Let’s not strip things down too much.

Curious about how many cleaning and caring products you actually need?

Turns out – almost none.

Take a 5 Minute Break…

INSIGHT ^{_{(what we need)}}

Our bodies are suffering from over cleaning and caring.

When left completely to the elements, our bodies essentially know how to self-clean. Our skin is home to trillions of helpful bacteria, viruses, fungi and mites that comprise a healthy skin microbiome when kept in check. The normal biofilms that cover our surfaces act as the true line of defense to outside invaders that may want to do harm. As our symbiont collaborators, we develop the necessary immune responses that keep our whole systems functional and resilient. Hence the whole movement of functional medicine that tries to work in tandem with these useful critters so that our homeostatic responses remain in tact. Unfortunately, the true outside invaders that are doing us more harm over the long term are not just the superbugs looking for hospitable hosts, but the far more incessant chemical strippers of the $374 billion dollar cosmetic industry selling us products for every inch of our bodies that we simply do not need. 

A whole industry making us addicted to cleaning and care. 
This robs our bodies of their natural cleaning processes and creates a crutch or reliance on manufactured products. One of the reasons I left corporate innovation back in 2010 was because of the tiresome game of coming up with new “perceived benefits” of actives that tingle, zap, and zing us into believing they are doing miracles to our bodies. Only to be additives that make us “feel” like things are working, when we don’t actually need them. From surfactant bubbles to acetone evaporators to emollient glistening: there are over 20 categories of chemical agents added to the bottles we buy to give us short term ‘effective indicators’. Unfortunately, over the long term, these things are covering, stripping and/or destroying the natural ability of our bodies’ repair, clean and care mechanisms. 

Surface care is like gardening – feed the dirt and deal with overgrowth!
I’m not a diehard advocate of run-to-the-woods ‘au naturelle.’ The science of caring for our surfaces (skin, hair, teeth, etc) has produced some amazing innovations that are commendable. 

When it comes to skincare: gentle enzymatic cleaners, skin-like oils (squalane), retinoids (Vitamin A), and zinc oxide sunscreens create the necessary nudges to the skin barrier so that it can do its job more effectively.

When it comes to dental care: hydroxyapatite and xylitol work as fluoride alternatives to strengthen enamel and aid in natural remineralization of teeth.

And with haircare: naturally occurring acids, fruit extracts and botanicals support the pH balance of our scalp to grow healthy follicles.

So there is room for external support in a minimalist care routine that doesn’t buy into the cosmetic-industrial complex trying to oversell you products, and dubiously creating the conditions (ie. drying) that require you to use more!

Moisturizers that make your skin more dry.
Companies have gone beyond creating the perceived felt benefits of active ingredients to adding agents that require more usage. Moisturizers that make our skin more dry, deodorants that make us smellier, shampoos that make our scalps too clean so they slough, dental cleanings that scrape off the natural biofilm that protect our mouths. Then even acquiring natural product startups and adding them to their lineup of duplicitous R&D methods. I did a project for a global personal care products company once to innovate their skincare product pipeline. After interviewing the scientists in the lab, I’d slide in the “off-the-record-what-would-you-use” question, and they all gave me 2-3 ingredients instead of the 20+ that was in their existing formulations. Strip. It. Down. It’s all we truly need.

Clean beauty is shifting to bare care.
This a-ha moment during the above project back in 2010 (pre-clean beauty era), prompted me to host an event called “Mind Bottle Soul” that educated people and the press on the dangers of exposing our systems to 15+ chemicals daily from all our care and cleaning products. This chemical overload in our systems has been leading us down a scary road to compromised immune systems. The wellness-washing and green-washing products that have come out of the shifting mindsets are making it harder to discern what is truly necessary. So it’s important to continue to educate yourself each time you buy. Even 15 years later, I witness market shelves continue to fill with products we don’t need. Instead of buying into ‘clean beauty’ alternates, consider opting for the bare essentials. Here are a few online doctors and influencers who are leading the way to educate against the overuse of personal care products:

Dr. Abs: exposing and educating people on good skincare.

Dr. Ellie: exposing and educating people on good dental care.

Tokyo Simple Eco Life: influencer essentialist routines (ie. “NoPoo haircare”)

There’s also the simple benefit of savings! Even as someone who has a very sparse beauty routine, I will still spend about $2000 a year on beauty products and treatments alone. This includes: 5 daily skincare products (cleanser, micellar gel, hydrating active, moisturizing oil, and sunscreen), a monthly facial, good quality shampoo and conditioner, natural toothpaste, floss and a dental visit annually. Nothing extravagant! Yet I’d still like to reduce where I can. We can strip away the 80% of products we likely don’t need, to the few items that boost your body’s natural mechanisms, while putting that savings to eating high quality foods that will support your surfaces from the inside out. Save our wallets, our microbiome, and our minds from addictive consumerism! 

INSPIRATION ^{_{(what i want)}}

AOB Therapeutics:

• Clinical trials on the effects of Ammonia-Oxidizing Bacteria (AOB) on the skin by MIT scientists in 2015 discovered the profoundly beneficial effects of restoring the skin’s natural biome balance.

• AOB Therapeutics then spun from these findings to address the broad range of inflammatory skin conditions that arise from modern living and our obsession with over cleaning the skin of its naturally occurring protective microbiota.

• Without this line of defense, we develop acne, rosacea, eczema and a host of other irritated skin conditions due to aggravation from ‘topical support.’

• They inspired a product line almost a decade ago called MotherDirt: an attempt to bottle live cultures of AOB in a refrigerated spray. However, since then this product (though highly effective) was mismanaged and discontinued.
  Note: I tested this innovation back then and it was excellent. An example of how great products don’t necessarily produce great companies. 

• AOB Therapeutics continues to run clinical trials to back the creation of products and routines that work in harmony with the skin’s microbiome to clean without stripping, balance oil production, sooth inflammation and keep skin hydrated.

  Continue to watch this space as pre-and-probiotic-based skincare is evolving!

INNOVATION ^{_{(what i wish for)}}

Bare.ly - guided cohorts of people who want to ween off commercial product overuse and strip down their beauty and care regimes. 

• Supportive education on how to transition from product over-use to training our bodies natural self-cleaning responses to turn back on.

• Year long cohort that works in three phases: first quarter, second quarter, and third half of year to nudge our skin, hair, nails, gums and teeth to develop the natural biofilms that lead to natural protection. 

• Continued subscription educates participants on the peer reviewed products that are either helpful or harmful to keeping our biofilms balanced.

• Included in your subscription is an annual checkup of your improved routines and surface health by a team of experts. 

• Cost of the program pays for itself in product savings even for those who already use very few products. 

• Barely also curates it’s own 6-month subscription boxes of ‘barely there’ product recommendations for it’s participants who want pre-vetted recommendations they can count on.