The clean skin and haircare swaps to try right now (& why making the switch is so important)

From fertility friendly products to clean skin and haircare swaps for the whole family

We sat down with Gabi Day, CEO and Founder of Bright Body, to chat through the clean skin and haircare swaps to make, and why making the switch is so important.

Watch as Gabi explains how Bright Body products are TTC and breastfeeding friendly, and developed with love by an IVF mom with over 7 years of experience as a nontoxic personal care formulator.

Want to win a 6 month supply?

Enter to win your own stash of nontoxic and refillable skin and hair care from Bright Body (worth $1,200)

If selected, you’ll receive a $200 gift card every month for 6 months – and they don’t expire!

Use them to stock up on fertility-friendly Bright Body products for grownups, and/or Bright Body Baby for the kiddos – the choice is yours.

Enter here

Transcript

Eloise Edington
Hello, everyone. Welcome! I am being joined by Gabi Day, who is the CEO and founder of Bright Body, and we are going to be discussing the clean skin and hair care swaps to try right now. We have a very exciting giveaway that Bright Body is offering our readers, so you must listen to hear more about it. We’ll explain who it’s for and what it will bring to you. Gabi will tell us more and share her story. Welcome to those who are joining – nice to see you all connecting. Hello, Gabi!

Gabi Day
Hi, Eloise! How are you?

Eloise Edington
Very well, thanks. How are you?

Gabi Day
I’m doing well, thanks! I know we have a time difference 0 it’s the middle of the day here on the East Coast.

Eloise Edington
Lovely to be chatting with you. I’ve just given a little introduction to you and Bright Body. Could you start by telling us a bit about your IVF journey and what got you started with Bright Body? We’re also going to talk about clean living, skin care, hair care, and more, which are so important to people on the fertility journey. You’re also offering our readers something special, so everyone, listen up as Gabi introduces herself.

Gabi Day
Yeah, hi! I’m Gabi Day, the CEO, founder, and formulator of Bright Body and Bright Body Baby. Both brands are based in the US, and we’re located in Richmond, Virginia. We just celebrated our seventh business birthday on October 1st. Bright Body started almost seven years ago, and it all began because of my own health journey.

I have a chronic condition called hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, which is quite a mouthful! It affects my body’s collagen production, leading to chronic joint pain and other systemic issues. I’ve also had severe neurological Lyme disease and a condition called POTS, which affects my autonomic nervous system. These conditions often go together, and I was diagnosed with the ‘triple whammy’ of all three.

During my last flare-up, I was doing twice-daily IV infusions and was on medical leave from my corporate healthcare job. I originally thought I’d be a long-term care administrator, but the stress from that job made my health issues worse. At that point, I was already well-versed in nutrition and movement – my background is in yoga and Ayurveda. I became desperate to take better care of my body, so I started reading ingredient lists and learning about cosmetic formulation.

While I was still bedbound, I filled notebooks with scribbles and notes from reading scientific journals. Once I started feeling stronger, I began experimenting in the kitchen, which eventually turned into a full business. Five years into that journey, I had my identical twin boys after a long fertility journey.

We went through six rounds of IUI. The first pregnancy was ectopic and had to be terminated, the second was a miscarriage, and after one egg retrieval and two embryo transfers, we had more losses. We finally had success with a third transfer from our second egg retrieval—just one embryo, and it split! That’s how we have our identical boys.

Eloise Edington
What a journey!

Gabi Day
Yes, it was a long road. I knew I was at higher risk for fertility issues because of the EDS, which increases the risk of recurrent miscarriage. I had thought I’d braced myself for what it might be like to try to conceive, but going through it was a lot. In total, we had three losses, six rounds of IUI, and three embryo transfers. My boys will be two and a half this month.

After they were born, I started using popular baby skincare brands. Even though I’m a formulator, I didn’t have the bandwidth to make my own products after their traumatic birth, so I bought what was available. But their skin was dry, irritated, and angry, so I thought, “Okay, now’s the time to make something for them.” When they were three months old, I started formulating baby products, and by the time they were six months old, I launched Bright Body Baby.

So that’s just hit our 2 year anniversary, so it all came full circle, but it was all from chronic illness and then becoming a mom after infertility.

