Why Did I Join the Beautycounter Bandwagon?
/Okay, I go over this some in my Beautycounter review. But I wanted to come onto this blog to elaborate a bit more about why I've made the decision to partner with this company.
What is Beautycounter?
This company is a huge corporation, which was kind of the first thing that initially made me shutter about it.
I just always associated "big companies" as uncaring. But that's not the case here.
Beautycounter was founded on the belief that we all deserve to have safe, quality ingredients in our body care products. Sounds pretty sane, right?
But in reality... our everyday makeup, body and hand washes, lotions, hair care, and facial cleansers are full of crap ingredients.
And I don't mean that in the hippy-dippy way.
I mean that in the "this stuff is clinically proven to cause cancer and make us unhealthy but it's still smeared on our faces daily" sort of way.
What got me to try Beautycounter products?
It was a dark and dreary day before a performance...
Just kidding, it was probably hot and muggy. This is central Texas.
Regardless of the setting, I was trying to put on my all-natural makeup over a fresh acne breakout (because of course that's still a problem for me) before a play I was in and it wasn't having it.
Those red dots just did NOT want to disappear.
So I did it: I ordered some Beautycounter foundation and a concealer pen.
My friend Dr. Erin Carter over at Pure and Simple Nourishment had talked to me about Beautycounter before and mentioned how their proven-safe makeup legit works, but I was stubborn... for many reasons listed in the next section.
Plus, I'd seen many other blogger friends and acquaintances bringing up this company on their sites a lot.
So I figured I'd give it a whirl, and HOLY COW IT WORKS.
Not only did it look great for my next performance (I had to suffer with some not-so-clean alternatives for the show on the day I broke down and ordered the makeup, obviously) but it actually didn't seem to further my acne problem at all!
At the same time, I was going through several regimens (including incorporating Beautycounter's Charcoal Cleansing Bar into my face wash routine) and that acne was starting to go away.
The makeup works + it didn't make me break out more + it's clean = GOD BLESS WE HAVE SOMETHING HERE.
Why did I choose to join Beautycounter's mission?
As an actress who literally has no choice whether she wears makeup "on the job," I wasn't about to stop being a snob about what I put on my face.
Doing what you love is literally a huge part of my health philosophy, so I wasn't about to give into stopping acting for a time to get my skin to clear up and pray it wouldn't break out again when I went back on stage.
However... I mentioned in my review of Beautycounter that I was vehemently against this company for a while.
I've watched it grow for the last 3 of its 5 years in business, and more and more of my other blogger friends have joined on to promote their products.
As a "questioner" personality type, I tend to push away at trends like this because I either:
- Don't feel like they'll be around long
- Am suspicious of the company structures (hello, MLMs)
- I don't ever trust that huge companies can actually produce quality products "with a conscience," AKA I'm doubtful of how they stick to their standards when it is so tempting to cut corners to save money and grow faster
BUT. This company does care.
They're completely transparent about what they put in their products by listing them on their website.
They also have The Never List, made up of common beauty and body care products that they've vowed never to include in their products because they are understood to be harmful... or are, at the very least, questionable.
And it has come to my attention that I'm city-privileged. Like, for real. Which I realized when I started asking...
What Are the Benefits of Using Beautycounter Products?
This is something I ask myself every single time I purchase a new product. It's also a reason it took me so long to try any Beautycounter products.
I have a woman at my local farmer's market who makes AWESOME makeup, I have another company that makes all-natural facial cleansers, and there are dozens of thoughtfully-made soap and haircare lines in Austin.
But not everyone lives in Austin.
And not everyone has a farmer's market they can go to weekly.
Hell, I don't make it to the farmer's market every week.
AND! This is my city privilege: I live near a farmer's market.
Most of America can't say that.
So, after preaching about supporting local companies (which I still VERY MUCH believe in), I want to alter that stance just a hair.
Support local companies all you can... but if you don't have local companies that align with your health ideals, don't settle.
Find a company that can get you what you want... no matter where you are.
And that's where Beautycounter wins.
No one should settle for unsafe ingredients.
What if you don't live in a position like I do?
What if your job prevents you from going to the farmer's market, if you even have one?
What if those local companies quite honestly don't make products that work? (This is a MAJOR problem with a lot of all-natural brands)
Are we just doomed to pick up some cheaply-made, extremely overpriced cosmetics and soap and cross our fingers that our gut biomes and hormones and cancer-fighting cells can handle them?
That's not very fair to me... and Beautycounter agrees.
Many of the things I was angry about this company for in the beginning are actually what makes it so great.
Because they've truly worked to keep their values upheld with the company's expansion, they now have huge numbers of consultants - all the way up to corporate - who are lobbying congress to change the laws surrounding what can be put in all body and beauty care products.
That's right - this company is literally working to improve the quality of all companies' ingredients.
That means that if someone chooses not to go with a Beautycounter product for whatever reason, they could still be protected by laws Beautycounter helped instill to make sure those products don't harm them, either.
That's stupidly cool.
Final word on Beautycounter
I'm a snob about the products I use.
I was a snob about giving these a try for a really long time.
BUT. They work & they're safe.
And the benefit of having the backing of a large corporation is that it's able to instill real change in our legislation & get safe products to people who don't have city privilege.
Boom. We'll call this one a day.
