When you hear the word “clean,” what do you think of? “Clean” seems to be a popular buzzword these days, but it doesn’t quite mean what it has in decades past. Many people are striving to “clean up” their lives through the foods they eat, the clothes they wear, the household products they use, their transportation options, the types and amounts of energy they use, how they dispose of unwanted items, and even through the skincare products they choose.
So, what does “clean” actually mean when it comes to your skincare routine? It all comes down to choosing natural, sustainable, minimally processed, environmentally-friendly, and often reusable and recycled products.
Remember: Almost anything we can do to live our lives as “cleanly” as possible really can make a difference now and for generations to come.
Clean Skincare: What does it mean?
When it comes to taking care of your skin while also striving to use clean products, it can get a bit confusing.
You might hear the terms natural, organic, and clean and wonder what these similarly-sounding terms might mean. Let's break it down nice and simple (to keep it clean):
- Natural means that a product is created using only naturally-derived ingredients (plants, minerals, and other naturally-occurring ingredients).
- Organic takes natural one step farther by only using natural products grown organically.
- Clean products are created using ingredients that are sustainably sourced, vegan, safe (for you and the environment), eco-friendly, cruelty-free, and plant-derived.
Clean preservatives can also be added during the manufacturing process to safely protect the integrity of the product for longer periods of time. Clean skincare products can also be natural and/or organic, depending on the ingredients used.
Explore Our Clean Formulas
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Your Step-By-Step Clean Skincare Routine
When it comes to creating a clean skincare routine, it is totally possible to pamper your skin with clean products while not spending a lot of time and money doing so, and the list of products you’ll use won’t be much different than in a not-so-clean skincare routine. The difference is in the ingredients that will be in your clean products.
We’re offering a morning skincare routine in this journal post, and you can learn more about creating an evening skincare routine here plus info on the products and ingredients to watch for and be wary.
Before we dive into a step-by-step of your clean skincare routine, here are some ingredients to avoid, in general, when choosing any skincare product:
- Parabens
- Triclosan
- Ethanolamine Compounds (MEA, DEA, TEA, etc.)
- Sodium Laurel Sulfate (SLS)
- Synthetic fragrances and/or dyes
The morning skincare routine we’re sharing has four simple steps (with some added clean ingredient options for each product), and you can also add a face oil and/ or exfoliator to your routine, depending on what your skin needs to keep it as healthy and beautiful as possible.
- Step #1: Cleanse your skin. Choose a gentle cleanser for your skin type that will protect the natural oils in your skin, and some optimal ingredients in a clean cleanser can be things like plant-based extracts (aloe vera, green tea, chamomile), antioxidants (vitamin C, vitamin E, resveratrol, shea butter), hydrating ingredients (glycerin, hyaluronic acid, coconut oil), natural exfoliants that will remove dead skin while not damaging the skin (fruit enzymes, willow bark), and even essential oils can be a bonus ingredient in your cleanser as long as they’re included in small amounts to help avoid irritating your skin.
Our washes and soaps are loaded with clean ingredients that can check off all the boxes in your clean skincare cleanser “ingredients to-have” list.
- Step #2: Tone things up. A toner can help balance your skin’s pH level and remove any dirt or other impurities left after the cleansing step. When choosing your toner, you want it to be gentle to your skin, and some clean options to look for are aloe vera, tea tree oil, hyaluronic acid, green tea, glycerin, rose water, and so on.
- Step #3: Moisturize, moisturize, moisturize. Your skin faces a LOT day after day after day, and the harshness of the environment around you can really take a toll on your skin. That’s why this step is crucial, no matter where you live. What are some clean ingredients that will show your skin the moisturizing TLC it needs? Here are some to look for: Shea butter, coconut oil, green tea extract, aloe vera, glycerin, hyaluronic acid, vitamin E, jojoba oil, and more. Our Zents lotions make it easy peasy to moisturize your skin in the “cleanest” ways possible.
We’re sharing some tips for taking care of your skin in different environments—whether it's where you live or where you travel—here.
- Step #4: Slather on the sunscreen. When it comes to protecting your precious skin from those damaging sun rays, sunscreen is a MUST every. single. day. No matter if it’s sunny or cloudy. No matter if it’s winter or summer. So, since sunscreens are commonly loaded with not-so-clean chemicals, how can you choose a sunscreen that will both protect your skin while also being clean? We’re so happy you asked! First of all, zinc oxide and titanium oxide are natural minerals that can gently protect your skin. After that, ingredients like aloe vera, vitamin E, green tea extract, shea butter, sunflower oil, coconut oil, and jojoba oil can also help keep your skin healthy.
Caring for your skin cleanly is really not that complicated, and with a bit of label reading using the information we’ve shared, you can make sure your skin is getting the love it needs in the cleanest ways possible for you, your skin, and the environment around you.
At Zents, our mission and our passion is to create products that are good for everyone and everything, including our earth and our environment, so we are 100% behind this clean skincare movement.