Eloise Edington
Amazing! What a story! Do you think some of these skin conditions are hereditary? Do you think anything can be passed on, or do you think it’s down to genetics but also the things that you use, how you live your life, what you eat, and the environment you’re living in, or a combination?

Gabi Day
Well, definitely Ehlers-Danlos syndrome is genetic, but what’s strange is that I’m patient zero in my family. We can’t identify it; we think it was a spontaneous mutation. There’s a 50/50 chance that my boys have hypermobile EDS. We won’t know until they’re older. There are other forms of EDS where they’ve identified the gene responsible, but because the hypermobility type is not as life-threatening as the other types – it’s more life-limiting than life-threatening – they haven’t identified the gene. So, we won’t know for sure until they’re older and we can do a clinical evaluation.

I absolutely think that being better holistically about movement, nutrition, stress management, and cleaning up my overall routines at home and with my personal care through Bright Body has been all part of the recipe. I’ve been in remission for years. I did have a POTS flare during my first postpartum period; that was quite an interesting experience that I wasn’t expecting, but it’s not uncommon. I’ve been very healthy and strong even through the traumatic birth and preeclampsia. I recovered well, so I think taking care of your health is really a holistic, multifaceted thing. There’s no one magic bullet.

Eloise Edington
Absolutely. And how would you define clean or non-toxic living and products compared to regular personal care? Why should we care? You’ve acknowledged some of it, but tell us a bit more.

Gabi Day
So, I always tell people there’s certainly a gray area in how you look at the cleanliness of a product. It’s one of these difficult areas to study because you can’t just isolate one ingredient and study it in a randomized controlled trial. We are all exposed to so many environmental chemicals every day over the course of our lives that it would be impossible to isolate and say what this one ingredient does. In my opinion, when I formulate, if there’s data showing that an ingredient could be problematic, I avoid it and find a safer alternative.

I focus on products that are free of parabens, phthalates, and of course PFAS or the forever chemicals, as well as per- or polyfluoroalkyl substances. Packaging is important, too. BPA is a concern; thinking about leaching from plastics is crucial. Also, plastic production is a major pollutant for the environment, and people often forget that plastic is literally made from petroleum. A lot of people kind of forget that. We’re so removed from it in our day-to-day lives, and plastic is everywhere.

I avoid petrochemicals in general. Many common emulsifiers, if you see an ingredient that starts with PEG or PPG, are derived from crude oil. I don’t use sulfates, silicones, or parabens. 

Personally, I don’t like phenoxyethanol, which has become the new darling of some clean brands as a preservative. In my opinion, to say something is paraben-free, people will switch to phenoxyethanol, but I believe it can be just as harmful as some parabens.

For me, when it comes to cleanliness, it’s very holistic. I look at the whole formula and check for any of these no-go ingredients. I have a lower risk tolerance threshold regarding mixed data on ingredients. Your personal care is one of the easiest controllables. Buying food, for example, doesn’t guarantee you know exactly how it was grown; we can do our best, but for me, personal care is one of the easiest switches to control.

I like to say that controlling my controllables is a personal hobby as a very type-A person. For me, it’s about consciously choosing products formulated with safe ingredients and avoiding harmful ones as much as possible. This way, we’re taking better care of our health now, and cumulatively – that’s the other thing that makes it hard to get clear data on these ingredients – is cumulative exposure.

Eloise Edington
Absolutely! I just want to mention now, while people are watching, that you are very kindly giving away an incredible opportunity and offer to our readers, which is a $200 gift card for any of your products. Is that correct? It’s $200 every month for six months, and if you don’t spend it one month, it carries over?

Gabi Day
Yes, that’s right!

Eloise Edington
Amazing! I urge people to head to our link in bio to find out more and to enter for this fabulous opportunity. Clean living is something I have been through, especially as I suffer from chronic urticaria, but also while preparing for IVF and fertility, which many people watching will be doing the same.

The science you just mentioned with some of the ingredients. Are synthetic ingredients always bad? Do they always have a bad reputation, and are natural ingredients always good? 

Gabi Day
I love to dispel this myth because, especially in marketing terms, as humans living in such a complex, busy world, we want there to be an easy black-and-white answer, like, “This is safe; this isn’t safe.” I’ve heard a lot of people say, to your point, “Are synthetics good, or is natural good, or is this bad?” The other proxy people use is, “Can I pronounce it?” As much as I would love for there to be a simple proxy – synthetic bad, natural good – there just isn’t. It really depends.

