Five nontoxic products you need in your home today

Whenever we hear about a friend who has a sudden autoimmune disease, someone young who gets cancer, or another friend who has infertility issues we think, what is CAUSING this? We want to control the situation, but we can’t. Searching for answers, many people end up wanting to cut out the toxins in their home but don’t know where and how to start. 

For me and my experience as a mom with a daughter with special needs, managing the products we put on our body is one area I can control. And control over our health is what we all want, right?? Even if we know cognitively that we can’t control everything, we want to do our best with what we’re given.

These statistics are what made me THROW OUT every product I had: 

1. Your skin absorbs up to 60 percent of what you put on it. 
2. 80 percent of the ingredients that are used in daily personal care products have never been tested for safety. 

When it came to my health, my kids’ health, and my husband’s health, I couldn’t UNKNOW that information. I could only change. 

So for our family, when we were trying to figure out how to best help Jaxlee, we started with the products we used ALL the time.

But this can feel like a LOT. Like, how am I supposed to feed my kids vegetables AND figure out which sunscreen to use, while I’m also juggling our family calendar and my own job? It feels like a chore and so you end up just Amazon Priming whatever will get there the quickest. 

Here is my list of the five toxic-free products you MUST have in your home. I have tried and USE all of these products, and they will make the biggest impact. 

A note: As I put together this list, I took into consideration how often you use these products, and also how much of your body is affected or covered by these products. 

One common term to explain: “Fragrance” in anything is basically a toxic cocktail of chemicals all wrapped up into one ingredient. Per the FDA, companies are not required to list the ingredients in the fragrance because it is considered the companies “trade secret”

Here’s the list, friends!

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1. Deodorant 

This is always the first product to change but often the hardest to find one that WORKS! We use deodorant the most AND it’s in a sensitive spot on your body. Your body absorbs whatever is on it, right into the pores and into the glands that are working so hard to keep your body healthy.  It took me about 2 dozen products (and A LOT of money) until I found a product that WORKED and kept me healthy. 

Harmful ingredients to avoid: fragrance, aluminum- it alters the body’s ability to perspire and also is a toxic heavy metal to the system

Instead of your same old deodorant, I SWEAR by Primally Pure. So does everyone who’s been around me after a CrossFit workout. (You feel me on this?!)

2. Laundry detergent

If you think about it, your clothes cover the majority of your body and you wear them every single day, then you lay in your sheets which means your skin absorbs those ingredients…every day and all night long.

Harmful ingredients to avoid: fragrance, bleach, sulfates, formaldehyde

Instead of the big orange tub of Tide, opt for Seventh Generation. 

3. Skincare

Oh girl, please stop washing your face with the stuff you’ve been using since you were 13. Skincare can have a LOT of toxic ingredients in them… especially because there’s almost NO regulation from the FDA. All the anti-aging marketing tools can be super bad for you.

Harmful ingredients to avoid:  retinol — it’s a hormone disruptor and skin allergen. Other ingredients to steer clear of: parabens, PEGs, EDTA.

Instead, use Beautycounter’s Countertime line. It’s the ultimate anti-aging line with all the benefits minus the adverse effects of retinol. Have a few sun spots or melasma you want to get rid of? Our All Bright C Serum can take care of them. You can have clear skin WITHOUT the hydroquinone (harmful skin lightening agent).

4. Sunscreen

Gone are the days where you slapped any old sunscreen and laid out for hours to get a tan. These days, we want to make sure our bodies don’t get damaged and we want to protect our kids from the hormone-disrupting ingredients found in most sunscreens.

Harmful ingredients to avoid: Oxybenzone. It’s a hormone disruptor and penetrates the skin, which can cause irritation and allergic reactions, not to mention it’s harmful to the environment. 

Instead, use Beautycounter’s CounterSun line formulated with non-nano zinc oxide for you and all the kids at the pool

5. Body lotion/shampoo

Because we equate shampoo and body wash with getting CLEAN, we don’t often think about it being bad for us. But if you shower every day (okay let’s be real, 5 days a week???), all of those products are in your hair, on your body, going into your pores. You definitely want to make sure what goes in your body is actually clean and doesn’t just smell clean. 

Harmful ingredients to avoid:  fragrance, sulfates, parabéns (preservatives) , phthalates. Parabens mimic estrogen and disturb our bodies natural hormone production– we want our body to do ITS OWN THANG!

Instead, use Beautycounter’s Shampoo and Citrus Mimosa Body wash. Look and feel clean, and KNOW you’re clean.

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One more tip: Get the Environmental Working Group (EWG) app as a starting place. Walk around your house and scan the products you currently have in your bathroom/home to see what toxins are embedded in the label.

I hope you feel like you have a starting place. And if you have more questions, let me know in the comments! I love helping other women go green without giving up feeling GLAMOROUS.