I was recently interviewed by Nicky Oden for her podcast, Love Your Mom Life, and I decided to borrow her recording of our interview. When you do this regularly, like I do, I often don't share about the basics and Nikki had a really great way of interviewing me and helping me talk about the basics of going toxin-free. So instead of doing it again, I thought why not have the variety of her voice and her questions to be on my podcast as well. So that's what you're gonna get in this episode of toxin-free talk. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Nikki: Hey there! Welcome back to the Love Your Mom Life Podcast. Today we're going to be talking about how to create a toxin-free home, which is a topic I'm particularly interested in now that we're sort of on the backside of COVID-19. Today's guest is just the person to lead us through it. I can't wait to introduce her. Today's guest has been interested in health and the environment since she was a teen which motivated her to get her Master's of Public Health and start a career in health education, policy and communications. But when she became a mom, she dove headfirst into making her home healthier. She wanted to create a healthy and happy home for her family, and raise her daughters in an environment with minimal toxins. Having detoxed her own home, she knows deciphering the confusing and misleading marketplace of cleaners and everyday products isn't always easy. That's why she created Detox by Design, to share toxin-free living strategies and to help you navigate the confusing marketplace and to get the knowledge you need to make safer choices for you and your family. I'm super excited to dive in with her today. Welcome to the show Megan.
Megan: Hi, Nikki, I'm so excited to be here. And you know, moms are my listeners as well. So I just love sharing this information with moms.
Nikki: So tell us more about what it means to you to be toxin-free?
Megan: So I actually have a podcast episode about how some people are using the term low tox right now, and I understand that you're never going to be 100%, toxin-free. And that's okay. The truth is we have toxins all around us all the time. A lot of them we can't control unfortunately. But there are simple steps we can take every single day that will lower the amount of toxins that we have in our home and on our bodies. This is important because again, we have some control. So why wouldn't you choose to be as healthy as possible and to minimize your impact and the amount of toxins that you're exposed to everyday?
Nikki: Yeah, I think it's a relief to hear that. Of course, just like anything else, there is no perfect, right? So there are going to be some toxins in your environment, a lot of what you can't control, but to the extent you can control it, let's get empowered and do that. So for you, what does that look like? Does that mean that; you obviously make different choices when it comes to cleansers and things like that in your home, but does it mean anything else in terms of I don't know, like the kinds of towels you buy or or that kind of thing?
Megan: Yeah, unfortunately, with the knowledge that I have, I cannot buy a single thing without completely analyzing it. So I don't necessarily wish that on anybody. But that's the way that I am. But granted, I have a toxin-free podcast, and I teach other people to go toxin-free. So I'm a little bit neurotic, I would say when it comes to it. But the great thing about going toxin-free is that once you've kind of done the process of detoxing your home and you found toxin-free products that can replace your everyday regular products, commercial products, it's not as hard because you just have kind of adapted this way of life. So for me, I adapted this way of life a while ago and I still do double check labels because sometimes a great brand gets bought out by a corporation and they cut corners because they want to save money. They might sneak some ingredients in there even though the first version was great. And so I do double check those things periodically. But now that I've gone toxin-free, it's not so hard. But back to just like do I analyze everything I really do. Anytime I buy something new or I think about bringing something new into my home I want to know what's in it. Also how it's made, and then also what kind of packaging it comes in because toxin-free aligns with eco-friendly living really, really well. So not only are we trying to reduce the toxins that we are exposed to, but also minimizing the impact that we have on the earth.
Nikki: So I think it sounds like a really nice idea for a lot of us like, I'd like to be toxin-free. But it also sounds a little bit daunting. Do I have to do all this research and, and all of this background checking? So where do you start, if you have no idea?
