Building a Natural Personal Care Collection: Where to Start When Everything Has Chemicals

It is depressing to walk into a drugstore and read labels. That shampoo you have used for years? Yes, impossible to pronounce. The lotion? The same. Deodorant, toothpaste, and facewash all have long names and suddenly, everything on your personal care product shelf is in question.

Switching to natural personal care products doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing endeavor nor does it have to be a month’s salary at the local health food store. There is a way of doing it that is not painful to the pocketbook or that doesn’t take a Doctorate in Chemistry to buy.

Start with the Products That Have the Most Surface Area on Your Skin

The most common mistake people make when switching to natural personal care products is to try and replace everything all at once. This is stressful, expensive, and it doesn’t have to be done.

It makes sense to take it product by product and to focus on products that either have the most surface area or that stay on the skin the longest.

Deodorant is right next to your lymph nodes in your armpits. Body lotion covers your whole body. Both are far more important than your facewash, which is only on your face for thirty seconds.

Lotions and moisturizers are good ones to switch to, hair products make the most sense to switch to second. If you are going to switch to plant-based products, it only makes sense to avoid everyday exposure to synthetic fragrances, parabens, and petroleum-based byproducts. The skin absorbs more than people think, being the largest organ on the body.

Caring for your hair can be seen as a logical third step. Hair is technically dead tissue so its absorption capabilities are limited but switching from products that use silicones that stick to hair can be challenging.

Shampoo and conditioner can be difficult to switch to for those who don’t know about the adjustment period that hair goes through after being used to synthetic ingredients its entire life.

There’s A “Learning Phase” for Hair After Switching Shampoo

This does not speak to how natural products do their jobs; they do their jobs well. It just takes some time to rehabilitate hair that’s been coated with commercial shampoo for years. Most commercial products use silicones that coat hair and serve as a shortcut to making it feel soft. Take this away, and it can feel like a mini hair crisis as hair learns how to function at an optimal level by producing its necessary oils.

It takes three or four weeks for most people’s scalp to learn how to produce the right amount of oil for happy hair again. Most people after this transition period report their hair is healthier, they don’t need to wash it as often, and it has a better texture.

There’s not a lot of switching that needs to be done with facial products that have limited ingredients. So, if you’re going natural in one area of personal care, do it all.

Know What You are Buying is Natural

This is where people typically get hung up on shopping for new products. The word “natural” means different things on different product lines. It’s not regulated like the word “organic” is.

Read the ingredient lists instead of what’s on the front of the bottle. It can still claim that it’s “natural” while it uses synthetic preservatives or derived fragrances from petrochemicals.

There are many legitimate product lines out there that use true natural ingredients in their products without synthetic additives or preservatives.

Sites such as https://naturallylinda.com/collections/all-products is a great resource when looking for true plant-based formulations without having to decode every ingredient list for every new product you purchase.

Your Skin Might Re-Acclimate with Synthetic Ingredients First

The first week or two after switching might feel like a negative reaction on the part of your skin. It might feel extra sensitive, breakout, or be dry as it learns how to function without all of its synthetic crutches.

You know how lotion does nothing for your skin? That’s how synthetic based moisturizers function when they just sit on top of the skin as a barrier but don’t actually hydrate it.

Petroleum based moisturizers do just that. They protect skin from the elements but do not hydrate it.

The first week or two after stopping using synthetic moisturizers might feel wonky while your skin learns how to function with its oil glands again after years of using commercial moisturizers which have caused them not to function adequately.

Not everyone might experience this, but at least knowing about this potential re-acclimatization process shouldn’t cause someone to give up prematurely.

If symptoms last longer than two weeks, there could be true sensitivity to an ingredient rather than just a re-acclimation process.

Some Products it Makes Sense to Spend Money On

Natural personal care products are more expensive than drug store conventional products for obvious reasons; natural ingredients cost more than synthetic. Natural product companies are small and can’t take advantage of mass product manufacturing like their commercial counterparts.

Not every product needs an expense account allocated its use.

There are many reasonably priced natural bar soaps on the market that can be purchased to avoid breaking the bank while switching away from synthetic soaps.

Coconut oil functions just as well if not better than other high-end natural moisturizers. Allocate funds for products that count, facial moisturizers, special skin care areas, and underarm areas.

When making changes, do allocate money for a deodorant that works; budgeting for a natural deodorant might fail miserably in its effectiveness and send someone running back to the synthetic laden products they were trying to avoid. There is a good (but not cheap) deodorant; it just isn’t a dollar store stick of deodorant.

Build a Collection Over Time

The best way to switch personal care products is build a collection over time instead of switching them all at once.

One by one, from personal care to hair care after acclimating your body for a few months then onto face then lastly, dental care which deserves its own section as there are good and bad product lines in this area, reading reviews can be a better indicator than looking at an ingredient list; many people not surprisingly use these products and don’t brush their teeth.

This does not need to be a rushed experience; it can take six months or a year, and should only be fit into your lifestyle after you find products that work for you. Rushing only leads people to buy products they don’t use which creates waste in other ways in their homes (and lives).

Most people don’t miss conventional personal care products after a (hopefully) smooth transition; they learn to appreciate how their skin feels naturally and how products actually smell after they switch for a while; they just need a good plan first.