress we believe as nothing else has changed) so he now has to use specialist products to manage the itchiness 🙁
I have also made our own ‘charcoal toothpaste‘ using an activated charcoal powder that I had- see the recipe here.
What do you use? Any brands you recommend we check out?
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