I would like to think my vices are minimal. I love coffee and can’t go a day without it (well I can, but I don’t want to). Chips are my other vice, always have been since I was a kid. Now I lead a generally pretty healthy lifestyle and eat quite well as a vegan of over 10 years and a vegetarian before that for 10 years. I actually like the taste of vegetables and if there isn’t some sort of veggie in my meal (even breakfast) I feel like it’s missing something. Why am I telling you all this? Well, it leads into my other vice. Natural health care products. Oooooo I just love em.

The main draw for me is the health factor. If I see too many ingredients I can barely pronounce and sound like some kind of nefarious science experiment, I don’t use the product. I look for clean ingredients, simple and the shorter the list, the better. Over the years I have developed a good eye for understanding what is in a product and what is just green washing, or what is a toxic concoction that I don’t want on my skin, or in the supplement I’m taking. After all, everything we put on our skin is absorbed into our body, and what we eat fuels or drains us. Some things we have less control over, like the air quality in our city or town, but others we have a ton of control over, so natural products are where I try to make my stand (in regards to buying power).

The other thing I love about them is the promise they make. Vitality, wellness, basically good health. Now obviously, using a couple of products isn’t going to give you perfect health (it ain’t a magic potion….or is it? hmmmm) But the way I see it, it’s part of the overall picture. I have tried making my own toothpaste, deodorant, lotion, and lip balm with mixed results. I have tried just about every major brand in the green industry (that is vegan and cruelty free) and have even been a rep for a company once, going to health markets and trying to sell a brand that had beautiful, clean ingredients that I loved. Sometimes I will find a local maker and splurge a bit and get a few new products, sometimes I will just use coconut oil for lotion and coffee as a body scrub, and other times, I will make a big spend on well.ca and end up with a big box delivered to my door of things I already love and new ones I want to try. Beauty products, supplements and powders and oils. Just yesterday I went to a local health boutique and wellness shop for my current cover-up, and somehow managed to walk straight to the make-up section without even looking at anything else in the entire store. It was a grand feat of self-restraint!

All in all, I love the overwhelming amount of choice that is out there now. There are so many to choose from and everyday there are more. Just like the explosion of plant-based milks on the market now, natural health products have literally blown up in variety, options, and price points. The quality and availability of supplements and vitamins has become so vast that a person can easily get lost in the choices, but with a few simple criteria, it helps to narrow it down.  So here are the main criteria I use to decide what to get:

1.       Cruelty free and if possible vegan certified. Why? Because I don’t want anything on or in my body that was created from the suffering of another living being. If you aren’t sold on that, go watch a couple videos of animal testing. It’s not something happening in a far-off country, it’s not rare, it’s the standard in most industries and it is totally unnecessary.

2.       Locally made or with locally sourced ingredients (I will choose Canadian products over another if I am stuck deciding between a few options).

3.       Has a short ingredient list with words I recognize (looking for herbs and plants, good oils like coconut, almond, macadamia etc. and nothing with numbers or the words “sunset yellow #54” on it – for example), if it sounds like you wouldn’t want to drink it….maybe don’t buy it. A good rule is the first 3 ingredients in anything whether it be food, supplements or beauty products are usually the most important.

4.       Companies with some sort of ethical practice, environmental commitment or at the very least, sustainable packaging. Most true natural care products will be in glass bottles or come in recyclable packaging. Some do use plastic, can’t get around it 100% unless you are super strict and don’t care about price, so I choose what I can, what I can afford and balance out with a few more expensive products that come in glass jars or bottles when I am able too.

5.        Is the price worth it or a trendy hype? I am not rich, and even if I was, I wouldn’t buy a cream or supplement that cost more than I can reasonably afford. You see this a lot in the beauty industry, but supplements, vitamins and minerals have been hot regarding trends. So, I watch closely for what is in the ingredient list, why am I buying it (like does it have an actual purpose in my daily routine or is it just shiny and new and pretty and I want it!). Still learning that one, ha! But I try.

I know the labels that I need to look for, but if this is something you are just starting to try out, I found this handy article here on ethical labels to help inform your choices: https://brightly.eco/ethical-labels-to-look-for/