Top Ten Gluten Free Beauty Must Haves

I am in the process of putting together an article on the top ten gluten free beauty products. What products do you always have on hand? What about your go to product for a night out? I still have to put a lot of new products to try. A big thanks to all of the vendors who sent me their products to try. I love that there are more and more options for us gluten free girls. Don't worry only the best of the best will make the list.

Red Apple Lipstick

A good lipstick is a must have for those of us who love makeup. I have read that women can swallow up to six pounds of lipstick in a lifetime so when I was diagnosed with Celiac disease and started to change my beauty products over to gluten free products I knew my first product was going to be lipstick. My search for the perfect gluten free lipstick was rerouted into the perfect gluten free lipgloss because every lipstick I tried (and I tried a lot) just wasn't for me. I found that many did not go on smooth and creamy like a lipstick should and that they would make my lips look chapped and feel very dry. Lipgloss for some reason was much easier to find but I still found my lips were often chapped and lipgloss only made it more noticeable. All this changed a few weeks ago when I stumbled onto Red Apple Lipstick's website. I read customer reviews and saw pictures of women with beautiful shades of lipstick perfectly applied to healthy looking lips. Plus all the Red Apple Lipstick products are gluten free, paraben free, and allergen free!! As soon as the package arrived in the mail I ripped it open. I first tried on "secrets" a beautiful pink shade and I loved it! It went on smooth and silky even better then the lipsticks I had been avoiding for years that contained gluten. The color was beautiful and my lips felt moisturized not dry which says a lot considering I live in Massachusetts and its winter time here. Beauty products that are gluten free can have a odd taste and smell (at least in my opinion) but this lipstick smelled great and didn't leave a weird taste on my mouth. Next up "ruby red slippers" the name says it all when it comes to the color. I feel like I hit the jackpot of lipsticks. I can't say enough about this lipstick line it is by far the BEST lipstick I have ever worn and I can't wait to try more colors.

Surface hair products

I never thought I would find a gluten free shampoo and conditioner in my own hair salon and I was wrong! I am always on the look out for gluten free products even if I am already using a product I love. Well when I colored my hair recently I noticed that my color started to fade really fast so I began to look at shampoos and conditioners for colored treated hair. That's when I found Surface hair products trinity line. This line is sold only in salons so it can be a little pricey but for me it's totally worth it because it made my hair color last longer. The first time I used it I saw a huge difference it seemed to brighten up my hair color that was fading. I also love the smell of the shampoo and conditioner because it just smells clean. This line offers a shampoo, conditioner, strengthening repair tonic, one shot protein repair, protein cream, and smooth and healthy protein smoothing treatment and yes they are all gluten free! I love love this line. It is great for those of us who color our hair and need to keep the color and our hair looking great. I also like that these are products your stylist can use if you go into a salon that carries them and you don't have to worry about brining your own products or taking a gamble that you wont have a reaction to the ones they use. A lot of people with Celiac disease tend to fear going to get their hair cut or colored at the salon because they don't want to come home a itchy red mess but since this line is gluten free there is no itchy mess when you get home just beautiful hair. If you log onto their website they can tell you the salon closest to you that carries their products and you can finally go pamper yourself and get your done:)

