Over the last 9 months of being vegan (today it's been 9 months-YAY!), I have tried to assess every product I use, to determine if I could find a more animal-friendly and/or earth-friendly version. I am far from an earth-perfect consumer, but I have made some really great changes in my daily routines. I have used the
Environmental Working Group's website for Skin Deep: Cosmetic Safety in my quest for natural deodorant, sunscreen and skincare.
I was recently on the mission to find a natural deodorant, but I have since decided that natural deodorant doesn't exist for me. I tried several products and none of them lived up to my expectations. The crystal products were a joke for me. The Tom's of Maine was horrible. I didn't try the Lush products, but the reviews don't sound very convincing. If you know of a natural deodorant I should try, let me know; I am waiting to be wowed. For now,
Secret Clinical Strength is my go-to deodorant. It registers as a 5 out of 10 on it's hazard level. Not the worst, but certainly not the best...and I don't stink!
If you haven't seen a photo of me, let me tell you how pale I am; I resemble a ghost. This is me in the sun, looking as pale as could be, last spring.
I recently took a liking to running outside. Pale skin + AZ sun=bad burn. I have to admit I have been very disappointed in many popular natural sunscreens, but not because they didn't protect my skin. I just didn't like the ghosting effect that many of the natural sunscreens produced; many turn white on your skin. Add sweat to the equation and you have white sweat dripping down your face, neck and arms...not a good look. Burt's Bees sunscreen was the worst with the ghosting effect. The best I found came as a recommendation from my friend Cody. She said she had tried some Mychelle sunscreen in Colorado and liked it. I looked it up online and bought some from Amazon (It is also for sale on the
Mychelle website). It does the job: 1) It protects my skin with natural ingredients. 2) It doesn't make me look like a sweaty ghost. 3) It is a vegan product.
Since the Mychelle sunscreen was a perfect fit for me, I decided to give the other Mychelle skincare products a try. I have oily and dry skin (awesome), in addition to being extremely sensitive to chemicals on my face. I highly recommend the
Clear Skin Cleanser by Mychelle. 1 bottle has lasted me 5 months so far. I'll probably need to order another bottle in a couple weeks. A 4.4 oz bottle is under $18. It is gentle, but you can feel how clean your skin is. A bonus is that it is vegan!
I use the Clear Skin Cleanser daily and use the
Fruit Enzyme Scrub every other day. 1 bottle of the scrub lasted exactly 5 months for me. It costs $17 a bottle.
I finish with a facial moisturizer called the
Oil-Free Grapefruit Cream that controls my oily skin, but gives just the right amount of moisture. A bottle costs around $30 and lasted me about 4 months.
I have been so pleased with all the Mychelle products and I am thrilled that the line is being sold locally. I heard that the products can be found at Whole Foods and Sunflower Market. Mychelle has a handy
vegetarian/vegan product listing page online. The next Mychelle products I want to try:
NOTOX anti-wrinkle cream,
Revitalizing Night Cream and the
Fruit Fiesta Peel (all vegan). Give Mychelle a try! I think you'll love it!
i grew up in arizona and it was really difficult to find a vegan deodorant. LUSH deos were the only ones that i really liked. something to keep in mind though, is that they don't contain aluminum, which are found in all anti-perspirants. aluminum has been linked to breast cancer and alzheimer's disease. so LUSH deos are not intended to stop you from sweating- they just help to absorb moisture, odor, and to kill bacteria. i have worked at LUSH for almost 2 years now, so i have tried all of them, and i have to say that teo works best for me. i use my finger nail to scratch the top of the deo to loosen the pressed powders, and i dab it on my under arm. yeah, i might get a little smelly towards the end of the day. and yeah, i STILL sweat. but that's how our bodies work.
ReplyDeleteoh! and the mychelle fruit fiesta peel...be careful! i don't have extremely sensitive skin but it BURNED! i had to rinse it off after having it on my skin for less than 30 seconds. they sell small sample pots of their masks at sprouts for about $5 (they were 25% off when i was there last so i thought i'd give it a try).
ReplyDeleteMelanie-I'll have to give the Lush deodorants a try! Thanks for the heads-up on the fruit fiesta peel....it probably won't work for me, if it's that strong! :)
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