Beauty Changeover Challenge: Body Lotion

When you first learn of the toxic ingredients in most beauty products it can be overwhelming trying to figure out where to start.  You may want to ditch everything and replace it all, but that's not reasonable for most of us.  That's what the Beauty Changeover Challenge is all about.  Helping you change one product per month so that you can green your 2012 in simple, easy, affordable steps.

When deciding where to start, the most imporant products to replace are those that you use every day, use on your whole body and aren't rinsed off.  You skin is your largest organ.  What you put on it is absorbed within seconds.  It's said that approximately 60% of what you put on your body is absorbed through your skin, much of it making it to your blood stream, and therefore your organs.  

The toxins you take in through your skin don't go through the digestive process the way food does, making it more difficult for your body to break down and eliminate them.  So when applying lotion to your largest organ, make sure you aren't adding any toxins that will be difficult for your body to remove.

Typical body lotion contains ingredients such as petrolatum/petroleum jelly, mineral oil, fragrance, phthalates, phenoxyethanol, parabens and genetically modified ingredients.  These ingredients aren't ones you want to be spreading all over...and absorbing into your body.

For something you put on your whole body I think it's really important to use a lotion or oil that's certified organic to avoid pesticide residues.  However, if certified organic isn't available, non-organic all natural lotion is significantly better than conventional lotion.

Here are some great certified organic lotions to replace your toxic products:

Bubble and Bee Sweet Jasmine Body Butter

INGREDIENTS: Organic shea butter, organic coconut oil with retained coconut meat, organic jojoba oil, organic sunflower oil, organic jasmine extract.

Also comes in Raspberry Vanilla, Coconut Lime, Sugar & Spice and Unscented

Miessence Intensive Body Cream

INGREDIENTS: certified organic aloe barbadensis (aloe vera) leaf juice, aqua (purified water), certified organic helianthus annuus (sunflower) seed oil, certified organic persea gratissima (avocado) fruit oil, certified organic butyrospermum parkii (shea) fruit butter, certified organic ethanol (sugar cane), sclerotium rolfsii gum, non-gmo lecithin, citrus aurantium amara (bitter orange) fruit extract, certified organic pelargonium graveolens (geranium) essential oil, certified organic olea europaea (olive) juice extract, certified organic pogostemon cablin (patchouli) essential oil, Non-GMO Xanthan Gum

The aloe and essential oils in this lotion make it very nourishing

Dr. Bronner's Patchouli Lime Lotion

INGREDIENTS: Aqua, Organic Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil*, Organic Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Organic Ethanol, Organic Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil, Organic Cannabis Sativa (Hemp) Seed Oil, Organic Pogostemon Cablin (Patchouli) Oil, Organic Citrus Aurantifolia (Lime) Oil, Organic Quillaja, Saponaria Extract, Xanthan Gum, Tocopherol, Organic Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Oil - (* Certified Fair Trade by IMO)

Also comes in Lavender Coconut, Orange Lavender & Peppermint

Choose one of these options this month to replace your toxic body lotion and be confident that you are moisturizing and nourishing your body without adding to it's toxic chemical burden.

Be sure to come back in February for another product to changeover.