Episode 5 – Sustainable Beauty with Amy of Beauty and the Planet

Let’s jump right in and talk about another tricky spot in sustainable living – sustainable beauty.

As much as we want there to be one right way to do this, there isn’t. In this episode, we’ll work through some of the tricky spots to help you find the right products for your skin, budget, and the planet.

Listen to Episode 5

Sustainable Beauty (with Amy of Beauty and the Planet)

Jump ahead to read the episode transcript

Episode 5 time stamps:

• 2:33 What is sustainable beauty?
• 12:27 How can you tell if a beauty brand is sustainable?
• 22:06 How do you set up a minimalist skincare routine?
• 34:32 Is the gua sha stone worth it?

Resources:

Get to know our guest, Amy, of Beauty and the Planet!

• Visit Beauty and the Planet
• 10 sustainable beauty certificates to look for
• UpCircle beauty review
• A 5-step sustainable beauty routine
• Yina gua sha stone
• My Biossance review for sensitive skin

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Episode Transcription

Podcast Intro

Welcome to Simple Sustainable Home. I’m Rachel, the blogger behind Milk Glass Home. My focus is all about making sustainable living easy and beautiful. We’re going to slow down and learn about cooking from scratch, gardening and preserving the harvest, setting up a low waste lifestyle, and keeping a nontoxic home. We have new episodes every Saturday to help you find new tips and strategies to make simple living easy. Let’s get started.

Episode intro

Hey there, everybody. Welcome to Simple Sustainable Home. I’m so glad you’re here with me. I am Rachel, the blogger behind Milk Glass Home. And in this podcast, we really focus on making sustainable living easy and beautiful. And yes, that is a segue into our topic today. I will admit with you right up front here, I am not a beauty blogger. I am not fashionable. That’s not me. I’m kind of crunchy.

But I know a lot of people want to understand how can we try to make baby steps towards sustainable living, even in these kind of complicated areas of beauty and fashion.

Last week, we talked about sustainable fashion. Today we’re talking about sustainable beauty. And we’re having a special guest. We’re having a guest for the first time on Simple Sustainable Home history. We are going to be talking to Amy of the blog Beauty and the Planet. I love that this is her focus.

As you listen, you’re going to understand why she is the perfect person to talk to you about this. There’s something special about her work history that makes her well suited to make sense of different claims. So listen for that.

Here’s what we’re going to talk about. We’re going to discuss what sustainable beauty is and why that’s important. We’re going to go over the labels and certifications that you might want to look for to make sure that your products are actually sustainable. We’re going to talk about setting up a really simple, minimalist, sustainable skincare routine. We’ll go into some brands, how to make it affordable, and then we’re going to talk about one skincare trend that I’ve been watching and wondering about. So go ahead and dive in. I really hope that this is helpful for you, and we’re going to go ahead and get started.

Welcome to Amy of Beauty of the Planet!

Rachael: Welcome, Amy. How are you today?

Amy: Oh, I am great. We have a pretty nice day here in Texas. Weather is a little bit cooler than we would usually have this time of year, which is weird.

Rachael: It sounds like you have some of our Washington weather. We’ve had rain and hail and all kinds of stuff, so everything’s a little bit delayed. But we’re really glad to have you here with us. And one of the reasons why I’m so excited to talk to you is that your specialty is an area that I’m just not that good at. I’m not a beauty person. I’m not a fashion person. That is not my wheelhouse at all. So I wanted to talk to you and bring you on, because a lot of people are wondering about how to have safe products that also work. So we’re really glad to have you here. I’d love to know a little bit more about you and who you are and what you do.

Amy: Well, I am Amy. I live in Dallas, Texas, with my husband, a teenage daughter, a dog. I’ve always been into sustainability in the environment. And so I aged myself a little here. I went to high school in the was in the recycling club. Even as hard as it is to recycle now, it was even harder then. In College, I was in Students for Earth Awareness. So that’s always been something that I’ve been conscious about and thought about. Beauty, though, is a very new thing for me.

A few years ago, I was diagnosed with a chronic illness and autoimmune disorder. It’s a little bit like it’s not rheumatoid arthritis, but it’s kind of similar to that. And it turned out I had it for a really long time. Oh, no. And I just didn’t even know I had it long enough that there’s already visible joint damage. And that’s when I really I don’t know what it was about that that just really got me into beauty all of a sudden, which hadn’t been something I had thought that much about.

