…Something I never saw coming!

In April 2014, I married my husband. We were in for a tough ride, as my mother passed away from cancer at the age of 64 just three months later. She was a true caretaker – a stay-at-home mother for most of our young lives, a hospice nurse and a wellness coordinator. Prior to the wedding I had multiple bouts of severe dermatitis on my face, neck and chest.  Like we all do, I always called Mom when things went wrong. She told me time and time again… “it’s all that crap you use, just try soap & water!” But I thought I knew better and off to Sephora I went for a miracle cream… to no avail.

Since I can remember, I’ve been obsessed with products: hair, makeup, skin – you name it. Sephora and Ulta were my “happy places,” with the rewards points to prove it. This passion has turned itself into a side business for me – I’ve become a certified makeup artist and offer one-on-one makeup consulting for clients who don’t know what to buy or how to apply the plethora of products at their disposal.

In all of my time spent around the beauty industry, not once do I recall the issue of safety in our products raised. Not once. I was introduced to Beautycounter in Fall 2015 and I learned the scary truth of the personal care industry:  

• No federal laws have been passed in the personal care industry since 1938 and currently only a page and a half of legislation exists governing this industry
• The UK has banned over 1,400 chemicals for use in personal care products. The US has banned only 11.
• Ingredients that are known to be toxic, cancer causing and dangerous are in most of our everyday products. Not just makeup, but our cleaning products and beyond.
• Breast cancer in the 60’s affected roughly 1 in 20 women. Today, the figure is 1 in 8 women.

The education I received from Beautycounter changed my perspective completely – and Mom was steering me in this direction all along. My priority now is safety in all things instead of how they smell, the pretty packaging or the promised miracle inside. I can’t reverse the years of layering these chemicals on my body day after day and year after year, but I can do my best moving forward to control the factors known to increase the risk of illness. With my family’s long-standing history with cancer, it’s my mission to do just that by cleaning up our eating habits, what’s in our cabinets and bathrooms.

I urge my friends, family and clients to join me in being empowered to take a closer look at what’s lurking in your shampoos, soaps and sprays (Psst…. I found formaldehyde in my leading-brand hand soap!). Let’s utilize the resources at our disposal (The Environmental Working Group website is a great start) and vote for safety with the most important ballot of all: our money! The government is not going to protect us, so it’s time to advocate for ourselves, our families and our future generations!

Find more about Beautycounter here: www.beautycounter.com/alliebenham or give me a shout. I’m still learning, but I plan to post photos of the good, the bad and the ugly once I clean out my cabinets!