Megan: So I actually have a course called the Home Method that walks you through that exact thing. The first part of it you could really do this course in just a matter of a few days, if you really just buckled down and sat down and went through it. But the first part really teaches you why you want to go toxin-free and then the simple methods to do it. How to research products, what to look out for. I walk you through each room of your house so at the end of the course, you have a list of all the stuff that you need to replace, and an idea of how to replace it, what kind of product to replace it with. So one of the top questions I always get is, where do I start? I always suggest starting in the laundry room, and a lot of people really think laundry isn't that bad. It really is. First of all, dryer sheets are one of the most toxic products that we have in the home. Those are really bad for the environment as well. But on top of that, we wear our clothes all day long and we lay in our bed with our sheets and our head on our pillow all night long. So the amount of time our body is exposed to whatever chemicals are in your laundry products is one of the highest one of the most impactful things you can do in detoxing your routine. I have a friend who is pretty skeptical about this. You see, initially I tried to help her because she has asthma. I said, I know that you're struggling with having to use your inhaler more often than you would like. But I really do think you can make some simple changes and really impact your health. And at first she was just you know, Oh, I love my scented candles, and I love my laundry detergent. And she was very hesitant. But little by little I finally convinced her and she ended up switching out everything and I do believe laundry made one of the biggest differences in her health. But a few weeks after she had switched, she called me up and she said, Megan, I haven't used my inhaler in weeks. Wow. We used to run together and we would wake up in the morning and go on our early morning runs. The first thing that she would put in her little fanny pack before our runs was her inhaler, because she never could leave the house without her inhaler and to know that she just with a few small changes doesn't have to use her inhaler anymore. That's pretty impactful.
Nikki: Yeah, that's life changing. And I love how you said little by little. It's like that little by little we do a lot. And that is how you would approach any goal, which my listeners are like nodding their head Nikki always says this. You start small. So I love the idea of starting in the laundry room. I actually don't use dryer sheets. I use balls. I use the dryer balls. However, I definitely use pretty mainstream detergent. So yeah, where do you find your detergent? Like what am I looking for in the detergent that's bad?
Megan: So the number one thing to look for is fragrance. Even if it says natural fragrance. If you're into clean eating, a lot of people in clean eating are aware that flavors are natural flavors. There is a legal loophole and just like natural flavors, natural fragrance or fragrance itself, they can literally put any ingredient they want within fragrance, because it's a proprietary term. So also I have a friend that's in the toxin-free product industry, and she has told me that companies buy fragrance from a fragrance company and often when they buy that fragrance, they don't even know what is within that fragrance because the company is not required to disclose what they're putting in the fragrance. If you want to learn more about this, you can read all the legal stuff on the FDA website. I mean, it's very blatant out there that this is a loophole in our American regulations. So fragrance is the number one thing. And once you have fragrance out of your life, you have a heightened sense of smell. It's really amazing how fragrance can impact your life. And now that I don't have any artificial fragrance in my life, I can spot it immediately. For example, if there's a brand that is quote unquote greenwashing which I will explain in a minute, but if there's a brand that's quote, unquote greenwashing and I smell something, I can tell if that fragrance is an artificial fragrance. It's not an essential oil, it has a different sort of smell to it. And yeah, it's pretty fascinating. So back to greenwashing. As you may know, being eco-friendly, being toxin-free, it's very, very hip. It's much more popular than it used to be and brands are really marketing this. They may be marketing it but it doesn't necessarily mean that their products are as safe as they could be. This isn't exactly greenwashing but it's similar. I was flipping through a magazine and I saw an ad for Dove. And it was two dermatologists. One was like the mom dermatologist that was in her 60s, and then it was a younger dermatologist in her 30s or something. And the ad basically said, I'm so glad my mom taught me to use Dove at a young age or something like that. Well, if you look at Dove, using these dermatologists as their doctor figures trying to share that this brand is the best brand. Well, if you look at Dove of course, they still have fragrance in their product. Not to mention some other not so great ingredients that I personally would not choose to use every day. And that's just an example of how we are marketed all day and night. So we do just have to be a little bit more careful about the choices that we're making. If you are into clean eating, it's really not that different. But what I will say and I, you know, I'm not a doctor, so I can't say the exact explanation of this. But if you think about it, when you eat food, you have digestive enzymes that break down that food. When you put ingredients and products on your body, it goes straight into your bloodstream. Not every single thing goes straight into your bloodstream, but our skin is our largest organ and depending on the size of the molecule within the product and the individual ingredients within the product, it does get absorbed into our body and into our bloodstream. There's no digestive system that is taking it to the liver and making it not impact our body as much. There's no filter. If you are really adamant about clean eating but you're not thinking about the toxins in your daily products, your face lotion, for example, that you're putting on every single morning, you're missing the boat, honestly.
