Everyone knows I’m busy. I run a law firm, I write, I try to care for my children and pay attention to my husband. I have a lot of irons in the fire and sometimes I get burned. So why on earth would I take on something else?

Passion. Need. Responsibility.

I’ve recently decided to become a consultant for Beauty Counter products. In the United States, we have a concerning standard of allowing companies to use harmful ingredients and make their own judgments about safety. This doesn’t happen in other places. The European Union bans or restricts 1,300 chemicals in personal care products because they are harmful. The United States bans 32. Beauty Counter Bans 1,500. I don’t know why it has become acceptable to expose people to harmful chemicals in the US. I just know we can do better.

I am choosing to become involved because I want to have some influence over people’s well-being. I don’t know why I got cancer. I do not have any genetic indicators for cancer and we do not have a strong family history of cancer. I can only conclude that somewhere along the way I was exposed to something that put me at risk.

I am not willing to put my family at that same risk.

It is important to me that Tom and I control what our family comes in contact with. With Beauty Counter products, I don’t have to worry about the makeup I wear or the lotion I use. I can wash Tommy and get him all sudsy and not have any concerns that this soap is going to make him ill someday.

In 2016, Johnson & Johnson had to pay a $72 million verdict to the family of a woman whose death by ovarian cancer was linked to her daily use of Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder and shower to shower products. For decades, Johnson & Johnson knew about the cancer link but failed to warn consumers.

That is a level of bullshit that I cannot comprehend. My heart hurts for this woman’s family and for all the other potential cancer patients that have suffered at this irresponsible company’s greedy hands.

As horrifying as this story is, it does not stand in isolation. Many personal care products- products we put on our skin, in our hair, and on our children- contain chemicals with known links to health problems, with no warning at all to consumers. This, according to a Time article on the issue of product safety (or lack thereof). While we want to assume that here in the US we don’t have to worry about things like that, the sad truth is that there is no required safety testing and very few disclosure requirements for personal care products.

Clearly, the results can be devastating. I just can’t go on pretending that I don’t know this and I can’t sit in my position of influence with this blog and not share what I know. When you know better, you do better. I am now trying to do better.

I have been using Beauty Counter products for two years and I really love them. They feel good on, and I feel good knowing I’m using them. They are quality products that last a really long time, so I’m happy with the investment I have made in each product I have.

If you are interested in shopping safer products, here is the link. If you want to learn more, please let me know. I’m happy to share what I have researched and what I am passionate about. If you do decide to order, please go through me as Tom and I have decided this would also be a passion project that could help us rebuild our finances after losing almost everything to cancer.

In the end, I am not going to blow up your news feeds about this. I will take cute pictures of my children and humble brag about these great products from time to time. I feel I need to do this for my family, and for yours. I hope you take some time to educate yourself and do whatever small or little thing you can do to keep you all safe.

Give ‘Em Hell