I think it really comes from, like, that self care aspect of beauty, which to me, that’s what beauty is about when everything closed down and I would be putting on makeup and my husband’s like, are you going somewhere? And I’m like, no, I don’t put it on for other people. I put it on for myself. And so it’s really, I guess, the self care aspect, the self love, taking care of yourself, parts of beauty, that is what got me into it.

Tthen March 2020 happened. Every month after that, there was just some other disaster. Something else was happening. And so that’s when I decided to start the blog Beauty and the Planet, which was combining two of those things, an old interest, the sustainability and my new interest in beauty. So that’s where that got started. And so now I have Beautyintheplanet.com, where I blog about sustainable beauty.

Rachael: Wow. I love that. And I’m so sorry to hear that you’re struggling with that condition. And your story sounds really similar to a lot of people who enter the non toxic, clean beauty space, where there’s some sort of health reason that causes us to look at things and say, I need to make sure that this is safe for my body. So I’m not surprised to hear that health is how you ended up thinking about the beauty topic. And I love seeing those two passions merge because there’s so many products out there that try to tell us that they’re sustainable or safe for us. And it’s hard to kind of see-through. I don’t want to swear, because this is a clean podcast but to see through the BS to be like, what’s sustainable, what’s authentically, safe for our bodies. So I think you are going to be a big help for us. A lot of people are wondering the same exact things.

Amy: And even more than like, things that are bad for me because my body is only going to be here 100 years if I’m lucky. But more about the impact of what I use and what’s going to stay here after me is even more important to me than what I’m doing to my own body, which isn’t also important. I want to take care of it as long as I’ve got it.

Rachael: I definitely appreciate that mindset. Yeah, I’ve had those moments where you’re like, wait a second, this plastic container is never going to go away. Like, this is going to be on the Earth for 500 years.

Amy: Yeah, absolutely.

Rachael: Amy, there is something so cool about your work history that would probably surprise people, and that is that you are an academic librarian. I would love to know more about how you got into that and how that bridges with your desire to talk about sustainability and beauty.

Amy: So, yes, I have a master of library of science. And I guess also it’s a little dated to think of libraries and books. I mean, I know that’s what everybody thinks of is libraries and books, but libraries spend much more on electronic resources than we spend on books on print materials. When you visit a library, when you walk into a library, what you see inside the library and one that’s only a portion of the library’s collection to begin with. But compared to what’s available electronically through the library databases and the other resources, is there’s just so much more working in an academic library?

We did a lot of research, and that’s what my skill is, especially with related to sustainable beauty and also looking at finding out, okay, bioplastics, is that really sustainable from what I can tell, not so much just from looking at the academic research. So I do have a good understanding of academic research, and I teach research skills. So I have very good research skills. That’s part of being a librarian. I know about the resources. I know how to access the resources and how to search them. That’s where I do a lot of research with the things, especially that I post on the blog.

I do try to post things and links that people are going to be able to access. But I also try to go back to that original source and the original information and find somebody who actually knows what they’re talking about. Not just source information is only as good as the sources you use.

Rachael: That is so true. And I have to say, as somebody who’s been consuming a lot of online media for years, I mean, we all have there’s so many times you’re like, that’s the source that you are referencing. That’s not credible at all. And what I really appreciate about that perspective is that you’re not just saying, I think this is a great thing because I like it. You’re actually trying to back that up. And that’s something that the ordinary person doesn’t really have the time or necessarily the skills to do. So we need you, Amy. I mean, we need people like you out there. So thank you for doing that.

Amy: Yeah. I want to let you know when something says, oh, we have this ingredient which does this, I go back and I want to see the evidence. And if I can’t find it, then I reach out and I ask them, and a lot of times what they’ll send will be, okay, well, this was our own laboratory study, which then you’ve got to kind of take with a grain of salt because they have the confirmation bias built in.

Rachael: Absolutely right. They’re looking for the specific answer. Well, I really appreciate this background, and that helps me understand that you’re not just out there reviewing products and saying, this one’s nice. I like how it glows on my face. You’re really trying to help us understand what’s going on with these products.

