Making the switch to natural, non-toxic products when it comes to beauty, skincare and household items can get expensive and overwhelming. Especially when starting out, there are a lot of different options out there and it’s hard to know where to begin and whether or not you are going to like a certain product before you try them out. Here are just a few tips on how to try new products and make the switch without spending a fortune.
Take Advantage of Free Samples
Free samples are my favorite! They are a great way to try new products before spending the money for full sizes. Instagram is a great way to discover companies that give out free samples. Some require you to pay shipping, others send free samples with an order, or some just send samples for free. Here are just a few that I have taken advantage of:
The Honest Co. Personal Care & Home Cleaning Essentials Trial includes shampoo + body wash, face + body lotion, hand soap, healing balm and multi surface cleaner. Just pay $5.95 for shipping. Note: You will get automatically enrolled in their subscription service which I actually used a few times to stock up on products, but it’s very easy to cancel if you wish to do so. You can push out the subscription as far as you want too, so you don’t have to place an order every month. I also blogged about the Honest Beauty Skincare Trial here.
Farmstead Apothocary Free Sample Pack of their Body Butter, Body Lotion and Face Cream (limit one per household) & no shipping costs!
Citrine Natural Beauty Bar They always include complimentary samples with your purchase which is fun, but just recently they started a Sample Program where you can choose samples of your choice.
Subscribe to Green Beauty Boxes
Green Beauty Boxes are a great way to discover newer non-toxic and natural skincare and makeup products. I have tried a few of these below and the rest I have heard great reviews about. Before I subscribe to a box, I always check their banned ingredients list or their product qualification criteria to make sure it aligns with what I’m looking for. This way I have the utmost confidence that the products are properly vetted and do not contain harmful ingredients that I normally try to avoid.
Good Being Box Instagram: @joingoodbeing
Boxwalla Instagram: @theboxwalla
Organic Bunny Box Instagram: @organicbunny
Bare Element Box Instagram: @bare.element
Glowing Beets Instagram: @glowingbeets
Whole Foods recently released their limited edition clean beauty bag. They release them every year around this time in stores in limited quantity. This year’s contained $90 worth of clean beauty products for $18 dollars. They also ran a special at the same time for their third annual beauty week where all in store cosmetics and facial care were 25% off.
Enter Giveaways on Instagram
Green bloggers and brands do giveaways on Instagram all the time and it’s usually as easy as following the brand and tagging a friend or two in the comments. I haven’t been super successful with these, but hey it’s always worth a shot right?
Look Out For Promotions & Sign Up For Mailing Lists
Some great green beauty brands like 100% Pure for example run some amazing promotions. They recently had one where if you spent $55, you could get your hands on a 6 piece gift set for free plus free shipping. This is a great way to try new products and a crazy good deal! They usually do these type of promotions a few times a year and I’m always on the lookout because they have limited quantity and you have to act fast.
Join mailing lists for the brands you are interested in trying or already love so you can stay on top of their special discounts and promotions.
You can also just scroll through #greenbeauty on Instagram and look for new brands and sales 😉 There are some great Spring Sales happening right now!
Roam The Aisles of Marshalls & TJ Maxx
I have been very successful at discovering some great non-toxic products at Marshalls and TJ Maxx. I always bring my phone along and pull up the ThinkDirty app to check on the toxicity level of new products I haven’t heard of before.
My local stores often have Honest Co. products including shampoo, conditioner, bubble bath, handsoap and toothpaste. I have found Schmidts and other natural deodorant brands. These stores are also great when you are looking for serums and oils. I always go here for Vitamin C serum and Rosehip Oil and can usually fine ones that are cold-pressed and organic.
I always check the household aisle and have found some great all natural dishwashing soap and laundry detergent from brands like Molly’s Suds.
These stores are also great for other green, non-toxic items like toys, organic sheets and bedding, organic baby clothes, cleaning supplies etc. You just have to put in a little work and browse all the aisles to find these hidden gems.
Hope this gave you some good ideas!
Lots of love and good health,
Tasha, The Non-Toxic Newbie
non-toxic newbie 
Great write-up! I always score Honest Co. products at HomeGoods/TJ Maxx (with a little hunting.) Funny because I thought I was the only one who used the Think Dirty app while browsing ☺️
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Thank you! It’s fun to do a little hunting and find the good stuff! 🙂
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Great tips! I also try to use Ebates when I’m shopping on larger retailer’s sites like Target, Vitacost, Sephora (they are carrying some green beauty products!), etc. 🙂
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Thanks Gigi! I’ve heard of Ebates, but never checked it out. Thanks for the suggestion! 🙂
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Nice tips! Green beauty can seem a little costly at first especially if you’re used to drugstore prices. I recommend Silk Naturals. They are super affordable (like $6 lipstick affordable) and I like everything I’ve bought from them!
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