I make a lot of my own stuff,that way I can use essential oils to customize. It's easy and fun. You can add essential oils to your Almond and coconut oils for the smells you are missing, just make sure they are pure.

I've found a few girly friendly lines that smell wonderful and are all natural (no parabens, phthalates, etc.)

• Tarte - Tarte has some great lip stains and cheek stains/sticks. No synthetic fragrances, parabens, other yuckies - just good stuff in pretty colors.

• Lavanila - This line (sold at Sephora and Beauty.com to name a couple of sources) is all natural fragrances, perfume oils, lip balms, body butters, candles. I've tried many of their fragrances, none are cloying to my nose, with a lovely subtle musky vanilla dry down. My personal favorite so far is the vanilla grapefruit, which is rich but bright/yummy at the same time. There's other non-fruity options (such as the straight vanilla), too, but the ones I've tried all smell delicious in their own right.

• Great Marsh Skin Care - the ginger lemongrass lip balm, smells great, great ingredient list. Also enjoy the blend of natural oils in the rose hip serum - a few drops rubbed on the face after a shower smells very nice.

• Origins - I've tried the self-tanner The Great Pretender in this line (I was looking for a self-tanner without gunk, which is RARE in the US market!). It's a pepperminty/citrusy smelling tanner, definitely ranks among the more nose-friendly scents in self-tanners I've tried. Nicely natural color, too, as long as I'm diligent about the usual self-tanning routine of evenly spreading the lotion and washing my hands/nails. (And yes, a carefully acquired real paleo tan is preferable for health benefits, but someone as naturally pale as me can definitely appreciate the boost of a little glow for pictures at special events, especially fall/winter ones!)

I'm in the Same (ish) boat with you. If I can not eat it or its ingredients individually then I am not going to put it on my body. (there are a few exceptions ofc: lye, rubbing alcohol, witch hazel).

I do not feel any less girly now! I feel in control and stronger for being a more natural me!

I use just water on my hair and occasionally use a bar of soap to help with any build up, took some time to work through a system. I wrote about it here if you are interested.

I started to use a natural homemade hairspray, but when I stopped with soap in my hair I did not need it anymore - which is a first in life! I use to never get a curl to hold, and now it just does on its own.

I use coconut oil as lotions. Beeswax and coconut oil for lips.

Plain olive oil soap (castile) in the shower ect.

I use non glycerine soap and baking soda on my teeth. (Also wrote about that if you are interested)

To smell good, a mix of rubbing alcohol or witch hazel with essential oils works great as perfume.

Deodorant - baking soda, a spray of vinegar or lemon, or coconut oil. I tend to switch it up dependent on what I know ill need that day.

So since in all those areas I have cut the chemicals I allow myself 2 cheats. Eyeshadow and mascara - just the best versions I can find. My skin is super clear and i sleep enough - so no need for concealers and powders.

Mix up some essential oils into your oils that you use as lotions. As I recall lotions were the strongest girly thing ever - always with a large smell.

I am not a paleo woman, but still a thought or two.

Since you have found replacements -- or you have settled on them -- what precisely is it you miss about your previous products? Also, how do you know they were all "toxic"?

Being a "life's too short..." kind of guy, I have a hard time thinking that a tiny dab of your favorite perfume on your wrists or earlobes, will hasten you demise. Then again, I have never looked at the ingredients of perfume.

Kudos for being resourceful in finding alternatives. Just give yourself some room for enjoyment of items/products that (safely) foster enjoyments of a womanly kind.

If I was a girl, I would use the girly stuff.

Check out http://cavegirleats.com

Liz from CaveGirlEats has a great wealth of knowledge regarding Paleo-friendly beauty, haircare, and even laundry 'products'. She's written many different blog posts and also contributes a column in Paleo Magazine, which focuses on Paleo body care.

You might discover some different treatments listed on her site that you hadn't known about before. :)

I'm having a blast reading about and trying Ayurvedic herbs lately. The only naughty thing I've kept around is perfume, and I've always loved masks and lotions and whatnot. I did an amla mask last night and it was amazing - just as good of results as my former expensive 20% acid peel. I'm going to cassia & amla my hair and I'm toying with a major henna change. I love honey masks and using manuka honey in particular. I'm playing around with different replacements for shampoo - rhassoul, shampoo bars, ever weakening solutions of baking soda (too harsh for me, it appears), and oils instead of conditioner - turns out my short hair can soak up a bit of coconut oil and NOT look greasy! I doctor my epsom salts with gorgeous essential oils (www.naturesgift.com - Marge is amazing and her products are top notch, way better than at the local coop or herb shop). I've experimented with the oil cleansing method. I've concocted a nice serum for my face (jojoba, avocado oil, sea buckthorn berry oil, high altitude french lavender) and put that in a lovely cobalt glass bottle, and it'll be fun to switch that up as the weather changes. Lots of safe room to play with oils. And feet - I do barefoot sports, and so I relish my callous remover! 100% old school, if a bit less prissy!