The Roadmap to Sustainable Living

There are two reasons why this podcast is called Simple Sustainable Home. The first reason is that I love simple living. I love slowing down and enjoying the moment. The second reason is that I believe sustainable living is actually simple. It’s easy. In fact, I think that sustainable living is normal, and what we normally do is not normal.

There’s nothing Earth-shattering or mind-blowing about sustainable living. All you’re really trying to do is be thoughtful about the things that you buy and make them last. People have been doing that forever, but I know it feels overwhelming. It feels confusing when you make the switch. So I created a simple five-step roadmap to sustainable living, where I’m sharing with you the five strategies that have the biggest impact.

Don’t get overwhelmed by everything. Just focus in on the pieces that make the biggest difference. In the Show notes, I’m going to share with you a link to the roadmap so that you can get it in just seconds.

As a bonus, I will also share with you my entire free resource library. That means you’re going to get my pantry staples, checklist, my weekly meal planner, my 30 day sustainability challenge. I’m going to give you all the tools that you need to live a simple, sustainable life. Head to the show notes. Grab that link and you’ll have your roadmap in just moments.

Why is sustainable beauty important?

Rachael: I’m wondering, why is sustainable beauty important and why should we be focusing our time and our money on this over conventional beauty products?

Amy: Well, everything that we do have some sort of impact on the planet. Unless you’re living out in the woods by your own hands, which nobody does, that everything we do. And sustainable beauty by itself is not going to save the world. It’s only one of peace. But if each person does a little bit, I know you talk about this, too, baby steps, that if each person does a little bit and make one little change, that can have a big impact and sustainable beauty, I think that’s an easy area of our life that I’m not saying, okay, you’ve got to go grow your own wheat.

And all of this is something that people can do, this is manageable. This is something that people can do. And as far as comparing it to conventional, there’s really not that much of a difference. At least a lot of the ones that I’m looking at. There are a lot of indie brands, and a lot of people who are mixing it up in their kitchen. But a lot of the big brands started that way too. It’s not that much different. It’s just that these are the brands that are making a conscious effort.

You mentioned, like, green washing, or we were talking about that. A lot of companies are starting to recognize that that’s something that people care about. And so they say, oh, look, we use recyclable packaging. And I was like, okay, well, that’s great. It’s recyclable. But did you recycle to make it? Is that recyclable products in that packaging, or is it just Virgin plastic, which just because it’s recyclable to me does not equal sustainability?

Rachael: Totally. And there’s so many I’m like, I want to go this other direction and go in deep on that topic, because I’m really interested in that. But I also want to make sure that we can get some practical tips for people. And I love that you were talking about switching to sustainable beauty as just a baby step. A lot of things in the sustainable world are simply swapping one product for another.

Amy: Exactly.

Rachael: And that’s why it’s so easy, but also why it’s so hard. Because you’re like, oh, man, I have to swap everything. Like, everything, everything needs a swap. So again, this is why we need people like you, because a lot of people don’t know exactly what to look for. Like, how do I know that this is a sustainable brand? Are there labels or certifications that we could look for that would help us know that this is a better product?

Sustainable Beauty Certificates

Amy: Well, I think there’s not very many products that are, like, perfectly sustainable. I think one of the things that we’ve got to do is kind of decide what our own individual priorities are like.

For me, cruelty free is an absolute must. If it is not cruelty free, I don’t even want to consider it. If it says we only test when required by law, no, that’s not good enough. That’s still not cruelty free. So that’s for me, that’s my non negotiable. But I think people kind of need to decide what their own priorities are. So we mentioned plastic packaging a minute ago, and that’s a big issue. For a lot of people.

So plastic free. And that’s an easy one, because a lot of times, even just looking at the picture, you can tell if it’s plastic or not. So deciding what’s the thing that really matters the most to you and looking for things that meet that. And then a lot of times some of these companies will have other if they’re thinking about one thing, usually they’re thinking about another thing as well.

So first you kind of got to just decide what your priorities are. So if organic ingredients is really important to you, there are some certifications that you can look for. Eco-Cert is a big one as far as are as far as organic ingredients go.

