Why even bother to detox your home, you ask? Well, for the lack of a better word, because conventional products have lots and lots of CRAP in them! It is very important for my family to try our best and use products that are safe, non-toxic, and eco-friendly in our household. Did you know that the air inside our homes are more polluted than the air outside, thanks to harsh cleaning products and emissions from furniture and plastics? Scary!

I began the process of detoxing pretty much everything from our household products, toiletries, as well as some beauty products about three years ago when I was pregnant with our middle child. We had already switched to a healthy and organic foods long before that, and one day it struck me to look into the toothpaste we were using and question its ingredients. After my research, I was so scared that we had been using this toothpaste brand for years without a care in the world that it may be harmful (a chemical foaming agent called cocamidopropyl betaine is an example). I am not even close to detoxing the big items such as furnitures, mattresses, rugs, and so on; however, slowly but surely we’re getting there. My advice is if you plan on detoxing everything in your life, to start from the smaller things. Once you finish a conventional product such as a bottle of Windex (bad stuff), look into purchasing one that is safe and meets all the safety guidelines. Once you do that with every product that finishes, you’ll be on your way to a safe and detoxed home. I’ll be honest, the only tough category to tackle has been skincare/makeup. I yet have to find a line of safe and non-toxic makeup that carries everything from primers to pigments to foundation that is safe and natural.

And, what is natural and safe anyways? If the bottle states organic, natural and safe, should you trust it? Of course, not. These terms are largely unregulated. We have to take the matter into our own hands and research beyond what the products states on the packaging. Yes, meaning reading and understanding ingredients. I understand how frustrating it can be to do this but once you’ve done your homework and learned the bad ingredients, life would be much easier to spot bad stuff from just looking at a bottle. I won’t get technical here and I will let you research on your own but I’m here to tell you how to get a move on detoxing your home. Here are some useful reminders that I use to help me with this ongoing process.

Stay away from artificial fragrances and stick to unscented products. If you must have a scent in a product, make sure it’s plant based or derived from pure essential oils.
Choose glass over plastic, whenever available.
Avoid artificial dyes and colorants. It has been said these chemicals have been linked to ADHD and other disorders.
Stay away from preservatives such as parabens and BHA which are cancer causing chemicals found in many products.
Formaldehyde is another to avoid which are found in many baby shampoos.
Add houseplants to your home, at least one in every room.
Install water filtration system for drinking and/or purchase refillable filtered water from a local water shop.

Bottom line is to know your bad ingredients and stay away from them as much as possible. A very helpful site I use to plug in the brand names and check the rating is Environmental Working Group (EWG). The Environmental Working Group is an American activist group that specializes in research and advocacy in the areas of agricultural subsidies, toxic chemicals, drinking water pollutants, and corporate accountability. They take most of the brands and break it down into detail and give a rating from 1 to 10 (10 being bad). I have learned so much from their research. It’s definitely a great start if you choose to start this cleaning process without having to read too much into ingredients since they have already done all the dirty work for us.

Here are the products I have switched over to and still love to this day.

I think this covers every category I have made the switch to detox my home so far. As I mentioned previously, this is only the beginning and my next goal is the bigger items like furniture, mattresses, etc. as well as makeup and skincare. And, once I have new findings I will make sure to keep you all posted!

xo,
Salpie

How I Detoxed My Home

CLEANING PRODUCTS

KITCHEN

LAUNDRY

BODY CARE

HAIR

ORAL

KIDS TOILETRIES

REPLACE ALL PLASTIC WITH GLASS