At the beginning of the summer, I posted about ridding my home of the cosmetic products that were high in toxins and carcinogens.

I was really concerned about finding replacements for my deodorant, my acne treatments, and of course my make up (in that order).

A happy surprise was that my deodorant (Secret solid unscented) was rated quite good! So I’m still swiping my pits with the same thing I started using clear back in the 19-hundred-and-somethings.

An unhappy surprise included our sunscreens, our toothpaste and our bar soap. These have been easily replaced, even the toothpaste!

Most of you know I have been experimenting with crunchy hair, here are some new before/after photos, this time with strait hair:

Here I am at the start of the day, right after styling.

I didn’t use any products (aside from my flat iron) and I brushed once in the middle of the day.

Here I am at the end of the day, after taking the kids to the water park. It held up great!

I currently have no plans to go back to using shampoo and conditioner. I’ve been so pleased with the texture of my hair using this method, and I think it is continuing to improve as my hair detoxifies. All three children are now voluntarily sporting crunchy hair as well.

The biggest news flash I have for you concerns make up. I’ve fought for years now with finding makeup that my face doesn’t react to. I’ve tried most any brand of makeup you can buy whether over the counter, from your girlfriend’s kitchen table or off an infomercial (Mmm-hmm, oh yes I did). The only one that didn’t make my eyelids break out in weepy hives was physicians formula…but I could only wear it a few days a week, and I had to wear the mascara on special occasions only. Too many days in a row and my skin was peeling and flaky (gross, I know!).

I went make up shopping at our local whole-foods type store. There was a huge selection. I took my iPhone with me and used the EWG website to find the ratings on the cosmetic products (I was surprised how many there were on the shelves with poor ratings!). I am especially pleased with the ZUZU products I purchased: Concealer, lipstick, mascara. I purchased Larenim pressed powder and I’m happy with it as well. These items are pictured in the bottom of the photo below.

My new crunchy product line-up.

The top left is the moisturizing face cream I bought in place of what I’ve been addicted to for three years now. It’s made by Weleda, and is nice, smells good and doesn’t make my face sting though it’s not as fabulous as my toxin filled anti-aging stuff (which I gave away and will not buy anymore). The top right is samples of eyeshadow and blush as well as a nail polish from Honeybee Gardens. I love the eyeshadow and blush and I’ve ordered full size of those, but the nail polish (while beautiful) is not meant for people who garden and do dishes every day. I had chips by the 24-hour mark though I followed the directions to the letter for proper curing.

You can see me wearing all the makeup I mentioned in the first picture of this post. (Obviously. I’m even wearing lipstick!)

I can’t believe the difference in my face since changing to 0 or 1 rated products from the EWG site. I don’t itch or sting, I don’t have rashes or flakes, my eyes don’t hurt or sting. I can wear this makeup every single day and have been doing so for a month now! I’ve been washing my face with good-for-me bar soap and in place of all the acne treatments I was using I have just been making a quick mask of baking soda and water. Though I still have had breakouts this month, they have been lesser and faster to heal.

I’m still on the lookout for a good nail polish – I’ve noticed that the lighter colors are rated better as a large generalization. Let me know if you have any suggestions!

In the mean time, I feel good about having so much success with this experiment and assuring you all how easy it has been to switch my family over to safer products (ignore the soap, deodorant and shampoo my husband is using – he is resistant to change and that’s okay).

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