And there’s a lot of actually bloggers and beauty influencers who talk specifically about organic ingredients. And I do have a post on my blog that’s ten beauty certifications for Earth lovers or beauty lovers. And so those are some of the things that you can kind of look for cruelty free.

So I always try to look for Leaping Bunny or PETA. I will mention, though, the thing with certifications is that in order to use that logo, you have to pay a fee. And so that’s kind of hard on some of these smaller indie brands where they can’t afford that fee. So they might meet the criteria, but they don’t have that logo. Leaping Bunny. I know there’s a lot of companies that are Leaping Bunny. They’ve met and they’ve gone through like the requirements. And so they’re on Leaping Bunny’s list, but they didn’t pay to use the logo. And so you can even just go to Leaping Bunny to see if they’re on there. Ethical Kitty is another place, too, where I go a lot to look to see if somebody is cruelty free, because like I mentioned, some brands, they can’t afford that certification.

A certification that is a really great one to look for is B Corp. B Corp. Covers a lot of different areas of sustainability, looking at the planet, but also looking at people treatment of people and treatment of communities.

So if you’re looking for like fair trade, there’s not a lot of fair trade labeling on I’ve noticed that, too, on beauty, I guess, because a lot of the kind of ingredients that’s like coffee, chocolate, and you might have some of those things in beauty. But sometimes, though, you’ll come see something that’s got a fair trade logo on it. Think coffee or cocoa butter. Yeah.

Palm oil is a wonderful ingredient, so versatile, has so many benefits, but it’s one of the main causes of deforestation. So if that’s something that’s important to you, you can look for something that’s palm oil free, which they’ll usually say that somewhere there’s no certification for not having palm oil, but there is responsibly sourced palm oil. So you can look for that. So there’s so many different things.

That’s why I say when you’re especially first starting out is you decide what it is that’s important to you, what’s your number one priority, and what that’s an important point to make because it is hard finding that perfect balance for your values and the products that are out there.

Rachael: So I’ve heard before that I have really sensitive skin and I have a fragrance sensitivity. So I have to use products that are made for sensitive skin that are fragrance free or I’ve had burns on my face, around my hairline, using unsafe products, like my body is kind of a baby about this stuff. So for me, I’ve had to find products that are really, really gentle.

Sometimes that means that I’m not going to focus as much on the packaging because finding the perfect product that meets all of my physical health needs. I’m not going to find something perfectly in the middle unless, like you said, I’ve got my own plants growing and I’ve got my little coffee going, which I’m working on. Okay? So that’s not something that I’m avoiding, but I’m not there yet.

So until then, I agree that I have to look for labels, but also knowing which ingredients to avoid. So for me, knowing that I’m coming from that sensitive skin perspective, I look at the EWG for every single product. Like, if it is not tested or reviewed by the EWG or EWG verified, I’m not usually going to buy it simply because I trust that that resource has the test of time for me. So that’s another resource out there.

I’m going to make sure that people have the link to your post with those certifications and labels so that they can help understand, do I need to look for this? Do I need to look for that? So I’m going to make sure people have that, because that sounds like a super helpful resource.

Amy: Yeah. Especially once you realize what’s important to you, then you know what credo beauty on their website, they have like a fragrancy transparency policy. You know how a lot of times they’ll just say fragrance, but everything that they sell, they do have listed specifically what those fragrances are.

Rachael: That’s awesome. I noticed another company doing the same thing, and I’ve gone back and forth on that because it’s great that they tell us what’s in the fragrance. But often fragrance like JVN hair from Jonathan Van Ness, they break down the fragrance as well. But I’m like, I don’t know if I’m sensitive to that stuff. I’ve never been offered this information. I don’t even know how to deal with this information. But I agree. And I’m noticing more and more brands trying to do that to have that full transparency, which is great for us as consumers, because we’re clearly saying we want to know what’s really in our stuff.

Check out the Simple Sustainable Home Facebook Group

If you love sustainable living or simple living or cooking from scratch or gardening, or you just want to hang out with people who care about those things, too. Do you know that this podcast has a Facebook group? Guess what? It’s called Simple Sustainable Home.

We talk about living a simple, sustainable life. It is that easy. I would love to invite you to join us. We share our episodes. We talk about our favorite parts. We share resources and strategies to live a simple, sustainable lifestyle. I ask questions to build community, and I’m hoping to get people to start sharing their own questions and photos.

