Guest Post by Lindsey Shelley, Mindfully Beautiful Mama 

As a mother of four daughters, it has always been my mission to lead them on a path that will positively impact their health. Being a mom is no easy task! Knowing that I will not always be able to make choices for them, I want to normalize clean living and show them how to make educated decisions as consumers. 

Having an open mind about new ways of living and becoming informed were the first steps I took to learn how to reduce our exposure to toxic chemicals. We are supposed to take a company’s word at face value that their product is safe for us. I want to change that and promote being a smart consumer. I began by learning how to read ingredient labels and avoiding chemicals of concern. 

Using apps, like Clearya, has helped me understand which ingredients to avoid and how they impact my health, so I can shop healthier. Some top ingredients we avoid in personal and household products includes: Fragrance, all Parabens, Triclosan, and Alkylphenols. When my daughters ask about a product, we know to turn it over, and look for red flags, and not be fooled by pretty packaging.

I am a Face of Prevention. And so are you. 

Part of normalizing clean living is talking about what impacts our health in everyday conversation. When my girls are looking at a fun colored hand sanitizer, for example, I not only help them find the “fragrance” listed, but also throw in facts they can understand at their level. For example, casually telling them that “fragrance” can mean hundreds of ingredients that companies don’t need to tell us about.

To children, anything secretive is taken as unfair, so they immediately question why that’s allowed. This leads to conversations with my older two daughters about BCPP’s current bills in Congress that will require companies to disclose exactly what secret toxic ingredients are in their products.

Will you help support BCPP raise the funds needed to pass the Safer Beauty Bill Package?

Normalizing clean living means being open to talking about choices we make for the whole family. This can be as simple as choosing paper sandwich bags and sharing how this helps reduce our plastic use and how BPA (which is harmful to our health) is used in some plastics. BCPP has also shown a light on toxic PFAS “forever” chemicals in our cookware and food packaging. Because of what I’ve learned from BCPP’s science, I now know how dangerous they can be to our health. So, I am ditching the Teflon cookware I have for a safer alternatives like ceramic, stainless steel, or cast iron!  

There are risk factors that are out of our control, but there are choices we can make that will reduce our risk of breast cancer, one being the products we bring into our homes. BCPP provides clear ways to make simple changes. Through BCPP’s guidance, I have learned which areas to focus on that’ll have the biggest impact. Clean living is the way of the future! 

Through my Mindfully Beautiful Mama Instagram and consulting, my goal is to empower women to become educated consumers and make choices that will reduce their toxic exposure. 

With your support, BCPP can reduce our rate and risk of breast cancer, now and for future generations. Please consider a gift to advance BCPP’s life-saving work to create a safer, healthier world for ourselves and our loved ones.