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The Tot 10: Clean Beauty Brands

While you may be picky about what goes on your baby’s skin, have you considered what’s going on yours? In this guide, we share the ingredients we avoid in skincare as well as our top 10 clean beauty brand picks!

African American woman applying non toxic face cream

Elisse Gabriel Senior Writer & Editor

When you’re pregnant or a new parent, finding the time and energy to take care of your own skin can feel about as easy as trying to paint the nails on your less dominant hand. (While some people may be good at it, we’re going to argue most find the task nearly impossible!)

Finding the time to research which brands are actually clean, sustainable, and effective? Forget it!

As parents who know what it’s like to have your hands full, we’ve done the research so you don’t have to!

In The Tot Clean Beauty Brand Guide, we’ll go over:

The benefits of developing a prenatal and/or postpartum skincare routine
Ingredients to avoid in skincare
Our top 10 clean beauty brands

Scroll down to learn more!

The benefits of developing a prenatal and/or postpartum skincare routine

While reaping the aesthetic benefits is definitely a plus, the main reasons we’re such advocates of implementing a skincare routine are:

Promotes self-love, self-care and mindfulness
Can help the skin adapt to body changes
Nourishes skin that has been overstretched
Re-hydrates skin (Particularly important for those who are breastfeeding)
Can help skin find balance after being disrupted by hormonal changes

With that being said, deciding which products to use before, during and after pregnancy is incredibly important due to the fact that many of the ingredients can be absorbed into your bloodstream.

Ingredients to avoid in skincare

At The Tot, we never use or recommend anything that hasn’t passed The Tot Test. This means we’ve looked deep into third-party testing, examined ingredients lists and asked in-depth questions about a product’s composition to ensure it doesn’t contain any of the chemicals we avoid.

When it comes to choosing skincare*, we are particularly wary of ingredients such as:

Synthetic Fragrance – Synthetic fragrances can contain dozens of chemicals that often do not need to be disclosed. Some of the most common chemicals found in man-made fragrances include phthalates, which are endocrine disruptors, and benzene derivatives, aldehydes, and toluene, which are known carcinogens.
Parabens – Often used as a skincare preservative, these are known hormone disrupters, carcinogens, and skin irritants. When reading an ingredients list, make sure there isn’t anything with ‘paraben’ on the end such as methylparaben, ethlyparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben, isobutylparaben, or isopropylparaben. But beware: sometimes a company will shorten the word to just methyl, ethyl or propyl!
Petrochemicals – The problem with petrochemicals is that they can be contaminated with 1,4 dioxane, which is a volatile organic compound known to cause cancer, irritation and damage to your central nervous system. These include ingredients like parfum, fragrance, butyl alcohol, butylparaben, butylene glycol, mineral oil, toluene, benzene, polyethylene glycol (PEG) as well as ethanolamine and dietanolamine.
Phthalates – Phthalates are used as a plasticizer and are found in nail polish, hair spray, perfumes, lotions, soaps, shampoos and more. As known endocrine disruptors associated with liver and kidney lesions and increasing your risk of certain cancers, they may exacerbate asthma and allergies in children.
Synthetic Dyes + Colorants – Many synthetic dyes and colorants can contain heavy metals that cause skin irritation and organ toxicity. B
Harmful Preservatives – Harmful preservatives such as formaldehyde are commonly known carcinogens. Formaldehyde, even at very low levels, can irritate and burn the eyes, nose, throat, and skin.

Click here to learn more about the ingredients we caution and why.

*Before using a product, always check with your doctor to ensure it’s safe for your particular situation.

Our top 10 clean beauty brands

All Tot Tested and approved, here are our top ten favorite clean beauty brands.

#1 Esker

Esker Firming Oil

Made in the USA from non-GMO and vegan ingredients, Esker’s collection of body oils and tools will make your home bathroom feel like a day spa!

With blends for stretch marks, blemishes, wrinkles and stress, you’ll love knowing that they’re packaged in a recyclable glass bottle and in a box made from recycled materials.

Esker Uplifting Belly Oil

$75

The Tot 10: Clean Beauty Brands

The benefits of developing a prenatal and/or postpartum skincare routine

Ingredients to avoid in skincare

Our top 10 clean beauty brands

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