I really want to turn this into a community where people lean on each other to help them in this process. Again, the group is called Simple Sustainable Home. It’s a Facebook group. You could either search for Simple Sustainable Home on Facebook, or if you check the show notes, you’re going to find a direct link to get you there right away. I can’t wait to see you inside.

Starting a sustainable skincare routine

Rachael: I have to admit that I only started having a skincare routine, like a few years ago, and I’m still a beginner there. I’ve got a basic routine that I follow, but I’m not a pro. This is not my jam. This is not my cup of tea. So for a lot of people, they know that they should have some kind of skin care routine. But where do they start? Like what’s a simple beginner skin care routine that anybody could follow?

Amy: Well, I think everybody should have a cleanser, a moisturizer and an SPF. I think those are the three bare minimum.

Okay. I know there’s a lot of people who and maybe if you have oily skin, you need to wash your face twice a day. But I only wash my face once a day. At night, you’re probably been only using two ingredients in the morning, two ingredients at night, your moisturizer and your SPF. And sometimes you can find a moisturizer and an SPF combined.

Rachael: Oh, that’s true.

Yes. But not always. And they’re not always that great. And then at night you got to wash off that SPS and anything else that you’ve come across. So I think those are the bare minimums.

If you’ve got skin issues that you’re concerned about or things that you want to take care of, then you probably also would want to see them. And I’ll confess, I have like a morning serum and I have a nighttime serum. Not everybody needs two serums, but I am a bit of a geek when it comes to skincare.

You can get by without a serum, but I think that’s really where your actives are in the serum. I think that it’s good for everybody to use a serum.

Toners. I get gifts a lot. Sometimes I use a Toner just because I have it, but I don’t know that really need the toners. And I don’t have sensitive skin. My skin can handle most things, so I don’t know that toners maybe. I know when I was a teenager, I used to use a Toner and I’ll confess, too, when I use toners, I don’t use the cotton pad. I just put it straight on my face. I’m like, I want those actives.

I also enjoy using a face mask, not like the sheet masks, which you can buy some reusable sheet masks, but one that you put on and then you wash off later. Again, that comes to the self care. That self love. That’s like some time for me. My family knows if they see one on my face, that okay. Leave mom alone. Mom’s relaxing.

And like I said, now, if you have sensitive skin, people who with sensitive skin probably don’t want to use chemical exfoliators. Yeah, I can’t use them. But I found that using a chemical exfoliator at least once a week has done wonders for my skin.

Rachael: Would that be like a BHA type of BHA? I can’t believe I even know these words. I’m sitting here thinking I know more about this stuff than I thought. Yeah, but yes, that can be really drying for people. I was using a product, even from the brand that I love, that most of their products are EWG verified, even their super gentle scrub too much for me. I broke out.

But what I’m hearing you say is that there’s a line between basic skincare maintenance and then there’s the self-care aspect. So if you’re trying to set up a really basic minimalist skincare routine, you’re saying cleanser, moisturizer and sunscreen. And if you’re lucky, you might get the moisturizer and the sunscreen together. And you mentioned really just washing your face at night to get all the stuff off of your face instead of overwashing. I appreciate that.

And then you’re saying that if you want to target specific skin issues, you could look at a serum, you could do some sort of mask or some sort of scrubbing. Right. Because I know people want to make sure they’ve got their steps because this is something people are looking for. They want to know, what do I do and how do I start? Do you have any brands that you personally use and love that you want to plug for skincare here?

Amy: So for skincare, I just actually wrote a review of the Upskirkle face moisturizer and so UpCircle is a great brand. A lot of our methane, a lot of our carbon emissions comes from food waste, which is shocking. And so they actually are reusing repurposing a lot of food waste. So they’ve got some coffee scrubs where they go out there in London, they go to the coffee houses in London and collect their used coffee and turn those into coffee scrubs.

The face moisturizer has argan shell powder. So argon oil is big in beauty. The shells are usually just thrown away. It’s so fine. You would think something that had shell powder would be like those apricot scrubs that you’re not supposed to use. But it doesn’t feel like that at all. It’s very smooth. You can’t tell that there’s anything in there. So Up Circle is a great brand.