The answer I’ve found to most things in life, the older I get, is that it depends. There is nuance in choosing ingredients, and I know that’s not the answer people want to hear because it makes it harder to vet ingredient lists if you’re not familiar with cosmetic formulation and cosmetic chemistry. The idea is: What is the ingredient doing in the formula? To me, filling as a filler to pad margins is not enough of a purpose. What is it doing? What is the risk versus benefit profile? How is it produced and derived? What are the alternatives?

Anytime I think about or consider using an ingredient in our formulas, I have to answer all of those questions convincingly. If there’s ever a risk—again, this is personal care. It’s not like we’re talking about a prescription that you have to take. I take a prescription every day for managing my blood pressure and pulse rate, which tends to be quite low. It’s not something that’s medication; it’s beauty. Why are we putting unnecessarily risky ingredients in beauty products? We can do better.

Especially in 2024, we have so much more innovation in the cosmetic chemistry space for safer or multi-beneficial ingredients that can replace some of the old-school ones that aren’t as great. Ultimately, it’s about the nuance of the why, what, and how of the ingredient. We do use synthetics; we use safe synthetics that have all been very intensely evaluated. It also depends on the supplier you’re getting it from.

I don’t ever order anything from obscure places like Alibaba. I’m very particular about not only the ingredient but also the supplier, so everything is thoroughly and consciously vetted for safety and performance. 

The idea is to get the best of both worlds: great performance without compromising on safety.

Eloise Edington
For people who are joining and missed it, Gabi has exceptional skin and hair care products, etc., which you can find out more about at Bright Body through our link in bio. She is offering one of our readers the opportunity of six months’ worth of $200 credit towards any of these amazing products each month for the next six months, which is incredible! Thank you so much! People should look for this offer through the link in bio and apply now.

In terms of more specifics, why should we be mindful of products, especially regarding where they’ve originated from and the ingredients, particularly if we’re trying to conceive?

Gabi Day
I always say that people who’ve been through fertility treatments are hyper-aware of everything we’re putting on our bodies. We’re hyper-aware of everything in the environment. I think the first thing to do, as I said, is to focus on controlling your controllables and trying to let go of the rest. I find that people can get—and I had to stop my own brain from going down that rabbit hole—worried about every little thing because otherwise, the stress can be more detrimental than trying to achieve some sort of perfectionism regarding cleanliness.

Again, beauty care and personal care products are among the easiest controllables. In general, to repeat some of those classes of ingredients that I avoid: sulfates, silicones, parabens, and synthetic fragrances are huge ones. I know several of your followers have heard of Dr. Natalie Crawford, a fertility doctor. I really like her and her podcast. She talks about some of the more holistic ways to support fertility during treatments.

One thing I remember being really happy she discussed is synthetic fragrances, which are often endocrine disruptors. Obviously, hormones are a huge part of fertility. The first things I would look at are preservatives that can harm hormonal function, such as parabens, formaldehyde releasers, and phenoxyethanol. There’s some gray area on that, and definitely synthetic fragrances, which unfortunately are everywhere.

It’s very common that brands will just write “fragrance” or “perfume,” and it’s actually legal here in the US to put that on the label but not disclose what that scent is comprised of because it’s considered a trade secret. So always look for transparency around fragrances and preservatives. After that, I definitely look at petrochemicals as the next big offender because of their strong association with endocrine disruption. They are everywhere. Propylene glycol is a very common ingredient that’s a petrochemical used as a filler in tons of beauty products, along with anything that starts with PEG or PPG.

Then I start looking at some other classes that may not necessarily be harmful to fertility but might not be great for cumulative exposure and long-term health. On our website, I have a page in the ingredients tab that links to our “no-no” list. For our baby care products, we have a full ingredient glossary of every ingredient we use, its rating, why it’s used in formulas, its benefits, and what products you’ll find it in. Ingredient transparency is huge for me, both for health reasons and for allergy reasons. Allergies are more common in the modern world, so it’s important for people’s health in terms of potential exposure to things and being aware that allergies are more common.

