This is our third edition of the Simple Swap series, where we recommend creative ways you can substitute Hugh & Grace products in place of products that you already use, which may have high toxin counts. By doing this, you can drastically reduce your exposure to harmful Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals, or EDCs.
In this post, we’ll be exploring 12 ways that you can use the Purifying Cleansing Bar
Our Purifying Cleansing Bar is made from a rich combination of hormone-safe ingredients formulated to deeply cleanse, detox, buff away impurities and recharge with powerful adaptogen extracts.
The adaptogen complex comes from an array of nutrient dense mushrooms and is designed to rebalance the skin’s microbiome. The microbiome is our skin’s ecosystem that maintains the good bacteria while fighting the bad bacteria.  The adaptogen complex combats bacteria, helps reduce inflammation and detoxifies the body. When used daily, the Cleansing Bar may also help reduce stress.
Usually found on the bathroom counter or in the shower, bar soap is used to wash your hands and/or body.  A Cleansing Bar seems like a pretty straight-forward product, right?
But did you know that you can also use the Purifying Cleansing Bar in the following ways?
- Hand Soap
- Body Soap
- Face Wash
- Eyebrow Gel
- To Keep Your Fingernails Clean
- Shoe Deodorizer
- To Keep Clothes Fresh
- Bug Bite Reliever
- A Gift for Family and Friends
- Keep Glasses from Fogging Up
- To Clean Makeup Brushes
- To Remove Stubborn Rings
If you’d like to learn more about how you can use the Purifying Cleansing Bar as a substitute for 12 products you already use, then please keeping reading!
We hope you enjoy our Simple Swaps!
Simple Swaps
1. Hand Soap
Hand washing is something we are all doing a lot of these days. So, why not ditch your go-to hand soap for the Purifying Cleansing Bar!
Traditional hand soap that you’d find at the pharmacy can contain lots of EDCs.  According to a study done by the Silent Spring Institute and published in health and Environmental Health Perspectives, “BPA was detected in 15 conventional product samples including soap.â€Â  BPA is a known endocrine disruptor, which mimics estrogen and has other effects.
Furthermore, the study found that either triclosan or triclocarbon was detected in 76% of liquid soaps and 29% of bar soaps. Triclosan is a known EDC that suppresses thyroid hormones.  It is found in antibacterial soaps and other personal care products.
Substituting your current hand soap with the Cleansing Bar can make a big difference in the number of chemicals you are exposed to everyday.
In my house, I’ve replaced all my hand soaps with the Purifying Cleansing Bar.
2. Body Soap
I’ve used the exact same body wash for 15 years, so swapping it out for the Purifying Cleansing Bar was a major commitment for me.  My skin is incredibly sensitive.
I’ve been using the Cleansing Bar for 3 months, and I’m hooked.  The eczema on the back of my arms is gone, and my skin is smoother than ever before. The soap also feels so much lighter on my skin than traditional body soaps.
I had zero irritation of any kind, and my usually itchy skin was calm and soothed.
Also, the packaging is zero-waste, so I never have to feel bad about tossing a plastic container once a month.
3. Face Wash
On top of my sensitive skin, I also suffer from rosacea. I’m well versed in facial cleansers, because my skin reacts poorly to so many of them.
I’ve probably been to about 10 different dermatologists in my 23 years of life. The reason that number is so high is because no one, and I mean no one, could conquer my skin troubles. There were many band-aids and workarounds, but most of the treatments made my skin worse over time.
I even had one doctor tell me, “I should just hand you the white coat, you already know everything. There’s nothing else you can do.â€Â  You can imagine my reaction to that.
On Christmas Eve of 2019, I went to a new dermatologist. He’s the only doctor who could crack the code: my skin problems were related to hormones. I still joke that he’s the best Christmas gift I’ve ever received.
The icing on the cake of my skincare routine has been hormone-safe, Hugh & Grace products.
I’ve been using the Cleansing Bar as my primary facial cleanser for 3 months, and my skin is clearer than ever before. After just one use, I noticed that the redness in my face due to my rosacea had subsided tremendously.  After a few weeks of use, I also noticed that I didn’t have as many patches of broken capillaries around my nose.
I really can’t say enough good things about this little bar of soap.  I highly recommend the Cleansing Bar as a substitute for your current face wash.
4. Eyebrow Gel
Stick with me on this one – I promise you’ll like it. Have you ever heard of soap brows?  If you haven’t, picture the fluffiest, most editorial, IT-girl brow: that’s a soap brow.
In my opinion, eyebrows are super important. They can completely change your look depending on how you shape them.  But, eyebrows can also quickly get out-of-hand.
Have you ever heard the saying that eyebrows are supposed to be sisters, not twins? Well, in a moment of accidental heavy-handedness, your eyebrows can quickly go from sisters to second cousins, twice removed.
Using the Purifying Cleansing Bar, to shape your eyebrows leaves little room for error.
First, wet your Cleansing Bar by running it under the faucet for a few seconds. Then, take the end of an eyebrow spoolie, and rub it on the wet Cleansing Bar until you get a generous layer of the product on your tool. Lastly, brush your eyebrow hairs upwards and outwards, combing through them until you achieve your desired look.
This trick will give the illusion of thicker, fluffier brows, and it will keep the hairs in place all day. How’s that for a totally hormone-safe makeup trick?!
5. To Keep your Fingernails Clean
I’m in a constant battle with my fingernails. Do I want them short, so I can easily use my fingers to type and avoid painful nail breaks, or do I want to let them grow out a bit, for a little glamour.