I think it’s BB. It’s B-Y-B-I. They have the first what they say is carbon negative product. They’re glow current is what they call it. And so supposedly in the process of producing this, they sequester more carbon than what’s used for making it. So BB is if you’re concerned with carbon emissions, they actually have reports on their website about their carbon. So that’s something that they are really interested in. I haven’t tried them yet, but I’m very interested in trying that. So I can’t remember how affordable they are. They are available on Target, though. I think they’re probably Up Circle is also.

I mean, a lot of the stuff that I use now is not what you would call drugstore brands. Yes, most of these things are a little bit more costly. I’ve used the Tata Harbor cream. Rich was like over $100. Oh, my gosh. And it is a wonderful cream. They do a lot of sustainability, but that’s a big price point.

Rahael: If you’re a beginner, you’re probably not going to drop $200. I mean, who knows? Maybe you’re like, I’m all in. I want the works here. But I agree, budget is a part of that. And it wasn’t until when I was in grad school, I was like, yeah, I’m not able to afford this better quality stuff. But I knew that once I started having a real income that I wanted to invest a little bit in skincare products.

But for a long time, even when I use, I don’t consider a luxury brand. But even $30 for a bottle of moisturizer for a lot of people, that’s just too much.

And you mention Target, what’s exciting is seeing so many brands that are trying to offer more sustainable, or if you’re on that nontoxic side, they’re trying to have more of those brands in the store. And so my hope is that people can find affordable skincare, then that green washing question comes in of, like, which ones are worth it? Which one is it? Okay. I guess I’m just over complicating it for myself because I’m really good at doing that.

But I hear you, it’s fun to find those products, and it’s hard to know which ones do I invest in. And then it goes back to that self care side of things again. So if you are trying to have this moment for yourself and you have this little pot of, I don’t know, angel cream or whatever that you are in love with, taking a minute or taking a few minutes to apply that can really make you slow down because you’re like, I’m not rushing through this.

Amy: Right. So I could see it being part of that self care side of things. Yeah. And I think accessibility is also something that is important to me. Is that okay? Some of these brands are absolutely wonderful. But if the normal person can’t buy them, can’t afford them, can’t find them at their local Target or their local Walmart, even. How much is it unfortunate. I have a credo beauty store that’s near me.

Rachael: Oh, wow.

Amy: There’s not very many of those, like, clean and sustainable beauty stores around. So that’s one of the benefits of living in a big city. Yeah, I’m not in a big city. And my skincare definitely comes from the Internet. Like many people, beauty is another one. That’s a good one. As far as sustainability. They do a lot of wildcrafting.

Rachael: Oh, I love that.

Amy: They go and they harvest wild growing ingredients. And they also work with some organic growers in their area. And they’re available at Sephora. Wow. They’re more affordable in biosance, which is one I’ve seen you use for people who are into vegan or care about animals. That’s a great one. Because instead of squalane, squalane, I get mixed up. Which one is which one comes from plants? One comes from Sharks.

Rachael: Yes. I think the e the squalane is the one from the Sharks. And then Biossance, they came up with a way of producing their own plant based squalane that comes from sugarcane. And then they repurpose the sugarcane pulp into the cardboard packaging that they use. I tried one of those mini five dollar samples years ago of their gel moisturizer. And I was like, this is it. This is what I need, but I can’t pay for that. And so now I’m like a fan girl. I have a crazy post where I’ve reviewed every single product (see my Biossance review). I tell you how to get the best sales.

Amy: …for droppers and pumps. A lot of times you can’t avoid plastic. I’m pretty sure they use glass.

Rachae: Biossance does use some glass. They said that. And this is the thing. Like, when brands give you this information, it’s really helpful because I like the glass. I think it looks prettier. It has a nice feel. Glass. Right. Like, I don’t want plastic. But they said that shipping in glass is so much heavier than the shipping fuel. So then you have the question of, well, which is better having a more eco friendly container that’s harder, it uses more fuel to ship, or is it better to have something lighter?

Amy: So that’s where your priorities.

Rachael: Yeah. It’s a little funny in the middle. Absolutely.

What is a gua sha stone?

