Trick question!  They all do.  They are all formulated to protect your microbiome.  Fermented food for the inside and super healing hydration for your body’s front line: your skin.

I’m Brenna May and I’m a believer, a wife, mother, autoimmune warrior, foodie, fermento, health nut, food blogger, Beautycounter consultant, travel enthusiast…  I love clean, keto wines and my trademark dish is probiotic, lectin-free hummus.  Those of you who know me at all know I’m all about the gut.  I love fermented foods and come up with new recipes to bring excitement to our little gut buddies (bacteria) because they have our back.  With your gut, feeding the wrong kind of bacteria with sugar, unfermented grains, unprepared beans and pulses etc., can upset the balance in your gut.  You crave more of the wrong things and the bad bugs overpopulate and the good ones go into hiding.  When you eat clean with the right greens, prebiotic fiber, healthy fats and clean proteins you feed the good bugs and they keep things in balance.

But there is another part of the microbiome we need to address and it is our largest organ.  Let’s talk about skin.  Our skin protects us.  And there is an entire world happening in and on our skin that protects it.  It is resilient but the slightest thing can throw it out.  You see it with exzema and a plethora of other skin conditions.  This happens when bacteria is out of balance and one takes over.  Over drying of skin is actually one of the greatest causes of imbalance… when your skin is dry the good bacteria die off and the bad ones have an opportunity to take over.

Now… you might not think it matters what you put on your skin but those little creatures are more sensitive than you think.  And at the moment more than ever they have our backs by protecting us from disease and bad bacteria… but only if we look after them.  If we are putting toxins on our skin, or over scrubbing, or cleaning our homes with Lysol, we are attacking our skinbiome as well as our gut.  At first, these toxins go straight into our bloodstream and affect all parts of our body before they eventually get filtered through the liver.  Toxins like phlatates, PEG’s, parabens, frangrances, retinol, etc… all have a deleterious effect on your skinbiome and your internal organs.  Some cause organ toxicity. Some cause infertility.  Some birth defects. Some cause cancer.  Some actually are sensitizing allergens that can make you allergic to other things in your environment.  And many of them are still legal.  In fact, we have only outlawed 30 harmful ingredients in the US compared to the EU’s 1,400.

Now… you can do a lot of things to protect yourself that are simple.  You can take your shoes off at the door so you’re not dragging all those toxins in our environment into your home.  You can switch all your containers to glass.  You can buy a reverse osmosis water filter or get your water delivered.  You can use Norwex or Branch Basics in your home instead of conventional cleaning products.

Now, a few years ago finding cleaner, safer personal products was still really tough.  Beautycounter as a company (that’s beauty: counter to the industry) has been the leader in clean beauty since we first started seven years ago. We have safer skincare, makeup, hair and body products, sunscreen and kid and baby products.   As a company we are transparent and authentic and are constantly pushing science to develop cleaner, safer and higher performing products than not just the skincare industry, but the clean industry as well.  Our products are gentle on your skin and our scientists have developed our products to help heal, hydrate and balance the skinbiome.  My favorite line is Countertime and I love that the lipid oil cleanser doesn’t disrupt the good bacteria on my skin like harsh exfoliants or soaps would.  All four steps of the skin regimen work to cleanse, prepare, heal and hydrate my skin and I have seen the effects of autoimmune disease (at least on my face) reverse since I’ve been using Beautycounter. I’ve seen friends eczema clear up after using our Countermatch and Countertime lines.  I’ve seen my dark spots lessen with our super stable Allbright C Serum.  Now… I’ve never been much of a makeup person until I developed hyperpigmentation when I started showing signs of autoimmune disease.  But our makeup has helped even and cover my embarrassing melasma while the Overnight Resurfacing Peel, our Allbright C serum and No. 1 Brightening Oil have helped to heal the dark spots themselves.  I have “no makeup” goals and I am starting to see that I’ll be able to feel confident without makeup soon enough.  The makeup is fun though and certainly not like an empty calorie food.  Our makeup actually hydrates and benefits the skin as well, so nothing is a waste.  We don’t use fillers and our products last a ridiculously long time.  I feel it’s worth it just as much as my organic groceries.  It’s why I became a consultant even though I’m already a busy half time (now full time) homeschooling mom.  So take some time to check us out and also to check out what is in your home.

If it’s too steep for you consider switching to cleansing and moisturizing with argan oil, or even coconut oil if you’re not prone to breakouts.  The important thing here is safety.  But because I LOVE this company and our products I would love for you to look at it and talk to me.  We are advocates for clean, for human rights, we don’t test on animals and we are advocating for our laws to change in the US so that our kids don’t have to wonder what they are silently killing themselves with every time they put something on their body.

If you wonder what is in your lotion, makeup, hair products, kid and baby products, have a look on the Environmental Working Group’s skindeep database and if your stuff is not listed there (if it is not there is reason for concern) then look on the back and consult Beautycounter’s Never List of 1,800 harmful ingredients we will never use.

If you would like to see what we have to offer, check out my Beautycounter shop.

If you would like to chat about how to swap out the toxins in your home and personal routine, please contact me via social media @brennaamay on Instagram or Facebook, or contact me here.