No matter what you hope to achieve in 2024, there’s one thing that helps everyone achieve their goals: healthy, beautiful hair. Okay, maybe gorgeous hair isn’t the only thing that contributes to a successful New Year’s Resolution, but it certainly helps set the right tone!
If you’re ready to revamp your hair routine next year (and revamp your vibe in the process), we’re strong believers that clean beauty is the way to go.
Ready to learn what it takes to create your own clean and healthy hair routine? You’ve come to the right place. Keep reading to learn more about clean beauty and five simple steps for making 2024 the year of healthy hair.
Clean Beauty: What Is it, and Why Does it Matter?
You’ve probably heard the term ‘clean beauty’ thrown around more and more these days. But do you actually know what clean beauty means?
We’ll give you a hint: clean beauty isn’t the same as ‘natural beauty,’ which focuses on using ingredients found in nature. Instead, clean beauty refers to products made without ingredients that harm human health or the well-being of the planet.
In other words, clean beauty uses cutting-edge science to craft powerful yet gentle products from natural and synthetic ingredients. Clean beauty cosmetics should always be:
- Sulfate-free
- Paraben free
- Vegan
- Cruelty-free
- Developed without animal testing
- Eco-friendly
The best part about using clean beauty products is that they don’t just reduce harm to the planet. They’re also much, much better for both your hair’s health and overall appearance. Talk about a win-win!
By using only clean beauty products on your hair, you can enjoy fabulous benefits like:
- Less breakage
- Stronger hair texture
- Less hair loss
- Longer lasting color
- Healthier scalp
- Better pH balance
- Better hydration
And that’s only the beginning. Want to see the wonders of clean beauty come to life in your hair? Here’s where to start!
Step 1: Examine Your Current Products
In order to make room for clean beauty, you’ll need to start with an audit of the products you already own.
So, head to your bathroom or vanity and get ready to read some labels! As you dig through your shampoos, conditioners, leave-ins, hair masks, blow-dry sprays, hairsprays, mousse and more, look for what we call questionable ingredients: carcinogens, hormone disruptors, skin sensitizers or environmental pollutants.
Our Come Clean list has the full guide, but common ones to avoid include:
- Fragrance, Parfum
- Propylene Glycol & Butylene Glyco
- Urea (Imidazolidinyl and Diazolidinyl) & DMDM
- Hydantoin
- Formaldehyde
- 1,4-Dioxane
- Lead Acetate
- Polyquaternium 16
- Sulfate Surfactants (SLS, SLES, ALS, ALES)
- Quaternium 6, 7, 15, 31, & 60
If your products have one or more of these troublemaking ingredients, you might want to consider tossing them out or giving away unopened ones.
Step 2: Identify Your Hair’s Needs
Now that you have a clean slate to work with, it’s time to decide where you’ll focus your 2024 hair health efforts.
What drives you crazy about your hair these days? What holds you up when styling your strands? What products haven’t lived up to their promises? What do you admire about other people’s hair?
These questions are a great starting point, but you can also jump straight into our personalized Neuma Product Quiz for faster answers! From hydration to volume, damage to styling, we’ve categorized our clean beauty products by hair goal to simplify your hair health journey.
Step 3: Be Picky About Eco-Friendly Products
As you shop for clean beauty products in line with your hair health goals, don’t forget to read those labels! A lot of questionable ingredients are intentionally buried in long ingredient lists, but the pickier you are about choosing clean products, the happier your hair will be.
If you’re shopping with us here at Neuma, however, you’ll never need to stress about analyzing the ingredient list!
Remember that Come Clean list from above? We use every step of the formulation process to ensure our customers receive the cleanest clean beauty products they can with minimal damage to the environment. In addition to our ingredient selection process, we also ensure sustainability with our:
- Trees for the Future partnership, a nonprofit that plants trees around the world to aid the production of fruit, raw materials needed to start rural businesses, fuel, shade and medicine.
- 1% For the Planet membership, meaning we donate 1% of all profits to environmental initiatives.
- Sustainable packaging with bottles made from 100% post-consumer recycled (PCR) materials and net 95% after decoration.
We are proud to make it as easy as possible to invest in both healthy hair and a happier planet!
Step 4: Stick to Your New System
The next step for a healthy hair resolution is easier said than done: cutting consumption. What does that mean in the context of hair care? Instead of buying a ton of products that might work for your hair, try buying only the products you know will help.
While it’s tempting to browse the aisles at the drugstore and dream up your next hair experiment, it’s better for your hair health to focus on results-driven brands and evidence-based cosmetics.
If a clean beauty product doesn’t work at first, stick to your research and trust the science. Jumping from a clean product to a chemical-packed cosmetic will only confuse your hair further and create more environmental waste!
And when you find the product that changes everything, stick to your new routine and let it work its magic! Your wallet, the planet and your hair will thank you.
Step 5: Share the Neu You
Finally, we want to see how your healthy hair resolutions unfold! Whether you’re investing in clean beauty for the first time or changing up your clean routine, we can’t wait to see how your hair – and you – grow throughout 2024.
Keep us in the loop with a tag on Instagram (@neumabeauty) and TikTok (@neumabeauty), where we’ll also share more on clean beauty all year long. See you there!