-This is a WIP as products are always changing
-It can be difficult to find alternatives as they aren’t always available

I have already been going through this process with food for many years, but for the longest time I didn’t pay attention to the ingredients in the products I’m using every day. Looking back, that seems crazy. It’s even more relevant to me now as I am recovering from colon cancer and obviously I’m wondering what caused it and if I was exposed to something toxic over the years (as I have no family history). This may not be an issue or priority for everyone, but I noticed in the past I had weird skin reactions to certain things such as spray on sunscreens, shampoos, conditioners and eye makeup. One time in my 20s, I had a severe allergic reaction and broke out in hives on my arms, legs, and all over my body. It was terrifying, my legs especially were totally swelled up. And of course this happened in the middle of the night. It subsided pretty quickly, only happened once and I forgot about it. I don’t know for sure what caused it, but I suspect it was the Herbal Essences hair dye. I had dyed my hair before it happened, though the reaction occurred 2 or 3 days later.

A few years ago, my cat (RIP 🙁 Jellybean) was experiencing itchy skin to the degree that her fur was missing in places and I thought it could be due to a reaction to something.  I made some changes to some of the products I was using.  The first was switching from scented to unscented litter.  I changed her food to a higher quality version. Then I went from using a scented detergent to a higher quality unscented detergent for laundry.  I took her to the vet and she got a shot (I don’t remember what kind of shot).  Maybe the shot got rid of whatever issue she had, but after making these changes she never experienced the itching again.  This isn’t really about my cat, it’s just what made me think about this again.  I began to notice all the products I use and combined with the common sense that most companies don’t care if the products they sell are good for you – well it just made me think twice. The reality is that in business there is a short profit incentive that overshadows everything else. Once I understood this, it’s became obvious that many of the products I’ve known and loved contain less than ideal ingredients.

I started checking the ingredients, doing research and found a site called Think Dirty.  I was surprised to see many well known products that I use daily contain unnecessary potentially harmful ingredients.  That was years ago, I now use EWG to double check things. I know these organizations can be controversial and I don’t exclusively rely on anything or anyone to tell me what’s healthy or not, but it was at least a start. You have to start somewhere. It makes sense to form your own opinion about things, so I usually just looked up the ingredients and after a while developed an intuitive feel for what’s good and what isn’t.

Similar to food, if a simple item like bread has 20 ingredients, well you kind of have to wonder about it. You learn to spot red flags like the word fragrance, which can be used to hide a wide variety of chemicals. I noticed when I stopped using these strong smelling products for a while and then came across them afterwards, they actually really bother me. They don’t smell good to me anymore. They hurt my nose and sometimes even give me headaches. It’s scary that you can become so desensitized to these products. Most perfumes, detergents and fabric softeners that I used in the past simply don’t smell good to me anymore and are completely unnecessary.

There is much deceptive and misleading product packaging to make you think that products are healthy or made naturally. I noticed that it’s less fun to buy healthier products.  This is significant.  There’s a lot less to choose from and the product packaging isn’t as exciting or flashy. I started to see that much marketing goes into these heavily scented, cheaply made products.  The packaging definitely has an impact.  When you start buying unscented, it feels less exciting.  But I can live with that.

I replaced lotion, hand wash, shampoo, conditioner, face wash, make up and household cleaners.  While I recognize it’s impossible to avoid all toxins because our world is filled with them, IMO, it’s worth trying.  I want to support companies doing the right thing with the money I spend, not companies making junk products.  I’m not perfect at this, and I’ve made many mistakes and will continue to learn.

I used to like Thayer’s toner for years, but recently noticed it contains parfum / fragrance when I checked the ingredients, so I’m going to find an alternative or maybe just stop using toner altogether. Is it really necessary or just a habit? When I started using this product many years ago it seems like it had different ingredients. So I looked it up and found out the ownership changed to a big company a few years back, so I’m not surprised at all. This is something I’ve noticed – there are companies whose products I love and then quietly they are bought up by a large crap company that ruins what was good about the product to begin with.  

For a non pore clogging lotion, Shea butter is great. I also use almond oil. I mix jojoba oil with tea tree oil for my face. I like Honest company products for face wash, lotion, body wash, shampoo and conditioner.  I actually just stopped using eyeshadow because I was having problems finding a product that didn’t bother my eyes. I noticed that eye shadow was really drying out my eyes whenever I used it.

For cleaning general purpose spray I have used Thieves.  I also use the Better Life cleaning products. There are also DIY disinfecting sprays you can make or less toxic ones you can buy. I recently bought Mrs. Meyers for cleaning spray and hand soap – because they have great holiday scents – but I think this brand does have questionable ingredients, so I probably wont buy it in the future. I’m still in the process of finding the best products and things are always changing. I use Molly’s Suds unscented dishwasher pods. I like Charlie’s Soap for detergent and Molly’s Suds dryer sheets. A brand for personal care products I recently found out more about is Dr. Bronner’s. I tried their soap before, but they have tons of other products on their website and I recently purchased shaving soap, toothpaste and lip balm. I paint on a regular basis so I’m searching for art products to use that aren’t bad for the environment. I wish there were more options and that this was a higher priority, especially with acrylics. Also, still trying to figure out the best non toxic kitchen products that are also not a pain to use / clean. I have some stainless steel and cast iron, but they don’t work for everything.

I used to not think twice about the products I purchased and just assumed there would be some kind of standard. There are of course ‘standards’, but the general attitude really seems to be “We just wont look into this, so it’s not an issue.” Until of course they are forced to look into it, because it can no longer be conveniently ignored. There’s only so much you can do, but I think it’s worth at least some effort.