re-thinking my beauty "indulgence"

Recently I had the opportunity to spend the day with a team from ATTITUDE, talking minimalism, natural households, healthy families, and beauty (read all about it here).  It was such a great day! 

ATTITUDE is running a new campaign to raise awareness of the dangerous ingredients in basically all beauty products, particularly haircare. If you post a picture of the ingredients on your current shampoo bottle on Instagram and use the hashtag #whatsinmyshampoo (or #dansmonshampoing), ATTITUDE's team of scientists will look at the ingredients and give you the percentage of ingredients of concern. How cool is that?  Another tool I always recommend is ewg.org's skin deep app, which lists many (but not all) beauty products and their ingredients, rating them on a safety scale. 

One reason I love ATTITUDE, and why I've used their products long before I started collaborating with them, is that they score in the lowest possible category on EWG's scale (low is good!), and they're EWG certified. Most products with these safer ingredients tend to cost two times the price, if not higher, that conventional brands, which deters a lot of people. But ATTITUDE products usually cost less than the products I was using before I made the change to safer beauty. Yes, less. But back to my beauty "indulgence" that's left me super torn...

Years after switching to safer shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and hand soap, I've clung to my dry shampoo. As a busy mom, I love that it lets me look great even on day three after washing. I don't have the time to shower in the morning before getting my three kids to school, so I shower at night, which means even on Day 1, my hair has already had all night to collect natural oils, leaving it a bit limp. I asked ATTITUDE to analyze my dry shampoo and I was straight up horrified. 100% of the ingredients registered as allergens, cancer-causing and toxic. !!!!!

The main ingredients (tip: the ingredients are listed in order of amount used, so the first ingredients are what your products have the most of) are Isobutane, Propane, Alcohol Denat and Silica. I don't want to be spraying these things on my head every day! Dry shampoo is definitely the worst offender in my beauty regimen, and I've often likened it to a little indulgence (you know, like that extra glass of wine, or croissant - not hurting anyone, but obviously not the best option), but now I'm re-thinking it altogether. Especially for something I put on my head  - the home of my brain! - and so near my mouth - the main access point to the rest of my body - I can't believe I've been so careless. 

The ingredients in my old shampoo were similarly scary, and I was so relieved to know that it's been over a year since I've slathered those ingredients on my head! But still, I can't switch to all safe products for my entire life, and you probably can't either. Something I've learned on this journey towards safer living is that you don't have to change everything to make a change. Start small - maybe sunscreen or shampoo. Grow from there as your lifestyle and budget allow. Find DIY recipes (like my deodorant!) and affordable companies (like ATTITUDE!) to get started. The important thing is to educate yourselves about what's in your products and then make the decision that's right for your family. For me, it means using safe shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and hand soap, and finally tossing my dry shampoo. Not every product in my home will rate as low as ATTITUDE on EWG, but I'm doing what I can for our family and that feels good :)

 This post was in collaboration with ATTITUDE, 

a company I've loved for years. All opinions are my own. 

Photography by Rachel Cheng Photography for ATTITUDE.