Eloise Edington
What about for people who might be newly pregnant, nervous, or have children? Why is it so important to prioritize clean living and non-toxic products?

Gabi Day
Yes, I thought about this a lot, especially as a millennial mom myself. We had all the stuff as kids, right? Everything was packaged in plastic. We had all the Capri Suns; that’s a core memory. We used all the Johnson & Johnson baby products. Our parents just didn’t know what they didn’t know; it wasn’t popular knowledge back then. I can’t do anything about prior exposure, but what I can do for myself now is to make smarter choices going forward. I’m also giving my kids the gift of lower cumulative exposure over their lifetimes.

Again, it’s not about freaking out if they touched talcum powder once—it’s not that we have any in our house, anyway. But I get to give them the gift of a lower toxic load through these products because I know better than my parents did, and we, as a society, know better now. I think it’s really helpful when you have kids to rest a little easier knowing you’re doing your part. On a macro scale, I’m voting for politicians who prioritize environmental and climate health because that is a big determinant of my kids’ health in the future.

During pregnancy, I know a lot of people are scared about everything. Especially if you’ve been through loss, you’re scared to eat the wrong thing or put the wrong thing on your skin. You think, “If I’m stressed, am I going to give my baby anxiety?” I had all these thoughts. You tend to overthink everything, so that’s why it’s great to control the easy stuff. You can be mindful about your personal care products and nutrition during pregnancy without overdoing it. If you’re craving a cookie, it’s okay! The world isn’t going to collapse if you have a cookie.

The biggest thing for pregnant people to avoid is, of course, retinols. I know a lot of people who have struggled with acne are scared to stop using them. There’s nothing worse than feeling probably nauseous and exhausted because you’re pregnant and also feeling a lack of confidence if you’re having a breakout because you’re not using your typical skincare. We have a couple of products that are great and pregnancy-safe for acne-prone skin. They’re called the Clear Skin Potion and the Illuminating Tonic. Both use active ingredients that are safe for pregnancy and breastfeeding.

That can be a great alternative for retinols. It’s nice to be able to control your controllables, try to let go of the rest, and know that you have ways to care for your skin and hair while feeling confident in the process of growing a little human. It’s about setting your kids up for better health than we had because we didn’t know back then. Johnson & Johnson was the big name; that’s what our parents bought.

Eloise Edington
In terms of clean beauty, what are some of the easy skincare and hair care swaps that people can make? You just mentioned skincare, which is fascinating because I have a friend who was talking about just that while going into IVF and being concerned about what she was using and needing something else but not knowing what was safe to take.

Gabi Day
I would say the easiest products to switch would be anything that’s a leave-on product. Anything you’re not washing off exposes you more, so it’s better to prioritize what you’re using first, as long as it’s safe for pregnancy. If there are no retinols in it, run through what you’re using and then switch. Think about moisturizers and treatment products for hair care, especially styling products, since most of them use synthetic fragrance.

Any leave-on product, like a body lotion, would be what I’d suggest switching first. These products have longer exposure and are more likely to have systemic effects. Once you switch those, you can move on to the wash-off products like shampoo or facial wash. I try to categorize it this way to make it less overwhelming.

It’s really easy to think, “I need to throw everything away and start from scratch.” The stress and overwhelm from that can do more harm than good. I always say, take it one step at a time. Prioritize what’s being left on versus what’s being washed off, and give yourself grace throughout the process. You don’t have to scrap everything to benefit from switching. Since we’re considering cumulative lifetime exposure, if you use up a product that’s not great for two weeks before you can switch, it’s not the end of the world. It’s better than wasting more plastic, you know what I’m saying? I try to give people grace in that process.

 Eloise Edington
And once again if anyone is new here, then please do head to our link in bio, because Gabi, founder of Bright Body is giving away credit for all of your product range $200 a month for the next six months which really will set you up for excellent clean non-toxic living so fabulous opportunity there. 

What sets bright body products apart from others on the market when people are looking at formulation for example and who would you say can benefit from your incredible range of products?