Hair Care

When it comes to hair care we all want the same thing. Our hair to look and feel the way it does when a stylist does it. Or at least as close as we can get. Gluten free hair products are very important. When I first got diagnosed I thought okay no gluten in my diet and I will be good to go, my skin will clear and my hair will stop falling out in clumps when I wash or brush it, I was wrong. My skin did clear up a little but I was still breaking out and my hair was still falling out and my head was still itchy. That's when I decided to look into what was in my shampoo (and soon after everything else). Sure enough all my favorite shampoos and conditioners contained GLUTEN. I just couldn't get away from this stuff. So I searched the Internet and asked other Celiac bloggers about products they had tried but none of them seem to really know anymore then I did. That's when I stumbled upon Morrocco Method hair care products. They were 100% raw, vegan, natural, organic, and gluten free. I really liked this line because they knew every detail about their products and their ingredients. Their products are based off of the five elements; fire, water, earth, air, and either. A different shampoo and conditioner for each element and you rotate them day by day. They even carry a zen detox mask for your hair that helps get rid of all those built up toxins in your hair and scalp to help replenish your hair and scalp for optimal healthy hair growth. These types of shampoos and conditioners take some getting used to if you have never used them before. The consistency is much different then your "regular" shampoo's. It's thick and brown and resembles mud but that's what you get when you use raw, natural, organic ingredients. I would recommend this line to anyone who is looking for a completely natural, raw organic way of taking good care of your hair and anyone who is trying to repair damaged hair that has been falling out due to sickness or medication. It really helps repair your hair follicles and scalp so that you can grow healthy hair again. They sell sample sizes for a low price so that you can try them all out. They have great customer service and are more then happy to help you find your way back to healthy hair.

Getting Pampered!

We all like to be pampered every now and then (well most of us). Something you might want to remember to do before you book your next appointment is to make sure the person styling your hair, giving you a facial, etc.. is to make sure you find someone who knows and understands that you have Celiacs and are gluten free. While making your appointment try to make it clear that it is imperative for any products they will be using on you need to be gluten free. If they are not sure and can't guarantee their products are gluten free then maybe bringing your own products would be a better idea. Or you could scout out the products they cary and do some investigating before your appointment. Most professionals are more then happy to accommodate you as long as you let them know ahead of time. Plus you are also helping educate them about an aspect of their field that they may not be aware of. Once educated on the different aspects of a gluten free clients needs they can always advertise their knowledge and bring in a whole new group of cliental:)

Accepting you need to go Gluten Free

Finally getting diagnosed with Celiac disease may feel like a relief to some but actually understanding your disease and going gluten free can be overwhelming. It took me a while to understand that I HAD to go completely gluten free otherwise I would be putting my health and even my life at risk. People will say things to you about how lucky you are to just have to change what you eat instead of medicate yourself to control your symptoms. Those people have no clue what they are talking about! This whole gluten free thing is in no way easy. I can not stress this fact enough. If diagnosed with Celiac disease the sooner you go gluten free the better. I waited so long for the correct diagnosis. I was told I had everything from MS to it was all in my head until finally after ten years of severe pain, hospitalization, feeding tubes, etc.. I got my diagnosis. My body was at war with itself for so long that some of the damage can not be healed by going gluten free or medication. Thats why I urge all people with symptoms or a family history to get tested. I spent way to much time in pain and in hospitals because of misdiagnosis. I just assumed the doctors knew more then I did about my own body (a mistake I will never make again). I felt like I was a freak of nature (and not in a good way). I felt so alone because nobody I knew had Celiac disease or had ever even heard of it. They didn't understand my pain physically or mentally. I got so tired of explaining what was "wrong" with me and then explaining it was not an allergy but an autoimmune disease. Now my goal like many others who have this disease is to try to help others deal with the everyday difficulties they have to deal with.

Why gluten free products?

People often wonder why I use only gluten free beauty products. Since I have Celiac disease I obviously can't eat gluten but who said anything about beauty products? Well for me personally I get a skin reaction as well but I would recommend to anyone who has Celiac disease to use gluten free beauty products either way. Research shows that we do absorb things we put on our skin and who knows what we do and don't actually absorb or accidentally digest. Most women swallow around 4 pounds of lipstick in their lifetime! I bet a majority of us have gotten shampoo, hairspray, soap, and makeup in our mouths at least a couple times. I can't imagine putting something on my skin that contained a unhealthy ingredient that caused my body to attack itself and cause me severe pain and damage. That's why I say I don't just eat a gluten free diet, I live a gluten free lifestyle. So if you have Celiac disease and are still having symptoms my suggestion would be to read the labels on your everyday beauty products and if they are not gluten free then maybe you need to go to the next step and only use Gluten free products;)