The 3 Most Common Natural Skin Care Mistakes (And How To Fix Them)

So you want to make the switch to naturals, or you're thinking about it—go, you! But where do you begin? To do an overhaul of your personal care routine would take hours of review-reading, Instagram-stalking, and/or YouTube tutorial-watching to find and vet the right products for your skin type. Plus, replacing all products at the same time would rack up a hefty bill. The truth is that natural beauty is having a Wild Wild West moment. Every brand, retailer, and influencer wants in because naturals are trending up, which is helpful for getting the message out. But all that information at once can be pretty confusing. How will naturals change the skin? What should be switched first? Is there a wallet-friendly way to go about it?

Face oils are all the rage, it's true. But unless your face oil salesperson is top-notch, chances are they may have let you purchase the oil without telling you about the importance of toner. The reality is, until recently, toner was composed of mostly alcohol, which is drying and harsh on the skin. But these days, plenty of toner excellent options sans alcohol and hydrosols—distilled plant essences in purified water—are available.

Natural and safe are not synonymous. "Safety is a completely admirable (and necessary!) quality to look for in our beauty products but in recent years there's been this default thinking that naturals are safe which is not always the case," said Bee Shapiro, founder of natural fragrance company Ellis Brooklyn. "For example, citrus oils smell fresh and wonderful but in skincare they can be a major hazard. Citrus oils are phototoxic (they make your skin sensitive to the sun and can make you burn) at even very, very low levels," she said.

Along these lines, it's important to understand the role of certain ingredients in a product more than it is to seek products that are labeled "natural." There's a wide range of quality variability within the category of essential oils, for example, making it tough to differentiate and find the best ones. This isn't to pick on essentials oils (we love them), but the safety of a product or an ingredient goes beyond the "natural" label.

Another reason natural can raise safety concerns? Preservatives, or a lack thereof. Although many natural beauty purists avoid nearly all preservatives, it's important to monitor the expiration date on your products or consider being a little more forgiving when it comes to preservatives in formulas. They keep active ingredients safe while fending off harmful bacteria and mold. Sometimes there's a real need for preservatives—safe ones, of course—depending on the product composition.

Skin care products are front and center of the natural beauty scene because there are more brands that cater to facial skin concerns than body ones. But your face represents approximately 4.5 percent of your skin's surface area—and while no one's denying its importance, you'll get more bang for your buck by switching over your body products like soap, deodorant, body wash, body oils, and moisturizers first.