Dying to be Beautiful.
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| A beautiful sky that my daughter captured with her camera. |
Have you ever wondered what it means to be
beautiful? The definition of the word BEAUTIFUL as an adjective is
1. Having beauty; possessing qualities that give
great pleasure or satisfaction to see, hear, think about, etc.
Well, that really did not satisfy what I was
looking for. I simply can read a great deal more into the word qualities. I
think each one of us would have our own list of qualities that qualify as
beautiful. Then there is the age piece. What I thought was beautiful at 20 is
not maybe the same as I think now at 40. However I think it is a powerful
question. Giving the society we live in today and attempting to raise 3
socially conscious girls that will sometime soon be women, what is
beautiful?
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| A beautiful sunset in Carmel California |
To sound like a complete flower child I would start
off by saying nature is beautiful in a breathtaking, stop me in my tracks way.
The sunrises and sunsets that I am afraid to tackle when I paint. A valley
filled with wildflowers that seem to dance to the wind as it sings to each bud
as it goes by. That is true beauty to me. Birds flying and soaring through the
sky or a butterfly silently flapping its beautiful wings as it sits on a
flower. If I told this to my girls they may stop and think for a millisecond,
sure.... then back to fixing hair and makeup in the bathroom mirror. Not that I
can judge them, I was that teenager not too long ago. I understand trying to
achieve the ideal of being beautiful, what society and the media states is
beautiful. But at what cost? How far will we go to be beautiful? I think pretty
far.
This is what I have learned recently. I googled
harmful chemicals in skin care products... 1,760,000 results. Are you kidding
me? Anyone that can read and has access to the Internet can do his or her own
mini research. We have all the information we need to know about what is harmful for us. It truly is all there. Yet we continue to feed our ego with products that
are harmful to our bodies for the sake of looking better. The Beauty Industry
is said to be about a $69,000,000 industry. That means a lot of people are
making a great deal of money selling products that are harmful to our health.
That is staggering, don't you think?
I learned that there is no law what constitutes
something labeled Natural... "In the
United States, however, neither the FDA nor the USDA has rules or regulations
for products labeled "natural." The term “natural” on skin care or food products is an unregulated
term and does not mean a thing. Many of the synthetic items that are put into
the products for skin care are actually carcinogenic and eventually build in
your body until you get cancer and diseases in the later years...
I started reading labels on everything... my
cleaning products, my food and yes my skincare products. I realized
it wasn't so much if I was buying natural for my family but buying
organic. I switched all my cleaning products over four years ago to help with
reducing my allergy symptoms while at the same time reducing chemicals that will be put back into the environment. I feel even if my allergies don’t subside it is better for the
planet. I did the same thing with my food. I try to buy organic when it is
available and affordable which does not always go together so sometimes I have
to pick and choose very carefully my produce, meats and dairy products. I knew
all this and was happily living in, what I felt was, a healthy home. Yet, I
seemed to have forgotten something.... I loved those gel manicures, Brazilian
blowouts and smelly body lotions as much as everyone else. I mean sometimes I
can wait over a week to get a manicure appointment. The salons are BUSY!
With all their hairspray, hair dye, Brazilian blowouts and manicures that
guarantee the polish stays on for life, and I mean life unless some sort of
sandpaper is used and I am still not sure that will take it off. Is it hard to
imagine that I really did not think about how much my skin, my nails; my body
absorbs the products that I put on and use. I knew very well about what I
put in it and what I clean with because I don't want to inhale something toxic
but hey lets slather it all over on my body because it promises I will look
younger, glowing, thinner and smell good all at the same time. There was a real
disconnect happening here. You can bet if it was happening with me than it
was certainly happening with my children.
One of my daughters that shall remain nameless,
out of fear that she will get me while I sleep, was having a small acne
problem. Not all over her face but enough to cover her forehead with
blemishes that looked like they were painful not only to look at but also to
deal with when attempting to survive a suburban middle school as a teenage
girl. As the great parent that I am, I purchased acne products that can be
bought through a Dermatologist at a very exuberant high cost. After using these
products for a while her face was clearing up...or it could have been that it
was "ripping the skin right off my face,” as she eloquently put it. Hmmm I
wondered what could be in it.... Well, I won't bore you with a list of
ingredients that could rip skin off her face or yours for that matter because
quite honestly I think you can figure that out, lets just say I told her to
stop using it. She responded with, "I already have."
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| The Pangea Organic Body Oil |
This brings me to my journey of Pangea
Organic products. No, this is not a big infomercial...it's an I wish someone
told me this a long time ago mercial. I found Pangea a few years ago and
started buying their Body Oil. I was hooked from the moment that oil hit my
bath water and I smelled the calming lavender after an event filled day
with three almost teenage daughters at the time. I never knew a skincare
product that was organic and good for you could honestly make my skin feel so
smooth and really smell good at the same time. You know those organic products
that smell of dirt and a little more dirt... Not Pangea. I immediately went
back to the website and ordered body lotion, shower gel and more body oil.
Could this really be true? Everything smelled wonderful, nothing greasy and my
skin was only absorbing ingredients that if I really wanted to, which I did
not, I could eat. So...I returned to that website that now was saved on my
browser and added the hand soap to the other list of ingredients that I was
continuously purchasing. These add on items every time I ordered continued on
for a few more years. I was happily moisturizing and smelling good it was my
bliss. Then Pangea emailed me.... would I be interested.... Beauty
Ecologists.... selling Pangea Organics to friends and family.... have a
facebook page.... get your products discounted.... WHAT!? I can get my products
discounted...I can get that yummy Body Oil at a discount? It was to good to be
true. Lets just say I didn't think twice about signing up to be an Independent
Beauty Ecologist for Pangea Organics. With that I would just like to say that I
have added the hand and eye cream to a long list of products that I HAVE to
use.
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| Pangea Organic Products |
So here is where my journey is not ending but
only beginning. I have come full circle. I am not only treating my body well on
the inside but now on the outside too. I am happily using organic and mostly
vegan products to help me define what beautiful is without smelling like
dirt.... I smell really good. I am not afraid that the cream that I put on my
face in the morning and at night will somehow be the blame for not only how
young I look but helped cause cancer going through my body. I love that I can sit down with friends at their house or mine and share my passion of using healthy skincare and helping them choose their favorite Pangea product. I love knowing
that I am teaching my daughters, who will inherit the earth after I am long gone
with their children, to have a better understanding on how to love our bodies,
our planet and one another by the conscious decisions we make everyday with the
products we purchase and use. And Yes my lovely, beautiful, teenage daughter is
now using her Pangea Organics skincare to keep those blemishes away without
ripping her skin off.
I would love if after you read this blog you
said I am ordering Pangea Organics from now on. But really, if this just stops you and makes you think. Really think and then you stop and look into what you are using on
yourself, your family, in your household than that would be good enough. Real, true change can only start with small steps forward...not backwards but
forward. What will your forward steps be today? I know what mine will be. When
I am done here I have a very important date with this great smelling body
oil....
Blessings
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| That is me with two of my teenage daughters |
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