Living Amongst Too Many Chemicals
ByYesterday I mentioned my journey with food and the convictions I have come under in terms of what we eat. Lately I have been thinking more and more about the chemicals that enter our bodies in other ways than our mouths. I haven’t been able to escape the number of things that come in contact with my body through toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, hair products, deodorants, make-up, lotions, sunscreens, cleaning products, laundry detergents, etc. As I mentioned, when I was pregnant with Abby, I was using a lot of more natural products in my personal care (mostly from the Burt’s Bees line). When Abby was a baby I was more diligent in using natural products on her as well. But as I mentioned, the money issue and the difficulty of getting products overseas, led me to relax a lot on many of my natural inclinations. So that last week when I looked at what I was putting on my body and my kids’ bodies, I was pretty uncomfortable.
So in my hunt to arm myself with more information, I e-mailed my friend, Maria, who I know is very conscious in her green -living. She sent me a bunch of good articles, as well as a very useful site on checking the chemical levels of your own products, Skin Deep. Since then, I have made a few changes and am looking to make some more once I can get some more products from the states. Here is where I am right now:
1. Using less products: I am making an effort to only wash my hair every other day (hopefully reducing it as my hair adjusts), cutting out styling products (I am also adding a little baking soda to my shampoo when I wash my hair so that I get all the product gunk build-up out of my hair), using less make-up (or none at all), and when I need to use chemical cleaners, diluting them more with water.
2. Using cheap natural products: I finally found some baking soda here and am using it for cleaning around the house, brushing my teeth (I still use my Crest once a day!), washing my face and sprinkling it in the kids bath water.
3. Giving my body a chance to recover from the deluge of products it is used to: My face is used to being washed 2 times a day, my body slathered with lotions, etc. As I cut back, I want to be patient and let my body adjust to making more of the natural oils I need.
4. Eventually ordering some more natural products: I have a few things picked out to order once I am back in the States for make-up, deodorant, shampoo, etc., but again am trying to be more like my mom, who is the epitome of less-is-more beauty (she has been a soap and water woman with minimal make-up for as long as I can remember!)
5. Looking for other unique ways to go natural and save money: These dryer gloves are one way to cut out chemicals and save money from not buying tons of dryer sheets.
How about you? How do you work to live green and still use your time and money in a way that you feel at peace with? Do you focus more on natural foods, natural skin care products, natural cleaning? Share some ideas!
3 Comments
September 21st, 2009 at 2:03 pm
I have been working on greening my life (and my family) for a while now (almost three years of intense focus…off and on before that), and while some items are more expensive, overall, I find that we end up saving a considerably bit of money. Some of my simpler changes– using baking soda and vinegar in laundry and cleaning. I also use dryer balls instead of dryer sheets. I have pretty much given up makeup, though I do have some burts bees lip glosses. I have some alternatives I would like to try, but I don’t use the ones I have enough to warrant purchasing more!
I do buy some manufactured products, but I tend to blend them in. For example, I use 365 brand shampoo (the one without fragrance…can’t remember its exact name), but I do not use conditioner at all, and we use some greener cleaning products.
Food is also a focus for us, but we are able to use a CSA and local organic farms to minimize our environmental impact and body burden.
I think our biggest weakness at our home is still in green cleaning. I do well with laundry and such, but we pay someone to really clean once a month (I clean in between). We do purchase products that are green (or greener), but over all this is an area I would like to continue to improve.
I think that one of the biggest mistakes people make when greening their lives, which makes is considerably more expensive, is that some people don’t want to really change. By this I mean that instead of using less make-up or no make-up, an equivalent product is purchased, which is generally more expensive. This can be especially true with food– for example– organic macaroni and cheese is purchased rather than regular mac and cheese, which is more expensive. Rather than doing this for every change, if you pick some which you search for the same product (with greener ingredients) and some where you make a complete change (doing laundry with baking soda and vinegar for example or eating more raw vegetables and fruits), the costs should work out quite similarly, and as you make more green changes, generally, you end up saving money overall.
“Other” things we have done that are relatively easy– using cloth napkins instead of disposable, shower every other day (works for me…not so much for Kevin), purchasing less plastics (containers, toys, etc).
Maybe I need to get back to blogging! You’ve motivated me!
September 21st, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Maria,
I think you are definitely right about it being mroe expensive when you try and find equivalents for everything. That was the big realization for me this time…don’t just exchange things…reduce what I do use!
I am also seeing it is a process of a change and not something that will just happen overnight.
Thanks for your insights!
September 21st, 2009 at 2:29 pm
It’s definitely a process! It took me a long time to get where I am, and by no means do I think I have green living mastered!