Replace Household Cleaners with Essential Oils

If you are one of the many people out there that actually believe that these mass marketed and major branded household cleaners, air fresheners and cosmetics are actually safe to use in your home and to expose your family’s health as ” trial and error guinea pigs” you better think again and make the change to natural essential oil cleaners!

It’s quite easy to be sold by that 30 second TV advertisement that shows the perfect housewife doing her family’s laundry while cleaning the entire house with chemically laced detergents, inhaling the toxic air fresheners and fumes while having her family put equally invasive soaps, creams and perfumes on their body.  The effectiveness of such products in cleaning your house to a shine may be true but when it is traded for you and your family’s health and wellness – it’s time to make a change!  There are so many hidden poisons and harmful pollutants in Febreze, Lysol, Dawn, Bounce and Glade that it may come as a rude awakening to you that you have been involuntarily exposing yourself to these products for the past 20 years or so!

Stop Using Air Fresheners, Household Cleaners and Dryer Sheets Today

All of these toxic chemicals seriously violate and severely disrupt the body’s respiratory system, natural fertility cycles, immune and defense system, brain-to-body neurology and the key endocrine centres by entering the system through the largest organ being the skin as well as by inhaling these toxins into the body through smell or simply being exposed to them in the home environment.  Your home is supposed to be a place of retreat, relaxation in a safe and harmonic environment.  So it is very important to maintain the home as a place of safety without any harmful toxins or negative energy, but instead a place for rejuvenating without judgement back to your natural self and optimal health.

For those living in the concrete jungle of a major modern city, you are already exposed to enough environmental toxins, secondary pollutants and synthetic chemicals when out and about in a metropolitan centre like London, Toronto, New York or Jakarta, or even when eating  out or drinking at a mainstream restaurant or branded cafe that doesn’t necessarily serve wholesome or local organic ingredients.

What’s Making You and Your Family Sick?

Are you tired of getting sick all the time?  Do you catch that latest cold virus that’s going around or that 36 hour stomach bug?  Are you having to suffer in pain during your monthly cycle or are you always getting those migraines whether it’s at home or at work?

The amount of toxic chemicals, pollutants and endocrine disruptors in mainstream household cleaners, cosmetics and air fresheners makes you wonder how these poisonous products can even be approved for retail to household consumers.

Most air-fresheners contain 2, 5-dichlorophenol (2, 5-DCP), a metabolite of 1,4-dichlorobenzene, which has been associated with precocious puberty and other more serious health problems, such as cancer.  Room deodorizers are also found to contain endocrine-disrupting phthalates.  These estrogen mimickers can cause havoc for girls during puberty and on the reproductive system and fertility of childbearing aged women.

Now on to those dryer sheets.  How many toxins and pollutants are in the household favourite Bounce sheets?  And now there is Bounce combined with Febreze for an double dose of the toxic cocktail.

• Forty-four percent of scented laundry products tested spewed at least one carcinogenic hazardous air pollutant. Some of these include acetaldehyde, 1,4-dioxane and formaldehyde.
• Some of the more immediate dangers in laundry products include migraines, asthma attacks, eye and throat irritation and contact dermatitis.
• In one mice study, fabric softening products triggered limited airflow and pulmonary irritation in the animals studied.
• In 2009, nearly 10 percent of the general U.S. population reports irritation from scents coming out of dryer vents. By 2016, that number increased to more than 12 percent.
• In a study focusing on hormone disruptors and asthma triggers in everyday products, Silent Spring Institute researchers found dryer sheets contained some of the highest concentrations of harmful fragrance chemicals. Compounds like acetyl hexamethyl tetralin, isobornyl acetate and phenethyl alcohol also turned up.

Remove these Dangerous Chemicals from Your Home

Mass media and advertising misleads you to believe that these chemically laced products are safe to use and are not harmful to your health because it says Febreze, Glade, Lysol, Dawn or Bounce “lemon scented”, “lavender flavored” or “citrus breeze fragrance”.  If you are suckered by this false advertising and mass marketing messages then it’s time rethink your family’s health and wellness and re-prioritize what they put in their bodies, and what chemicals they are exposed to in household cleaning products and in the home environment.