Nikki: Okay, so here lies the rub with me and I bet with some of these the moms who are listening, I just want it to work. Okay, when it comes to cleaning my clothes, cleaning my face, staying with my young looking skin, I just want it to work. So whatever chemical is going to make it work that's what I'm going to use. So I think the question is if I don't use the fragrance, how do I get my stuff to smell good?
Megan: I totally agree with you. And luckily there has been so much progress in this area with products that you really can find amazing products that do work that are super safe, that are packaged in eco-friendly packaging. They're out there and that's what my passion is to do. To share those with you. But also back to just like things smelling good. I happen to have an online store that I created because people came to me all the time and said, I don't know what to use. And so I created my online store simply to be a resource for people so that they could have a one stop shop for things that are at my safety level that I personally use in my home that I know work. So the line of laundry detergent that I use, it has essential oils in it so it does have some sort of scent. But I also know that things smelling good are really something that we are programmed to want. When you watch an ad on TV for laundry detergent, what do they talk about? They talk about it smelling good, but just because something smells good doesn't mean it's clean. Often, you know, the smell is masking the fact that the clothes aren't as clean as they could be. So truly something not smelling at all that really should be how we determine if something is clean or not.
Nikki: Yeah,if it doesn't smell like anything that means it's clean. Yeah, that is such a mindset shift,
Megan: I think a lot of times with switching products, you do have to make a mindset shift. For example, things might be more expensive, but the right product goes further, so you don't have to use as much. So instead of like two pumps of your lotion, maybe you only have to use one pump of your lotion. So there's little things like that. My last podcast episode was just about hacks for using eco-friendly and toxin-free products. Because sometimes you just have to switch how you're using something. And I know it can be difficult. But once you do it, then you realize, oh, I actually like this better, just like the laundry detergent.
Nikki: Okay, so I think I was kind of going down this road before the pandemic hit. And I was trying to be cleaner, although I was maybe being greenwashed a little bit. But when COVID-19 became a thing, I was like, give me harsh chemicals. I want something that will kill everything so that this virus doesn't come into my home. And so I think that goes back to I just want it to work. What has your experience been with household cleaners that are not harsh chemicals, but that still kill bacteria and viruses?
Megan: First of all, we really only need to be cleaning for viruses and bacteria when we know we have been exposed to them. So if you have a family member that is truly sick, yes, you should use a disinfectant. There are safe disinfectants for example, I have sitting right here on my desk, hydrogen peroxide. One of the safest and cheapest disinfectants out there.
Nikki: I didn't know, it was a disinfectant. Like for surfaces. I've always used it on cuts.
Megan: Yes, you can spray it on surfaces. Now you don't want to put it in a clear bottle and spray it because the effectiveness changes when it's exposed to light. So that's why it comes in a brown bottle, right? But you could find spray lids that fit right onto your hydrogen peroxide bottle and you can just spray your countertops or your door knobs with that.
Nikki: What a hack that is!
Megan: I know it's so amazing. So that's what you want to do if you are exposed or you have somebody that's sick in the home. But for the most part, we just need to remove dirt. And a lot of these products don't need to be as harsh as they say, because we do need some good bacteria in our lives. It's good for our health. And so that's one thing I always like to say is just make sure you're doing the appropriate level of cleaning. Then you'll find the right product.
Nikki: So what about the toilet?
Megan: If you have a toilet ring, a pumice stone is the best thing to get it off. It scratches it off the porcelain and then you can use a disinfectant like hydrogen peroxide, on the lid and on the outer surfaces and just clean those germs away there. You can even look up on the EPA a list for commercial level cleaning; They have their list of all of the cleaners that you should use to make sure the environment is safer, like schools or whatever. Hydrogen peroxide is listed on that list. There's also a lot of super harsh chemicals on there I would not suggest that you use but if you really want to dig in, you can find resources for other things too that are safer, that still get those bacteria and viruses. But hydrogen peroxide works and it's so simple and it's so affordable.
Nikki: It is so affordable. It is like literally the cheapest thing that's mind blowing to me.
Megan: Honestly a lot of people, because we've been marketed to our entire lives, they believe that they have to buy a cleaning product for every specific use. I just want to alert all the listeners to the fact that they can create windex for your windows and then another product for your countertops. And they'll sell both of those to you because they want you to buy more things. Do you really need to have a product specifically for your windows and a product specifically for your countertops? You really don't. In fact, I sell a product that is a clear glass jar with a tablet, and it's a multi surface cleaner. When you run out, you just pop a new tablet in there, add more water, and it's actually the best window cleaner I've ever used and it's not necessarily specifically for windows.
