For years, I have struggled with my skin. From the early years of High School all the way up until now, I have been covering up every imperfect spot I can find. Never leaving the house without a full face of makeup to cover all of my blemishes, covering my face any way that I could. To put it simply, I truly just never felt comfortable in my own skin, literally. I tried everything under the sun to achieve clearer skin- I never begged for perfect skin, just skin I could live in and be happy. It was at the point where every time I had a conversation with someone face to face, the first thing I looked at and noticed was how clear their skin was and how I wished mine could be too. These insecurities, though to some may seem minimal, were huge in my mind. It continued to impact so many different aspects of my life. I had recently got to the point where I just couldn’t take it anymore and dealt with daily frustration. This is when Beautycounter came into my life, and at the most perfect moment.

It wasn’t until I had heard about Beautycounter that I considered why my skin may not have been reacting so well to all of the different products over the years. As I did more and more research on the company and the industry, what I came to learn was eye-opening and completely shocking. With everything that our federal government regulates in our country, one thing that has slipped through the cracks is the self-care and cosmetic industry. For as long as I can remember, I was putting lotions, body washes, soaps, makeup, and so much more onto my skin day after day. All of these products contained hundreds of harmful and even toxic chemicals. I never once stopped to think about how these products could be hurting me instead of actually helping me. The matter of the fact is: the US hasn’t passed a major federal law regulating the cosmetics industry since 1938. And because of this, many of the leaders in personal care, skin care, and cosmetics are using questionable and potentially harmful chemicals and ingredients. Why? Simply because they can! An even more shocking realization? The European Union has banned over 1400 ingredients from their cosmetics industry, how many has the United States banned? 30.

In today’s market, 80% of ingredients used in these products have never been tested to measure their impact on human health. These leaders in the industry use them anyways, they are allowed to make their own judgements about safety. Not only are companies not testing their ingredients, they also are not required to list every ingredients used on their packages. These leaders in the industry can label their products as “natural” “clean” “organic”, however, they tend to just put those ingredients on their labels and leave out the toxic harmful ones. Decades of study show that these ingredients are linked to serious health issues, including hormone disruption, cancers, and infertility. The scary thing is, it’s products that contain these ingredients that we continue to put on ourselves every day. What we put on our children. What we give as gifts to family and friends. They’re all potentially causing more harm than good.

So, after years I have now realized that not only were all the numerous products I was using not helping to clear my skin and fix my (now seemingly) little problem, but they were actually leading to much larger ones by exposing me to dangerous toxins every morning and night.

THIS  is why I have decided to join the movement to switch to safer, spreading the word, and partnering with Beautycounter to get safer products into the hands of everyone. Because, not only are these products safer and I felt much better using them, but they were the most effective product I have used on my skin. In what took almost 9 years of trying to fix, Beautycounter’s products gave me clearer skin in just two days.

As a nurse, who day in and out focuses on taking care of people, and educating them on a healthy lifestyle, I find it incredibly important that I educate as many around me as I can on all of the harmful toxins we continue to expose ourselves to and reasons why we all need to switch to safer.