Guidelines to Avoid these Household Toxins

• Avoid all pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides. Wash your food well to rid the pesticides. Bathe the washed food in a produce wash or ozonated water for 20 minutes before cooking.
• Have a good water filter for your source of water.
• Use only organic based whole foods when you can.
• Buy hormone free meats and dairy products where possible.
• Avoid plastic goods – they leach into the environment.
• Do not microwave food in plastic containers, and especially avoid the use of plastic wrap to cover food for microwaving.
• Use glass or ceramics whenever possible to store food.
• Do not leave plastic containers, especially your drinking water, in the sun.
• If a plastic water container has heated up significantly, throw it away – do not drink the water either.
• Don’t use fabric softeners as it puts petrochemicals right on your skin.
• Use a simple laundry and dish detergent with less chemicals.
• Use organic soaps and toothpastes. Avoid fluoride.
• Avoid creams and cosmetics that have toxic chemicals and estrogenic ingredients such as parabens and stearal konium chloride. Switch to natural alternatives.
• Avoid nail polish and nail polish removers.
• Use only naturally based perfumes. Most perfumes are petrochemically based.
• Avoid surfactants found in many condoms and diaphragm gels.
• Avoid new carpet – it can give off noxious fumes.
• Avoid X-rays as much as possible.
• Be aware of noxious gas such as that from copiers and printers, carpets, fiberboard, etc. Computer monitors can emit a high level of electromagnetic force (EMF).

Toxic Ingredients in Cleaning Products

1. Phthalates
Found in: most fragranced household products like air fresheners, dish soap
Labeled as: ‘fragrance’
*companies don’t have to disclose phthalates
Health Implications: Endocrine, reduced sperm count, asthma, migraines

2. Perchloroethylene (PERC)
Found In: Carpet & upholstery cleaner, spot remover, dry-cleaning solution
Health Implications: Neurotoxin, carcinogen,

3. Triclosan
Found In: Fabric softener (solution and sheets), ‘antibacterial’ cleaners
Health Implications: Promote growth of antibiotic resistant bacteria,   endocrine, carcinogen

4. Quartenary Ammonium Compouds (QUATS)
Found In: Fabric Softener (solution and sheets), ‘antibacterial’ cleaners
Health Implications: Promote growth of antibiotic resistant bacteria, skin irritant, asthma

5. 2-Butoxyethanol
Found In: Window, kitchen and all purpose cleaners
Labeled As: Labeling is not required
Health Implications: throat irritation, narcosis, pulmonary edema, liver and   kidney damage

6. Ammonia
Found In: Polishing agents ad glass cleaner
Health Implications: Asthma, chronic bronchitis (with chronic exposure)

7. Chlorine
Found In: Toilet bowl cleaner, mildew remover, tap water, laundry whitener
Health Implications: respiratory irritant, thyroid disruption

8. Sodium Hydroxide
Found In: Oven cleaner, drain declogger
Labeled as: also known as lye
Health Implications: Skin burns, throat irritation

To avoid these chemicals and still improve the air quality in your home, you can use essential oils and choose to use actual natural cleaners around the house.  Move to organic or natural body washes that contain essential lavender oil, almond oil, coconut oil or alternative non toxic skin creams and balms.  You can do one better and make your own household cleaning kit out of vinegar, lemon and essential oils.

What Natural Alternatives Can I Use?

To get you started on detoxing your household cupboard and making your home space a safe, calm and zen place to relax and restore, here are some home-made recipes for making household cleaners and natural detergents that don’t harm you or the environment:

¾ cup olive oil

Juice from ¼ lemon

1 tablespoon vinegar

3-4 drops lemon essential oil (optional)

Dampen rag & squeeze out excess water.  Dip damp rag into furniture polish, then wipe on surface of furniture.  Buff off with an old towel.  Can also be used to polish stainless steel!

LAUNDRY DETERGENT:

1 bar soap (e.g. Dr. Bronner’s pure-castile)

1 cup borax

1 cup washing soda

Place bar of soap in a large microwave safe bowl.  Heat in the microwave for 2 minutes, until soap turns to foam.  Quickly stir foam until it becomes small soap chips, then mix well with borax and washing powder.  Allow to cool completely, then store in airtight container.  Use 1-2 tablespoons per load.  (This detergent works best in warm or hot water; for cold water washing you may want to first dissolve in ¼ cup of hot water.)

BATHROOOM CLEANER:

¾ c. baking soda

Juice from ½ lemon (about ¼ c.)

3 tablespoons salt

3 tablespoons liquid dishwashing soap

½ c. vinegar

10 drops essential oil (optional)

Mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl to make a paste; use a scrub brush or sponge to apply to tub, shower walls, & sinks.  (Be sure to test a small area to make sure paste does not scuff tub surface; if so, eliminate the salt from the mixture!)  Rinse well w/ water and a wet rag, then dry w/ a clean rag or old towel.

For More Information:

You may visit Dr. Axe’s article on Synthetic Scents.

Visit Sweetgrass Naturals in Fort Langley for organic and natural products that cleanse the body, mind, spirit and your space.

Allow yourself to simply be in the moment.  To sit in silence and literally check in with your body, mind and heart feelings.

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