Occasionally I talk to someone who is new to natural beauty and personal care products and they always ask me why we use them exclusively at Alma or why they are important. I realize that the world of beauty and personal care products is really overwhelming so I wanted to share with you all my typical response to this question:

The first thing I think about is that your skin is the biggest organ of your body and it absorbs most things you apply to your body. Unfortunately, most of the beauty and personal care products available on the market are full of toxic chemicals – the average woman applies 150 chemicals each day. Picture yourself in a hot shower, your pores are open and even more receptive to absorbing chemicals, and as you lather up and rinse the shampoo from your hair the lather runs over your skin allowing the chemicals to be absorbed into your body.

Additionally, we know that our ancestors didn’t get the diseases that we do now. Why is that? Is it because we are living longer or our ability to diagnose diseases is improved? Possibly these things play a part. But I believe that more than that it is because of a combination of things related to our lifestyle that has caused this spike in modern diseases: 1.) We live life in constant stress mode, and we’re typically less active than people have been throughout history. 2.) Our food is processed, full of chemicals, and lacking in vitamins and nutrients and 3.) We are constantly exposed to environmental toxins in the air we breathe and also in our personal care products.

Also, personal care products are not regulated. Some chemicals that get put into personal care products are regulated, but in general the industry is highly unregulated. This means that companies can put things into their products without having to prove that they are safe. But, even if the industry was regulated I’m not sure it is enough. Our regulatory agencies do the best they can to protect us from the worst of the worst but there is no way to know the long term implications of chemicals, drugs, etc until, well, a long time has passed. By then we may have exposed ourselves for years to dangerous substances.

Finally – natural, unrefined, organic ingredients can be really beneficial for you and can help improve the wellness of your skin, hair, & nails. Try some of our unrefined, organic, shea butter-based lotion and you’ll see what I mean!

So, if we start to get back to the basics and make healthier decisions around our food, lifestyle and products would we be healthier? I think so! That’s what we are trying to offer at Alma – a place where you can go and know that you are not being exposed to toxic chemicals and a place you can learn more about starting to make healthier decisions for yourself and your family! And you don’t have to go overboard – I just suggest starting with one small change and you’ll start to see a big difference!

Here’s to a healthier day!

Katie