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OK! Let’s talk about beauty products for a hot second… I’ll be the first to admit that over the years I haven’t paid much attention to what goes into the products that I’ve bought. I tended to buy whatever was trending at the time or whatever a girlfriend or spa recommended. That said, as I’ve gotten older and wiser lol, I’ve started to place more weight on the very real problem that exists in the beauty industry with products containing harmful ingredients.
Now, while I’ve been more aware of this issue, and while I’ve made a conscious effort to read labels better, and do try to focus on products that don’t contain harmful ingredients, it’s no easy feat. I will say, however, that companies are stepping up and are trying to provide consumers with better solutions to our daily beauty needs, but it’s a tough task to tackle for both consumers and brands.
It’s kind of like breaking a bad habit, isn’t it? You know you shouldn’t buy products with chemicals in them, and you know those chemicals are harming your body, but there’s that one brand you’ve been using for 15 years, and it works so good and ughhhh… I know girl… it just ain’t easy.
When Things Changed
As I said, I was cruisin along with my tried and true chemicaled up beauty products when my 10 year old asked me to buy her deodorant. Before that moment I had honestly never thought about either of my daughters needing actual beauty products. It’s like the thought had never even entered my mind…. like I thought they would just be little forever, never wear makeup, and never sweat. ever. lol. But, to be honest, both of my daughters are athletes and this day was headed my way whether I was prepared for it or not.
So, I did what any Mother would do. I cried. lol. Partly because this means my babies aren’t babies anymore and partly because I didn’t think it was fair that I’m old enough to have a child that needs deodorant. Lol. But those issues are for an entirely different blog post… let’s stay on track here! 🙂
What I really did, once I got over the shock of the situation, was begin to look around in stores for a clean deodorant. Now, while we all know that we should strive to live chemical free lives, I think that most people are a little overwhelmed with where to start… and honestly, as I said, I was doing a pretty crappy job at it when it was just me who was getting exposed to the toxins… but, when it became about my daughters I knew I had to do a better job. So, I started my search and what I found was pretty shocking, and not for the reasons you might think.
I was shocked to find very little in terms of products that I felt were safe for my young daughters. There were brands geared towards teens and tweens but those were not clean at all. There were clean brands but they were geared towards women and weren’t very fun for a young girl to want to wear. Think pretty basic smells, no scent at all, or even itchy when you put them on. I started to realize, pretty quickly, that we were going to have to compromise in one area or the other to get what we wanted. I wanted clean, non-toxic, and chemical free deodorants that I could feel good about my daughters using every day, and they wanted something that smelled good, was pretty, and that they could be excited about putting on, or keeping in their locker at the gym!
So the hunt was on and it wasn’t easy! LOL. After several failed purchases and tons of in-store sniff tests, we finally came to a conclusion. What we were looking for didn’t exist. And to make matters more complicated, as we started down this road of finding a clean and safe deodorant, we also started to explore other beauty products that the girls were wanting to try either now or in the near future. Things like face cleanser, body wash, and makeup! ( Yes. this too took me down the how the heck am I old enough for this rabbit hole again!) Don’t worry, I stayed down there wallowing less this time 😉
Anywho… It was around this time, 14 deodorants deep into our experiment, that I said, you know what girls?!? Why don’t we just create our own line of Teen/Tween beauty products and we can make them fit any criteria we want! And Boom. Just like that, an idea was born! Now, if you know me personally then you know that I am a very ambitious person. I’ve been known to launch a clothing line and take it to market in less than a year with zero fashion background and zero experience in the made for market sector. All you need is a dream baby! And a supportive hubby…. lol… that always helps!
But.. all jokes aside. The girls and I are very excited to get to work on this project and I LOVE LOVE LOVE that they will be my partners in this venture! Finally, we’ll get to put all of their experience of coming up with a million different slime recipes to good use! This, like any project, is going to take time and we are in the extremely early stages of researching and defining what we want in our product, but, there’s no better way to to get started then to put it out into the universe, so I’m doing just that!
I also wanted to be sure to say that while we didn’t find the products we were envisioning while on our search, we did find a bunch of brands that I think are getting it right in terms of quality, cleanliness, and value! I’m all about sharing with you what is working for us at this very moment, so I for sure wanted to share those brands with you!
We have chosen a few that we feel good about using and that the girls have been loving! As a newbie coming into the physical product space, I will for sure be looking to these stand out brands for guidance and support along our own journey to launching our own teen beauty line!
Here’s what’s working for the Carr Girls Now:
Deodorant: Out of all that we tried, we settled on The Healthy Deodorant by Lavanila. It’s an all natural formula, has no parabens, no sulfates, no phthalates, and no petrochemicals. We bought the Sporty Luxe scent and it smells great!
Body Wash: We are loving Love Beauty and Planet! The girls have the MuruMuru Butter and Rose scent and it smells amazing! This product also has no sulfates, no parabens, and no dyes! The ingredient list is still a tad long for my liking but it’s a definite winner for now!
Face Cleanser: We chose the Burt’s Bees Facial Cleansing Towelettes with cotton extract for this category! As I said, both girls are athletes, so these are great to throw in their gym bag or in their lockers at the gym. These work well for a quick cleanse and are perfect for young sensitive skin!
Makeup: The jury is still out on this one as I don’t think they are old enough to have real makeup, but I did compromise on some tinted lip balm! We went with the Burt’s Bee’s Moisturizing lip balms! Burt’s Bee’s is a great product line that I feel good about the girls using!
Alright, that’s it, ladies! Those are the products we are using now! I hope this was helpful to you! If you know of any great products that I’m missing out on please let me know! The girls and I are always on the hunt for clean & fun beauty products to try!
XX
Tara
