UPDATE 4/18/2017
After trying all of these things for several weeks, months, and years, the only one I have kept is the All Purpose Cleaner. It works GREAT on my granite and keeps it streak free!
The face cleaning with oil worked for a little while, then I suppose my face, or hormones changing due to pregnancy, did not like it anymore. I have since switched to just using my Norwex face cloth and then every-other day using the charcoal bar soap by BeautyCounter. I've been doing this over a year now and LOVE it. Followed up with Cetaphil Daily Moisturizer with SPF 15.
Hair care with ACV and pure soap. That one's a no-go for us. I have changed up our shampoo though and use a natural, SLS free shampoo: Nature's Gate Herbal Daily Cleanse Shampoo. We do not use any conditioner in our house, either. If the girls are having some tangle issues, I will use a small amount of Dr. Bronners Lavendar Leave-In Conditioner and Styling Crème. But only on the ends of their hair and never on the scalp!
Lastly, the laundry detergent. After further research, the "detergent" I had been using for over a year was simply just a laundry booster. So, over a three day period I had to strip away all the buildup that had happened on our clothes over that time. Let's just say the color of water the soaked clothes were in was not something you would want to put on your body. Yuck! We have switched to BioKleen Free and Clear and we are very happy with the result!
A resource that has proven very beneficial in education is the EWG Skin Deep Database (http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/). This organization rates thousands and thousands of products for their safety and protecting you from unwanted and harmful chemicals. Each of the products that it rates gets a score from 1, safest, to 10, run and hide from it. There's also an app you can use in the store and scan a barcode to see if it is rated and all the details on every single ingredient and it's rating as well. SO VERY HELPFUL!
This process of finding products that put less chemicals into our home and bodies is an adventure in trial an error. Hopefully some of my mis-steps will save you time and energy in your process!
~***~
Chemicals. Toxic. Harmful. Who wants these things in their house, much less on their skin and their children’s skin? This is my chronicles of my journey to keep my family and our home as healthy and chemically-pure as possible. I also needed anything that I wanted to try to be economical and of course effective. These are ways that I can serve my family and help them be the healthiest that they can be. If nothing else this is where I can keep up with my recipes! Here we go!
After trying all of these things for several weeks, months, and years, the only one I have kept is the All Purpose Cleaner. It works GREAT on my granite and keeps it streak free!
The face cleaning with oil worked for a little while, then I suppose my face, or hormones changing due to pregnancy, did not like it anymore. I have since switched to just using my Norwex face cloth and then every-other day using the charcoal bar soap by BeautyCounter. I've been doing this over a year now and LOVE it. Followed up with Cetaphil Daily Moisturizer with SPF 15.
Hair care with ACV and pure soap. That one's a no-go for us. I have changed up our shampoo though and use a natural, SLS free shampoo: Nature's Gate Herbal Daily Cleanse Shampoo. We do not use any conditioner in our house, either. If the girls are having some tangle issues, I will use a small amount of Dr. Bronners Lavendar Leave-In Conditioner and Styling Crème. But only on the ends of their hair and never on the scalp!
Lastly, the laundry detergent. After further research, the "detergent" I had been using for over a year was simply just a laundry booster. So, over a three day period I had to strip away all the buildup that had happened on our clothes over that time. Let's just say the color of water the soaked clothes were in was not something you would want to put on your body. Yuck! We have switched to BioKleen Free and Clear and we are very happy with the result!
A resource that has proven very beneficial in education is the EWG Skin Deep Database (http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/). This organization rates thousands and thousands of products for their safety and protecting you from unwanted and harmful chemicals. Each of the products that it rates gets a score from 1, safest, to 10, run and hide from it. There's also an app you can use in the store and scan a barcode to see if it is rated and all the details on every single ingredient and it's rating as well. SO VERY HELPFUL!
This process of finding products that put less chemicals into our home and bodies is an adventure in trial an error. Hopefully some of my mis-steps will save you time and energy in your process!
~***~
Chemicals. Toxic. Harmful. Who wants these things in their house, much less on their skin and their children’s skin? This is my chronicles of my journey to keep my family and our home as healthy and chemically-pure as possible. I also needed anything that I wanted to try to be economical and of course effective. These are ways that I can serve my family and help them be the healthiest that they can be. If nothing else this is where I can keep up with my recipes! Here we go!
All Purpose Cleaner
In 2013 we moved into a new house and the counter tops were
granite. I had not had this material in my previous kitchens, and my regular
cleaner was leaving streaks on this new, beautiful surface! I had to figure out
something else and I didn't want to have to buy the specific “granite cleaners”.
Enter, alcohol. Yep, isopropyl alcohol is what I use to clean not only my
granite counter tops, but my stainless steel appliances, my bathrooms, mirrors,
windows, etc. It disinfects as I clean and there isn't any lingering smell. It’s
simple and inexpensive and it TOTALLY works.
1 cup isopropyl alcohol
1 cup water
10ish drops of dish soap
10ish drops of tea tree oil
Mix in a spray bottle and get cleaning. I use cloth to wipe
down everything in my house. I find it works better than paper towels or a
sponge. The cleaner will look a bit streaky as it dries, but once the alcohol
evaporates, you have a streak-free shine!
That’s all that I've tried for now! I just made some
homemade baby wipe solution, so I’m going to test it out and see how I like it.
Also up for experimentation is deodorant and homemade “paper” towels.