Gabi Day
Yeah, so there are several things that set us apart. The first is our formulation philosophy. We use a mix of plant-based ingredients, and we have kind of an Ayurvedic influence. Ayurveda is India’s system of traditional medicine; it’s kind of like Chinese medicine as India is to Ayurveda. We use a lot of Ayurvedic herbal ingredients and extracts alongside the safest synthetics. Again, it’s all about performance without compromising safety. I think a lot of people have this notion that if it’s a clean product or an earth-conscious product, then it’s not going to feel as good. But I’m definitely trying to break that myth and help people realize that you don’t have to choose between safety, performance, and sustainability.

To sustainability, we package everything— you can probably see some of it behind me—in aluminum bottles and glass jars and bottles. We offer refills in these little foil pouches. Once you have three or more empty pouches, we send a prepaid shipping label so you can send the empties back to us. We process them using a TerraCycle box, so we’re as low waste as possible. We use minimal plastic; pretty much the only plastic is the closures because you can’t really get a non-plastic pump yet, unfortunately, and they’re also very expensive. But we’re trying to do our part sustainability-wise with packaging and also with sourcing for both safety and sustainability. So those are the main things that set us apart.

We also donate 1% of our sales year-round to the Center for Reproductive Rights. As a mom who went through recurrent loss – I had an ectopic pregnancy for which I had an abortion – I feel really strongly that reproductive rights are everything. It encompasses everything we need to live in safe and sustainable communities, with or without children. We donate 1% of our sales year-round to that cause. I also like to say that reproductive rights are a prefix menu; it’s not all art. For anyone going through IVF or IUI, the full spectrum of care often involves using birth control as part of prepping for IVF, and abortion is often part of the care if you have an ectopic pregnancy.

We feel really strongly about leading with our values there. Every July, we donate 5% of our sales to Plastic Oceans International. We have a really strong philanthropic focus. I think, as a millennial, that’s just how I’m wired. Overall, our formulation philosophy, our commitment to sustainability, and our philanthropy set us apart. I always joke that if you have skin and hair or kids that have skin and hair, then you can benefit. As long as you align with our values and our approach to sustainability, you’re welcome here. We know that we’re not for everyone in terms of how we donate some of our sales, but we would rather be in alignment with a greater good than be people pleasers.

Eloise Edington
That’s amazing! It really is incredible what you do and how much you give back. You just mentioned the refill system and how that benefits people because it’s putting back into the industry and ensuring everything is going to a good cause without being wasteful. I just want to remind everyone to please head to our link in bio to enter this incredible giveaway for six months’ worth of $200 per month, which rolls over to any of the products that we’ve been discussing across the Bright Body range. Thank you so much, Gabi. Thanks to those who have been watching and watching back. Is there anything else you want to share with us?

Gabi Day
I don’t think so. It’s basically a total of $1,200 worth of products over the course of six months, and you can mix and match between skincare, hair care for grown-ups, and also our products for babies and littles. The other thing I always like to mention is that if you use the baby products as an adult, it won’t turn you into a baby; it’s okay! I have a lot of families who will share the same bottle of Everywhere Lotion, and they all use it after the shower, or they share the Head-to-Toe Wash. I know I do with my husband and my boys; we all use the Head-to-Toe Wash as a body wash.

There’s definitely some overlap there. A lot of older kids, you know, toddlers and younger school-age kids will use the baby products as well. They’re just designed first and foremost for sensitive skin, so they’re all available in unscented and scented options. Most of the products for grown-ups have small, safe concentrations of essential oils only. We don’t use any synthetic fragrance on purpose for obvious reasons, as we’ve already discussed. 

But yeah, I’m really excited to connect with your audience. I know what it’s like to go through infertility, pregnancy after loss, and traumatic birth. I’ve had a little taste of it all. If you’re in that, know that you’re not alone, and let yourself feel however you feel about it. I think the worst advice I ever got was just to stay positive, because what does that even mean?

Give yourself permission to feel how you feel.

Eloise Edington
That’s great advice. Thank you so much, Gabi. I urge everyone to head to our link in bio now to take advantage of this opportunity. I’m really keen to learn more about the products and to change someone’s life for the better while getting the message out here because it’s amazing what you do. 

Clean living is something that resonates with so many people, especially on this road to becoming parents and during pregnancy, and while having young kids.

Thank you so much, Gabi, for your time and thanks for joining.

Gabi Day
Alright, thanks, everyone. Bye!

Eloise Edington
Bye!