6 Little Green Steps to Green Your Beauty Routine

Alright ladies, I know you have a vanity full of bottles, sprays, brushes and creams that will of course make you look your very best every day – right? I do and some of these are better for me than others (a few are so toxic I’m not sure what to do with them)! So how about getting serious this Earth Day and greening our beauty routine for Mother Earth and ourselves?

1. Inventory Time. What do you actually use each day and what do you have from five years ago that can probably be thrown away or recycled? Read the labels, look for expiration dates and if a container can be recycled rinse it well and recycle the bottle or container. Check Earth 911 to see if you can safely get rid of your old nail polish, hair spray and other not so eco-friendly items.
2. What is Safe? What are you using that you actually need or use and how safe is the product? Check out the Skin Deep Data Base and get the 4-1-1 on product safety. Skin Deep takes a look at eye make-up, lip stick, sunscreen and everything in between. Did you know that there could be mercury in your mascara? The data base lets you search individual ingredients or products by their name. If you wear contact lenses it is especially important to choose eye makeup that is safe.
3. Do Not Freak. After doing some research on the products you are using it could be easy to freak out but don’t! Instead begin replacing your products with safer options on the market. Using this handy guide free from Skin Deep will make life easier as you begin replacing products one-by-one.  Try Aveda, ecostore USA, Juice Beauty, Revolution Organics and Natures Basin for starters.
4. Natural and Organic. Understand what this means and read the labels; don’t just be fooled by the marketing before you buy. Natural usually means derived from plants (though this word is thrown around loosely) and organic means these plants have been cultivated without fertilizer or synthetic ingredients and nasty pesticides. There are strict rules for any product that claims to be organic and bears the USDA organic label.
5. DIY. Make some of your own products at home with simple ingredients you can find in your kitchen! Lemons, olive oil, sea salt, sugar and eggs can do wonders for the skin, hair and body! A few great recipes can found at the Daily Green, Simple Mom and Pink Perfection! It will be fun to save money, wash your hair, scrub your body and then make cookies with the same ingredients!
6. Whiten Your Teeth Naturally! Oh, the pearly whites are everywhere nowadays with the lighting products on the shelf but did you know all you need are strawberries? Yes, strawberries! Check out what you need over at Green and Clean Mom and ditch the over the counter products!

For more green tips and ideas on going green visit, Sommer Poquette over at Green and Clean Mom. Her blog that makes living green fun and achievable! Join her over on Facebook and Twitter and check out her newMy Mommy is a Blogger children’s book debuting the spring of 2011!