Well, Amy, one more question. I keep seeing this skincare trend, and I have been tempted to try this just because it’s so unusual. And I’m not sure how to say it, but basically there’s like a flat stone with these notches on the edges and you rub it on your face to do something and it’s supposed to be great for you. I need some help. Do you know anything about this?

Amy: I think it’s gua sha is how you call the stones. And I’ve seen them made with different materials, like Jade or bian. I’m not even sure how to say that, which is I have one that I actually have a large one that’s for the body.

I haven’t found any actual scientific evidence that it does. Like some of the things they say that it does. Supposedly it tones your face somehow. It’s good for the skin, they say. I haven’t found any evidence of that. But as far as when we go back to the self care aspect of it, I think they’re wonderful. And there has been evidence of massage. So there’s proof that massage works. There’s proof that mindfulness has wonderful benefits as well. And so I think that’s where the benefits from those weigh shot stones.

I have a rose quartz roller, but I also like to use so that spending that time taking care of yourself. Like I said, I have a large one that you can use on your body. So I like to use it on my legs. It just feels good. It’s relaxing. It’s a few minutes for me. I don’t use it every day. I probably should with everything that’s going on in the world. Spend a few more, get myself a few more minutes of self care every day. So I think they’re definitely worth it for those kind of benefits, if that’s something that you enjoy taking some time.

And they also say that a lot of our skincare products go into are absorbed by our fingertips. So I think that’s one way too. You can also maybe use that to try not to lose as much product in your skin. I don’t know that it makes that much of a difference. Sometimes it can be a little hard to get it to spread stuff with. So I don’t know if it’s always worth it for that. But as far as the self care aspect, I love them.

Rachael: No, that’s awesome. And as I’m thinking about this, I go to acupuncture every two weeks. And my husband is a physical therapy assistant, and we talk a lot. He knows all the right terms. And I’m just like, why are my legs, why are they knotted? Why are they bumpy? Why do they hurt?

What I’m hearing you say is, first of all, I didn’t know there was a body version of this, but I could see that is…fascia release. I don’t know what the right term is. My husband will tell me later. Yeah, I could see that as being something that can help deal with those areas that you just feel kind of tense and knotted.

And what I saw for the face one was that you have to have some sort of oil on your face first. Otherwise, that’s not a good thing. Don’t just have a rock on your face. You want oil?

Amy: Yes, exactly. You need something to make it a little bit slippery.

Rachael: But it’s just so interesting. And I like that you kind of separated this into well, I don’t know scientifically how it might work, but this can be a moment of self care. And definitely thinking about pressure points. I can imagine that there has to be something beneficial. Like I get needled on my face, the acupuncture. So you think there’d be something helpful in there. So now you’re kind of convinced me that I need to try, though.

Amy: It’s Yian is their name. And so they’re the ones who make the big one that I have. And they do post a lot of stuff because they’re Chinese medicine brands. And so they have a lot of stuff about the pressure points.

And I believe that there’s stuff that we can prove with science. I also believe that there’s things that we just don’t have the tools to measure. Yes, 100%.

Rachael: You just said something that I love because we don’t have the evidence that it has a benefit. I still feel like it has a benefit. And there’s a long tradition of people using these and benefiting. Absolutely. Like I said, we don’t have all of the tools that measure every single thing that could be going on. That is so true. And I like that if this is a practice that’s connected to traditional Chinese medicine and if there’s a way to source these products from practitioners and not just like some brand that’s taking this historical skincare product and turning it into a trend that would be really cool to support. So I definitely want to see I want to see links. I want to see more.

Can you text me a link to the company you were just talking about? Because want I look at that, and I can also add it to the show notes. I’m sure my listeners would like it if I didn’t just withhold that information from them.

Amy: They also make a wonderful body bomb. It’s a little pricey, though. I love to use those two things together.

Rachael: That’s awesome. Yeah. I definitely want to look into that. And I appreciate you indulging me in that because I’m not normally into trends. I mean, I guess that’s not true. If I see one of those viral Instagram ads or something like the green tea pore cleanser that’s supposed to suck the pores out of your face, I have looked at that product so many times, and then seeing the stone, I keep being like, I kind of know how this works. I really appreciate your help with this.

Amy: Yeah, I love talking about it.

