Ever since I could remember I had a challenging skin type, as I’ve always dealt with serious acne; and I mean really ugly painful cystic acne. I always had the idea that once I would mature out of puberty, my acne would disappear forever. Now thirty years later, I still get some acne outbreaks if I am not cautious with regard to my eating habits and if I don’t keep my hormonal system in balance. Although certainly not as frequent and as bad as in puberty, it still baffles me that at my age I still have to endure acne outbreaks now and then.
When I was younger, I didn’t know any better and I did all I could to get rid of my acne once and for all; and when I say “all” I really mean it. I took dangerous pills, countless of abrasive treatments and some harmful medications, but I didn’t care because my skin seemed to get better, and that’s what I wanted more than anything.
It was only when I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s Disease, which is an autoimmune disease that affects the thyroid as well as when I started to suffer all the symptoms of the disease, that I started to listen more closely to my body. Several years later I was also diagnosed with Adrenal Fatigue, and in the course of seven months I gained 30 extra kilos. Up to that moment I was obviously aware of the importance of a healthy and nutrient dense diet for long term health, but I had no knowledge of environmental toxins from different sources and little knowledge of the human body’s natural detoxification process. Living with a chronic illness is no fun at all, to say the least ! Mainly mainstream medicine is about masking symptoms and not about finding the root cause of those symptoms and balancing your immunity naturally.
By: Anouk Dominguez
Like many others, this is how I started my journey on Green Beauty. Up to that moment I had no idea about the absorption of toxic chemicals from different sources, or about the skin being our largest organ and absorbing harsh chemicals from conventional cosmetics, or even the impact such harsh chemicals can have on our long term health. But of course, I am the first one to acknowledge that a transition to green beauty isn’t always easy, because we are creating a new habit, and we creatures tend to stick to old and/or ‘bad’ habits.
Creating a new healthy habit is as hard as getting rid of a long-term unhealthy habit: it takes time, willpower and focus. The journey is different for everyone and in my case I had a serious motivation due to my health condition and the consciousness of not wanting to pour a bit of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals on my body, as I was already experiencing an increase in several hormonal imbalances, I didn’t want to put more burdensome on my body. This is why I went cold turkey in changing my skincare/makeup products to green ones. For me it wasn’t really difficult, because from the very beginning I simply transitioned to the most traditional European natural skincare brands, and since then I’ve never looked back.
A healthy lifestyle, and nourishing my skin and body from the inside became my passion, and after moving to The Netherlands, I worked for an EU Organization that lobbied for stricter regulations on toxic chemicals within the European Union and also focused on a clear relationship between Chemicals and Bad Health. I started feeling the need to share all the knowledge that I had acquired in helping women to avoid dangerous chemicals from their beauty routines.
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