If you saw my Clean, Non-Toxic Makeup Routine post, you know that I’ve been on quite the journey to switch as many of my personal care and home items to be as clean, natural, and non-toxic as possible. It’s been a feat and is still in process, but it’s something that I’m really proud of and thankful for!

So I thought I’d continue on with a glance at my totally clean, non-toxic skincare routine! What’s your routine like right now? Are there any ways you want to change or improve it, or anything that confounds you?

Step One: Remove Makeup (pm)

At night, my cleansing step is actually two steps. First, I use a cleansing oil to remove all the makeup, sweat, buildup, and debris from the day. If you wear makeup during the day, work out, or tend to have oily or dry, flaky skin, I definitely recommend using a cleansing oil as a first step to washing your face at night! This gets your skin bare and ready to be treated more effectively by your other cleansing, toning, and moisturizing products.

I have LOVED the One Love Organics Enzyme Cleansing Oil! It has a rich texture and smells light and pleasant. I rub 1/2-1 pump of oil on my dry face (no water yet!), gently working in circles to encourage all the makeup to come off. It doesn’t take much! Then, I wet a washcloth with warm water, place it on my face, and gently wipe the oil and debris off.

Step Two: Cleanse

Next, I use a mild enzyme facial cleanser to actually cleanse and treat my bare skin. In the morning, this is my first and only step to cleanse. You know the drill - splash with water, lather cleanser in your hands, and rub all over your face and neck. Then splash again with a smile, just like the Neutrogena commercials!

But I have to say, this product is a MAJOR glow-up from the orange, medicine-smelling Neutrogena of our high-school days! Indie Lee is quickly becoming one of my favorite skincare brands! It is a clean, non-toxic brand that sources as many nature-derived ingredients as possible and it performs amazingly. My skin has responded beautifully to it!

I have used both their Purifying Face Wash and Brightening Cleanser, and love both. I think the Purifying Wash is better for acne-prone skin, and for me, seems best for warm-weather months when my skin is more oily. I plan to use the Brightening Cleanser for cold-weather months when my skin is drabber and needing a little oomph!

Step Three: Tone

Toning is such a vague step, isn’t it? You can go a lot of different directions with a toner - tightening, brightening, stripping (remember Noxema pads - youch!), balancing, or moisturizing - or just skip it altogether.

I was a “skip it” kinda gal personally until I used the Indie Lee CoQ-10 Toner. For me, misting this all over my face and neck is a wonderful step between cleansing and moisturizing to help balance and moisturize my skin, prepping it to soak in whatever moisturizer comes next.

I also spritz it on throughout the day if I feel like I need some refreshment.

Step Four: Moisturize

In my journey to switching all of my skincare to clean, non-toxic products, I have been most confounded by facial oils. Many of them use coconut oil, which I’m not only allergic to when applied topically, but it also aggravates my cystic acne horribly! How could anyone be so cruel as to proclaim it as a skincare miracle?!

Then Jade at Trellis Beauty recommended this true Holy Grail face oil to me, and I haven’t looked back since! Love Always Liz CBD + Rosehip facial serum hits all the high points for me! I just use 3 drops and pat all over my face and neck.

Not only does it moisturize and leave my skin bouncy and dewy, but the CBD actually helps keep my acne at bay since it is a powerful anti-inflammatory! Rosehip oil is also a powerful, natural way to reduce fine lines, discoloration, and scarring. Win!

Some Thoughts on Aging

As I get older, I look in the mirror and wonder at the reality of aging. It is a right of passage, a privilege, and at times a tough reality to grapple with. Sometimes I don’t recognize the lady in the mirror (or I see some version of my mom), but then I remember the amazing honor it is to learn and re-learn how to care for oneself with lavish love throughout years and life stages. Figuring out a good skincare routine for you is just a small part of that.

Being a mid-30’s woman, mother, wife, and individual in my own right, I am trying to soak up that these are still youth-filled years. They are sleepy and groggy at times in the having-small-kids stage, a seemingly far cry from the image-perfection-obsessed days of my teens and 20’s.

But, as many elderly people have told me in passing as they see me out with Griffin, these are the good old days. They’re the days I’ll look back on and wish I had just enjoyed more and relaxed in. They’re the days I’ll look back on and think how wonderful, beautiful, young, healthy, and radiant I looked, and how wonderful, rich, sacred, and holy it all really was.

And to be truthful, that’s what I want to believe, and that’s what I want my kids to remember feeling from me - that their mother took pride in herself and took time to feel beautiful, and taught them how to honor themselves, too, through simple things like self-care, hygiene, dressing, healthy relationships, tidying, playing, and all the other good stuff of life.

I want them to feel that their mama believes and fights for the holy and sacred in the simple and everyday. I want to remind them of that through my smile, my care, our home, and my presentness.

How have you felt about getting older?

And do you have a skincare routine you love? Any steps that confound you, too?

Love you, friends, & I’m glad to be traversing this all with you by my side!

Sam

P.S. I’d like to give a quick shoutout to the ladies at Trellis Beauty in Raleigh for helping me decide on each of these products, over many months and many trips, through trying to conceive, being pregnant, and breastfeeding. Jade is a licensed esthetician and will chat at length about the best products she’d recommend for you! This isn’t sponsored, I just really appreciate what they do and all the products they vet and offer!

My Non-Toxic Skincare Routine + Some Thoughts on Aging