Rachael: Yeah. I can tell it’s very clear that this is something that you enjoy. And I love hearing that research perspective come out, too of like, hey, I’ve looked at this, and I’m not sure about this part, but from this other side, that’s a really helpful lens to have. Amy, I really appreciated talking to you this morning. You have so much information, and you’ve also kind of simplified the process for me.

And I hope for my listeners to say it’s not about doing everything 100% perfectly right now. It’s just about choosing your priorities and working on that. Like you said, if cruelty free is your thing, focus on finding products that are like that. If plastic free is your thing, look for that. Like, focus in on one specific thing instead of revamping your entire makeup collection overnight.

Amy: Yeah, it’ll just be overwhelming. You’ll end up falling down because it’s just too much. And this keeps you, I guess, on the wagon, on the back of the horse, starting with, like you said, those baby steps.

Rachael: Absolutely. I agree completely. Well, Amy, if people want to find you and they want to know more about this, where do they go? Do you have anything that could help them make the switch into sustainable beauty? How do we find you? How can you help us? We all need you.

Amy: Okay. So my blog is Beauty and the Planet, so that’s at beautyandtheplanet.com. If you go there, you could get my links to social media as well. So on Instagram, I’ll post when I get something I’ll do an unboxing.

Rachael: Awesome.

Amy: If you go to my blog also, you can do it from Instagram. From my links there, you can sign up for my newsletter. And when you sign up for a newsletter, you get the free guide to sustainable beauty, which just kind of explains what is sustainable beauty and how to get started. It’s a real quick. I’ve formatted it so that you can read it on your phone.

Rachael: Awesome. That’s perfect.

Amy: A getting started guide. And then you also will get the newsletter, which comes out twice a month right now.

Rachael: That is so perfect. And that’s I think exactly what people need is what’s the baby step? How do I take one step into this? And you’ve already thought about that. You already have this out there for us. We just need to find you.

So again, Amy is from Beautyandtheplanet.com. You can find her on Instagram, you can go directly to our website and you’ll be able to get this guide to sustainable beauty for beginners right there.

So I want to say thank you to Amy for being on our podcast today. It’s so nice not just hearing my own voice. You’re our first podcast guest is awesome having you. And now I have some things I want to try. Really excited to have you. Thank you for being here. Yes. Thank you so much. I love listening to podcasts, but this is my first time on one. Well, you did a fantastic job, so you should definitely be on. More and more people need to find you.

So again, Beautyandtheplanet.com, I’m going to add some links in the show notes to make sure people can find those specific posts that you are referencing. So if you’re listening to this and you want to know how can I get exactly to the post about the labels and their certifications? Check the Show Notes. I’ve got that all for you.

Episode wrap-up

Wow. This episode has been so helpful for me Because I’ve been wondering if I was really doing the right things with my beauty choices. Like maybe everything I buy should be 100% plastic free. Maybe I’m not doing enough. Maybe I’m not pushing hard enough.

And what I heard from Amy was that really you’ve got to focus on one thing first. You’re not going to find a perfect product out there or if you do, Then you’re probably going to be making it yourself or paying somebody A very high premium for their work. It’s okay to find something that works for you right now. It’s totally fine.

I wanted to make sure that, you know, in the show notes I’m going to share the links to Amy’s post that she referenced. I’m also going to make sure you have access to my review of Biossance. It’s a pretty comprehensive post, my friend. I really broke down every product I have tried all but two of them And I’ve rated them individually. I’ve talked about setting up a Biossance routine. I’ve talked about how to get their products on a budget. So if you’re wondering is there a clean skincare brand out there that’s really going to work Even for my super sensitive skin? I’m telling you, this is like the only one that I can use.

Okay, so you’ve got access to that and I wanted to ask you for one thing. If you like this podcast, It would be so helpful to me if you could rate it on whatever podcasting service you listen to. If you don’t like it, then I would request that maybe you reserve that negative feedback for something else in your life. It’s hard to kind of come out here on the internet and be open and honest with people, so I would love to know if the things we’re talking about are resonating with you, help to kind of cheer us on over here. I need a little positive feedback. I feel like I’m all alone in my corner. So that would be really, really helpful otherwise. I hope you have a restful weekend an amazing week. I will talk to you next Saturday. Take care.