Household cleaners, laundry powders and air fresheners*, non-stick frying pans, plastic drink bottles and gladwrap**, flame retardants in furnishings and fabrics*** ... all of these chemicals can be a source of toxins in your home - creating a nasty cocktail which your body absorbs every day.
By swapping a few products in your home you can dramatically reduce the harmful chemicals that your family is exposed to - and we think that using natural, sustainable, cruelty free replacements will make you happier as well as healthier!
Here are our top six tips for reducing the daily toxins in your home - we hope you enjoy discovering how easy it is to make a fresh start!
1. Switch to natural laundry detergent
Enjoy scrumptiously clean clothes, scented naturally with lavender and grapefruit or peppermint and eucalyptus. Unlike the common commercial brands, our natural laundry powders are free from synthetic fragrances, biodegradable and hypoallergenic. Laundry powders leave residual enzymes in clothing, underwear and bedding so our skin is in contact with laundry powder residue all day and all night - so it really is best that we use an all natural laundry detergent!
2. Detox your body and beauty routines
Another product that comes in regular contact with our skin is soap or body wash. Our all natural body wash is crafted using therapeutic essential oils and wholesome natural ingredients, allowing nature to keep your your body clean and healthy - and your mind uplifted by the gorgeous natural fragrances. There are no synthetic fragrance chemicals, skin irritants or harmful toxins here.
For skincare, perfume and makeup free from nasties, we love ohnatural.co.nz.
3. Shop all natural household cleaners
Shop online right here for our effective natural cleaning sprays with fresh scents and enjoy a clean home filled with the beautiful natural fragrances of lavender, grapefruit, peppermint and eucalyptus. These essential oils will lift your mood too, as they are therapeutic quality to deliver the benefits of each oil while you clean - lavender calms and balances, grapefruit encourages focus and presence, peppermint is energizing and eucalyptus is a stimulant for the mind and body.
You'll find zero nasty chemicals, toxic preservatives, parabens and phosphates in any of our natural household cleaners.
4. Buy all natural handwash
See ya triclosan (allergen and hormone disruptor) and cocamidopropyl betaine / coco-betaine (known skin and eye irritant, and eco toxic)!
Browse our naturally cleansing and skin-revitalising natural handwash. Choose kindness, for the planet, for your hands, and for you - enjoy the refreshing scents of lavender, grapefruit, eucalyptus and peppermint - and super clean hands.
5. Go plastic free with your food
These days it is easy to clean out the plastic from your kitchen! Switch to cast iron pans, stainless steel drink bottles and re-usable stainless containers. Use beeswax wraps or paper bags for sandwiches, or choose a stainless steel lunchbox with good compartments and make naked lunches.
You can find everything you need at thenaturalco.nz.
6. Fight fire with fire alarms
As long as you replace them regularly to avoid the build up of natural moulds (which can also release toxins) you can swap to organic latex pillows that don't contain fire retardants. Furniture, carpets and curtains are harder, but you can choose normal fabric (avoid anything labelled as curtain fabric) for curtains and shop second hand for furniture that isn't freshly doused in chemicals.
Highlighting common household toxins
* The dirty facts about household cleaning products
The Environmental Working Group studied over 2,000 cleaning products and found links to serious health problems.
- Fumes from cleaning products may damage lungs, and even induce asthma in otherwise healthy people, and can trigger attacks in people living with asthma.
- Common cleaning ingredients can be laced with the carcinogenic impurity 1,4-dioxane, while preservatives can release low levels of cancer-causing formaldehyde and suspected carcinogen chloroform.
- Some cleaners can cause chemical burns and poisonings as well as irritations and allergies.
Chemicals in household cleaners can also cause hormonal imbalances and developmental problems. A 2010 study by the New York State Department of Health found that children born to women who held cleaning jobs while pregnant had an elevated risk of birth defects.
** Plastic is not ideal for food packaging
The American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical and advocacy groups have expressed concern about the growing body of scientific evidence indicating that certain chemicals that enter foods may interfere with the body’s natural hormones in ways that may affect long-term growth and development.
Among the chemicals that raised particular concern about plastics and food containers are phthalates, which are used to make plastic packaging; bisphenols (BPA), used in drink bottles and the lining of metal food cans, perfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFCs) used in grease-proof paper and packaging, and perchlorates, an antistatic agent used in plastic packaging.
*** Flame is dangerous, but flame retardants are too
The EPA “is concerned that certain flame retardants are persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic to both humans and the environment.” It is standard for flame retardants to be used in pillows, curtain fabrics, couches and carpets. In other words, all through our homes.