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I’m not the product junkie I was in my 20’s and I prefer more clean, non-toxic skincare these days, but there are some “secrets” I’ve learned along the way, so, at your request, I’ll start sharing them. Of course after interviewing Spirit Demerson and learning from her about all the unregulated ingredients in beauty products, I did a major clean out and threw out a lot of stuff that I used for years because they contained parabens, sulfates, ureas and other carcinogenic chemicals.

The biggest eye opener I learned from Spirit was that words like “natural” or “organic” which lead us to believe that products are safe basically means nothing. So, it’s important that we read labels to understand what we’re putting on our skin and that we support companies who maintain higher standards for the ingredients they use. If you’re not sure about the safety of the beauty products you’re using, check out their ratings in the Environmental Work Group Skin Deep cosmetic database.

Raw, organic unprocessed HONEY like Wedderspoon’s is one beauty ingredient that is not only tasty, but highly beneficial to us. It has anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-viral qualities that can heal in a myriad of ways:

• For sore throats or upset stomach, add a teaspoon to your tea or hot water + lemon
• For acne breakouts, apply a mask or spot treatment to soothe and heal even sensitive skin
• For everyday cleansing, apply to wet skin for 1-3 minutes and then wipe off with warm cloth.

Or try these cult beauty favorites whose primary active ingredient is honey:

• Burt’s Bees Honey + Shea Body Butter
• May Lindstrom Honey Mud
• Osmia Organics Honey Myrrh Lip Repair
• Radice Apothecary’s Honey Mask

Editor’s Note: Zavvi Rodaine has no financial interest in the sale of any products featured, links provided only as a courtesy to ZR readers.