What's in this stuff?

Photo credit: skinwerein.com

Hi there!  Welcome to Love & Long Lashes! Thanks for stopping by!

As of lately, I've started wondering about the ingredients in the beauty products I use.  I guess before now, I never really stopped to consider what was in the creams, soaps, lotions & cosmetics I smear all over myself on the daily.  Now that I've started pondering this, there seems no going back.
I'm not one to buy in to the idea that everything is a carcinogen.  That being said, I still don't like the idea of being covered in chemicals having no idea what they are, or how harmful they could be over time.  
It's very vogue to be organic and vegan and "all natural" but that's not why I'm thinking about these things.  I've been researching a lot in order to build a business model for a natural soap & cosmetics company which I'm considering starting.  Oh, the things I've already learned!  I'm almost ready to go through every room of my house and throw away all the chemicals - every soap, cleaner, fragrance oil, shampoo, conditioner, lotion & cream.  I just have so many and I really, really, have no clue what's in them.  Plus, I haven't yet dropped dead from washing my dishes with Dawn.
As consumers, we're used to relying on our trust of the companies we buy from.  We often start reading the ingredient list and begin to think it might as well be in Latin, because there's no way we'd understand all the different chemical names.  Some sound scary, but aren't bad - as is the case with baking soda which is also called sodium hydrogen carbonate.  Others are supposed to do things like "degrease" but actually end up stripping our skin of all moisture, making us flaky and uncomfortable.  Yeah...no thanks.
I think that its healthy to question these things, and make sure that we know what we're using on our bodies, in our homes and on our children and pets.  I don't have all the answers, but I'm getting a lot closer to knowing what I will accept in my products, and what I won't.  We all know that "all natural" isn't always what it claims to be, so make sure you do a little research yourself so that you know what you're buying.  The age of ignorance about beauty products & manufacturing processes is officially over for this gal.  

XoXo
-JoAnna