A wonderful skin care line is Grateful Body. I have chemical sensitivities, and they have one line made for people like me, as well as for regular, oily and dry skins. 100% organic & made in Berkeley, CA.

My personal indulgences:

Nahla Beauty organic skincare line. Amazing. From their website:

Completely free of toxins, petrochemicals, synthetics, parabens, dyes and fragrance oils (to name a few), our products are 100% natural, gentle and alive with healing benefits. Our skincare formulas are developed in house and handmade from scratch with ingredients like healing handmade tinctures, the purest cold pressed plant oils, organic edibles like raw honey and soothing floral waters. Sourced from small organic and biodynamic farms, wild crafters and artisan producers, our ingredients are fresh, pure and vital.

Strange Invisible Perfumes, organic perfumery. Super amazing. From their website:

Certified organic, wildcrafted, biodynamic, and hydro-distilled essences.

Both Sephora.com and Beauty.com have "green" or natural sections. Also Skinbotanica.com is a good site for all or mostly natural stuff. Makeupalley.com has a "green board" where they talk about and give recs for natural products. You'll get great rec there.

My personal bottom line is no animal testing. After that I prefer more natural but sometimes that just doesn't cut it so I love Tarte, Urban Decay and MAC as well.

I use homemade goat's milk soap made by a friend of mine. She uses different scents in her products (all natural). I just like the oatmeal/honey, but there are plenty of options from herbs/essential oils. Look around at local craft fairs and farmers markets for people selling homemade soap. Some is just as bad a B&BW, but some is really excellent.

PS - I still dye my hair and use (sulfate-free) shampoo so I am not all that pure :)

Try spraying Rosewater (can be bought online, organic stores) like you would with perfume, smells so good!

The only thing 'paleo' about my life, is my diet. Mostly because I have difficult skin which does not appreciate most 'natural' products.

I'm a girl for sure, I use about 5 different products on my hair every day as well as my facewash, various lotions, perfume (oils), and nail polish. Oddly though, I rarely wear makeup.

I could really use some suggestions on skincare! Even though I'm 55 I still have really oily skin that looks blotchy, and I'm starting to get tiny broken blood vessels on my cheeks and little bumpy whiteheads, but they are deep under my skin. I am getting lines around my eyes, too! My skin looks terrible without some sort of makeup. Short of dermabrasion, what can I use to get my skin into shape?

Thanks! I have been using coconut oil, but not on a regular basis. I definitely have witch hazel in the bath cabinet. I know lavender oil is very soothing, maybe I'll add that to the witch hazel.

I will definitely up the liver. I like it, but don't eat it as often as I should.

Yes, you can still be girly, there are plenty of natural options out there, as all the other answers have demonstrated.

I thought I would provide this link to perfume in particular though, as it's hard to find good perfume that doesn't have chemicals. My favourite brands are Aromantik and One Seed:

http://theorganicbeautyshop.com.au/c/259977/1/perfume.html

And secondly there is a skin care brand called Rasasara Skinfood that literally does what you mentioned - only uses ingredients that you could eat. Here's a blog post about them:

http://www.theorganicbeautyshop.com.au/blog/5061/spotlight-on-rasasara.html

Full Disclosure: these links are to a website that I own.

http://allnaturalbeauty.us/hbr_mainpage.htm http://www.pioneerthinking.com/beauty/

A couple of sites with TONS of recipes for the DIY spa. I also like to steam my face with green tea. Basically I boil a small pot of water with green tea steeped in. Then throw a towel over my head and sit with my face over the pot allowing the antioxidants from the green tea that come out in the steam to penetrate my skin. You can also steep a bag of green tea and rub the bag of tea all over your face as a toner followed with some coconut oil for moisturizer.

Coffee makes an excellent scrub, combine that with cocoa powder and coconut oil and you have an awesome bath scrub that smells AMAZING and it's so moisturizing. I've tried it and I love the way my skin feels afterwards. Plus the caffeine in the coffee has a small amount of antioxidant properties along with the cocoa but caffeine is also an anti-inflammatory.

There are also teas out there that you can drink that are supposed to help you smell good from the inside out. I know sage, rosemary and peppermint are all herbs that when ingested the oil from the leaves is secreted through the skin. Sage has antibacterial properties so when it is secreted it is said to help keep the bacteria that makes you smelly from forming. At least that is what I have read. No personal experience though.

I've resorted back to normal products like deodorant and shampoo, it doesn't have to be all or nothing

LUSH Products - I can't rant and rave about them enough!!!!!! Not 100% natural/organic but damn near close enough without the price tag! My favorite is any of their coconut products (Trichomania shampoo!) as I have a lot of fine, curly hair. It's perfect. The people in the stores give great advice!!

I also like Origins, but they are expensive.

Yes, you can still use girly things- I just stick with the natural ones, and yes, I still shave.