These days, finding clean beauty products that won’t hurt your health or the environment, and that actually work can feel like quite the challenge. From parabens to fragrances, keeping up with what is questionable and what is cool to put on your skin is no easy feat. But luckily babe, you have us and you already know that we live for organic, good for you products. We love giving you the lowdown on ingredients you might want to avoid. In this one, we’re going to tell you exactly why you don’t want sulfates in your products, and how you can replace these nasties with clean ingredients that will make your skin (and heart) happy.

What are sulfates, anyway?

Often referred to as the most commonly used detergents in the beauty industry, sulfates are quite literally everywhere when it comes to personal care products.

You can credit the excessive foaming action in products like shampoo, body wash, and even toothpaste, to sulfates. And although they produce that intense lathering sensation that can help us feel *extra* clean, the truth is that there are many downsides to reaching for that sulfate-filled body wash of yours.

Why you should avoid sulfates in your fave beauty products.

We get it. Lathering up in the shower can be seriously relaxing. However, there are several negative downsides to using beauty products that are high in sulfates. Let’s break down a few.

1. You can seriously irritate your skin, eyes, and even your lungs. The most common negative side effect of using sulfates is that they can produce intense itchiness, irritation, and redness in the skin and scalp. Moreover, they will often dry out your skin and can even cause more acne for some people.
2. Every time sulfates go down your drain, they are hurting aquatic wildlife. It’s simple. Sulfates are highly toxic for our cute little friends under the sea. This goes for household cleaning items, as well as beauty products that intensely lather up and then get washed down the drain.
3. Most products that contain sulfates are tested on animals (not cool). Since sulfates can be highly irritating for the skin, companies who use them in their products often have little choice but to test on animals. All and all, we just can’t get behind that, babe.

What you can do to ditch sulfates, pronto.

Here’s the good news. Revamping your beauty collection to include products free of sulfates is *way* easy. For real. You can start with basic everyday items that you always reach for. And from there, you can work your way up to a sulfate-free life in no time, girlfriend.

Here are a few products we recommend switching up, right now.

Your body wash

If you’re not using this product every day, well – that’s a whole other blog post, babe.

In all seriousness though, one of the easiest switches you can make is to opt for a sulfate-free body wash. One that is packed with nourishing natural oils, and that will get you feeling just as fresh as that excessive foaming one does.

BBE’s lineup of body washes is just what you need, and the scents are *to die* for. What’s more, these bad boys leave your skin hydrated and never irritated. From lavender citrus to refreshing peppermint tea tree, you’re sure to find something that will have you forgetting all about that toxic (ex) body wash you just broke up with.

Your face wash

Another staple in every beauty junkie’s product collection is face wash. Unfortunately, though, this is another item where nasty sulfates love to hide.

Consider switching out your usual face wash for one of BBE’s healthy options. If you love the lather that typical face wash creates, we’ve got you covered. Our foaming face wash will have your pores feeling clean as can be, without the guilt of pouring toxic chemicals down your bathroom sink.

Your shampoo

When it comes to generating a crazy amount of suds, shampoo is the queen of all sulfate-filled products.

Luckily, many clean beauty companies are getting behind the sulfate-free movement, babe. Therefore finding a new shampoo you’ll still love is actually relatively easy.

Whether you’re looking for salon-quality options or something more affordable, there are a ton of sulfate-free hair products out there.

And if you want to go the extra mile, ditch sulfates in your household products too.

From your dish soap to your laundry detergent, you can nix sulfates from all of your go-to products if you really want to!

As you likely already know, natural household products are totally a thing and can be just as effective as those toxic other guys out there. We especially love Molly’s Suds, for safe cleaning products that get the job done sans environmental harm.

There you have it, gorgeous.

You now know exactly why you don’t want sulfates in your products. And let’s be real, with the number of clean options out there – who needs them anyway?

Clean beauty & dirty martinis,

Carey <3