Is it just me or have you noticed that everyone seems to be sick or has cancer? I work with a 32 year old mother that just underwent a double mastectomy, this is not normal. We hear about kids with cancer all the time too. And how horrifying is this...
Common wheat harvest protocol in the United States is to drench the wheat fields with Roundup several days before the combine harvesters work through the fields as the practice allows for an earlier, easier and bigger harvest
So maybe we aren't all gluten intolerant, maybe we are poison intolerant (read the whole article
here.) I just don't even know where to start anymore. About a month ago I did get started on cleaning out all the toxic products from my home, and let me tell you it is an overwhelming task. I've somewhat done this before but recently with all the cancer around me and a new grandaughter I became obsessed to get it right this time. So this is what I've done...
I decided that nothing was off limits. I'm sick and tired of reading labels that say "all natural" and find out they are not. If it wasn't for the
Environmental Working Group - Skin deep and
Environmental Working Group - Cleaning Products, we'd all be lost. The cross referencing of ingredients would take a lifetime. I had to keep 4 windows open on my computer to cross check everything and that's
with the EWG's website. And then locating the safe products to purchase was proving difficult so I just narrowed it down to a few. If you want to dig deeper be my guest but good luck.
We've been led to believe that unless our laundry smells like fake roses then it's not clean. What they don't tell us is that those chemicals have fixatives and extenders in them and so when we lay down in our beds at night and take a deep breath of that "clean" smell what we are really breathing are chemicals that are not healthy for us. When we put on that freshly laundered shirt those chemicals rub off on our skin. And don't get me started on hair dye, because that shit is crazy. We put it on our scalp (so close to our brain!) and let it sit there. How insane is that?
So here is my new list. Thankfully it is quite simple and very effective. But you have to be ready to change your thinking from what we've been taught, namely that heavy scent means clean. I can assure you it almost always means it is unsafe. Almost everything I use now is from
Dr. Bronner's. I will list the things I'm using but I highly recommend you pop over and see for yourself how amazing the company and products are. I can only attest to the products I've been using, they are working wonderfully and the scents are truly light and natural and 100% safe.
In the Kitchen...
This is my dish soap and everyday cleaner. I fill a 24 oz bottle with water and then pour a 1/4 cup of Sal Suds in and shake. It's an amazing cleaner. I mix it with a little baking soda and it scrubs the sinks and tubs beautifully. I use this on dishes and all the kitchen surfaces. One tablespoon of this in the washing machine does a full load in our HE washer.
You can also make a paste of baking soda and vinegar and apply it to your oven walls, wait overnight and rinse. Sparkling clean without harmful chemicals and you never have to smell Easy Off again.
In the Bath...
This is their most versatile soap they make. You can scrub your shower with it and then yourself. It is made with real lavender and lavender oil. You can use this in place of the Sal Suds but the Sal Suds is more suited to cleaning.
I've only purchased the Lemongrass Lime scent and it is amazing. I use this for shampoo and then add the Dr. Bronner's Citrus Organic Hair Rinse. Both are very concentrated. You can go
HERE and read Lisa Bronner's advice like I did. My experience is that it doesn't lather up quite like the shampoo's I'm used to but it does a great job. The hair rinse is pretty vital for someone like me with very thick hair. It will be a trial and error session to see what works best for you. But I'm committed and I'm happy with it.
I now have these at all the sinks in the house. We love the peppermint.
Skincare
This is a really tough area for me because I hate finding out that my favorite products are laden with chemicals that are harmful to me, and because I'm an esthetician it makes it even harder. Luckily one of the brands that I get to work with now is called
Osmosis and it is very safe and very effective. They are not listed with the EWG website but you can read about them
HERE and decide for yourself.
So that leaves cosmetics and again, luckily, I get to work with Jane Iredale. She is listed with the EWG and 98% of everything she makes gets the highest of rankings with the EWG. Her loose powders are the only one with ingredients to avoid. See her products
here and
here.
So that's what I've been up to. All the information is overwhelming and confusing but finally getting to the end is so sweet. I swear my house smells fresher without all the other products.
So please do add your secrets and favorites in the comments. I'm dying to hear!
xo
PS - This video with Lisa Bronner is fantastic and explains it all. Watch it
HERE