I usually decide to keep them my nails as short as possible. When my nails grow out, dirt and oil can get trapped underneath my nails. It’s hard to get out, and it’s also kind of gross.
Recently, I discovered a way to avoid that buildup of dirt and bacteria.  I found that if I scrape my fingernail along the side of the Purifying Cleansing Bar, the soap that collects under my nails keeps the gross stuff out.
If I know I’m about to do something where my nails will get dirty – cooking, gardening, putting on lotions and creams, self tanning – I take my fingernails and gently scratch the Cleansing Bar before doing my activity.
No more under-nail-funk and soap washes out much easier than dirt does!
6. Shoe Deodorizer
Stinky shoes?  We’ve got you covered.
Place a Purifying Cleansing Bar in each shoe overnight. Take out in the morning and they’ll smell as good as new! If you only have one Cleansing Bar, alternate between the right and left shoe as needed.
I use this trick to keep my sneakers and boots smelling fresh, clean, and good as new.
7. To Keep Clothes Fresh
I love the smell of fresh, clean laundry.  Because I use fragrance free laundry detergent, my clothes don’t really hold that fresh, clean scent.
Turns out, you get give your clothes that clean, right-out-of-the-laundry smell by using the Purifying Cleansing Bar!
Toss a Cleansing Bar in your dresser drawers to keep clothes smelling fresh. This is a great trick to prevent musty odors in closets and in pieces of luggage as well.
Pro tip: Keep a Cleansing Bar in your diaper bag. ‘Nuff said.
8. Relief from Bug Bites
We talked about how you can use the Protecting Body Oil to keep the mosquitos away, but did you know that you can use the Purifying Cleansing Bar to relive them?
During the summer months, I spend a lot of my time outdoors.  Unfortunately, this comes at a price, and by the end of the summer my legs are covered in itchy, swollen mosquito bites.
Lots of anti-itch medicines may be filled with toxic EDCs.  Topical Corticosteroids are also really tough on the skin, and something I choose to avoid at all costs.
The Purifying Cleansing Bar is a fantastic alternative to anti-itch creams. Rub a dry Cleansing Bar over the mosquito bite for instant relief from itching.
9. AÂ Gift for Family and Friends
This one isn’t really a hack, but it’s a great idea nonetheless!
The Purifying Cleansing Bar makes a great gift for family and friends. It’s an affordable yet luxurious gift, and it’s totally unique! While everyone else shows up with a candle or a bottle of wine, you will feel good about giving them a potentially life-changing, healthy, nontoxic product.
By the way, there’s nothing wrong with a candle or a bottle of wine. If you’re reading this, I like Sauvignon blanc. Wink, wink.
By introducing them to Hugh & Grace, you’re also giving them the gift of knowledge.
Tell them the story behind Hugh & Grace and let them know about chemical body load.  Knowledge is priceless. It’s something they’ll be able to cherish, and they can share it with their network as well.
10. To Keep Your Glasses from Fogging Up
Wearing a mask is something we’ve all gotten used to in the last 6 months.  Still, I never imagined that I would be coming up with a “mask-hackâ€Â related to the Purifying Cleansing Bar.
My Dad wears glasses every day. One day, he came to me and asked if I knew of a way to stop his glasses from fogging up when he wears a mask.
I’m a big believer in anything is possible, so I did some research to find out how to stop his glasses from fogging.
What I found is that if you wipe a small amount of the Cleansing Bar onto your lenses, then use a piece of paper towel to buff off, it will keep glasses crystal clear. Who would’ve thought!
11. Clean Makeup Brushes
I am the first to say that I probably don’t wash my makeup brushes as often as I should.
Although, I do give myself a pass for the last 6 months, where I’ve probably worn makeup a total of 7 times. Â
When I do wash them, I’ve always used a bar of soap. No need to buy expensive, makeup-brush-specific cleaning solution.
To clean my makeup brushes, I run lukewarm water over the Purifying Cleansing Bar.  I hold the Cleansing Bar under the faucet with the water on and gently rub the bristles of my makeup brush on the bar, as if I were applying makeup on the soap.  It’s super satisfying to watch all the built-up makeup wash down the drain.
When the water runs clear, your brush is clean! To dry, just lay out on a towel overnight.
Pro Tip: I also use this trick on my makeup sponges. Just be gentle when rubbing the sponge on the Cleansing Bar so that you don’t damage it. Periodically squeeze out the excess water from your sponge until the water runs clear.
12. To Remove Stuck on Rings
I wear rings every day, but my hands are super sensitive to temperature. If it’s hot outside, my fingers will swell, but the second I walk back into the air-conditioning, my fingers shrink.
Since I wear sunscreen on my hands every day, I constantly take my rings on and off to avoid coating my rings with SPF. Some days, it’s really hard to get them off.
My old remedy to get my rings off was using a little bit of Windex, but Windex is absolutely loaded with harmful chemicals.
Now, I use the Purifying Cleansing Bar to take off my stubborn rings.  Create a slippery surface by rubbing the bar soap on your finger between your knuckle and the ring for about 20 seconds.  Then place your hand in a bowl of warm water and wiggle the ring until it slides right off.
Don’t Just Take it From Us!
According to our H&G Advocates, the Purifying Cleansing Bar left their skin feeling detoxed and smooth. They like to use the Cleansing Bar in place of bar soap, face soap, hand soap, and body soap.  Also, 100% of the surveyed Advocates reported feeling cleansed after just one use!