Nikki: I have a similar brand that I have found. I use their soap as well. It's just like a little tablet and you put it in the glass jar and you add the water. Same thing with the multipurpose cleaner. It's less trash, obviously because you're using the container. Okay, so when we talked about where to start, we started in the laundry room and then maybe we added some of the hydrogen peroxide in. What are some advanced tips like alright, I'm like rockin this now, where can I aspire to be one day?
Megan: I think advanced tips are to go as eco-friendly as possible. Some people will come to toxin-free through being super eco-friendly. But sometimes it's the other way. I'm passionate about both. So if you're really concerned with going toxin-free, really start thinking about being more eco-friendly. So when you are at the store and you grab something off the shelf, when you look at that product, think how much is this going to impact the Earth? Is it packaged in plastic? Is it reusable or not reusable? We talked about the glass container with the tablet, so that's going to be the most eco-friendly. Most people think that plastic is recycled when they stick it in the recycling bin. But a few years ago, we were shipping all of our plastic containers to China, and they are recycling them for us. How eco-friendly is that right? Containers of American trash being “recycled” by China. I mean, we don't really know what they were doing with them anyway. But that's what America was doing. Well, China decided they didn't want to recycle for us anymore. So in many areas, recycling plastic is very expensive. In many places, even if you put your plastic container in the recycling bin, it doesn't necessarily get recycled.
Nikki: Oh my gosh, I just ruined my life.
Megan: This is really for the expert level because going super eco-friendly can be hard, for example, a shampoo bar instead of a shampoo liquid. Oh, some people are mind blown by that idea. If you think about it, shampoo is really soap mixed with water. And what are you doing in the shower? You're mixing your shampoo bar with the water from your showerhead. Now there are a lot of hacks for doing that. Like for example, rubbing the bar on your head versus rubbing it in your hands and then trying to put it in your hair. But those are the kinds of things where I think it's just a little bit more difficult. And so this is your expert tip. Because once you've done everything else, you're like, Yep, I'm gonna go for it. I'm gonna go as eco-friendly as possible. But I also want to say that, let's say you try the shampoo bar and you're like, Okay, I can handle the shampoo bar two times a week. But the other two times, I just got to use my regular liquid shampoo. That's okay. You're still making an impact. Do what you can do and never feel bad like you're having to take a step backwards because your lifestyle changed or you found a product that just didn't work as well. That’s fine. Give it to a friend to try because maybe it'll work great for them. Don't just throw it in the trash can. That's one thing I talk about all the time on the podcast is don't beat yourself up. Just do the best you can and know that even by thinking and trying to do more you're doing a great job.
Nikki: Yeah, I love that because it's just like any other goal right? We don't need to bite off the entire thing in one bite, right? We can start small and do what we can. We're still making an impact and still moving towards it. So if you wash your hair, let's say five times a week, but two of those times you're using the bar, that's less shampoo you're gonna buy in liquid form, and it adds up. Yeah, it's just like taking one little step. And little by little we do a lot. I love that idea. I had no idea shampoo in a bar was a thing.
Megan: Oh, yeah. That one was easier for me than the conditioner just because I have really thick hair, and I want a conditioner that's heavy, and that will weigh it down. I do that thing where I use the regular one a couple times a week, and then I use the bar. So I'm trying to do my best to move towards the most eco-friendly option. But even I'm not perfect. You know? Nobody is.
Nikki: And your hair looks great. No one else can see it, but it does look great. So that's encouraging. Okay, so what about things like nail polish?
Megan: Nail polish is, oh, gosh, it's complicated! I will say that there is a brand that I really like and it's kind of amazing how fast it dries. So not only is it the healthiest I found but also, it's super functional, because you put it on and then you can touch it within minutes. It's not gel. So one of the things that's not great about gel besides the chemicals is that you're exposing your fingertips to that UV light so really just not great for you in general. Not to mention being in the salon, if you're a salon goer, there's lots of other scents and things that are going on in there not great for your lungs. So this brand is called Dazzle Dry. I don't have an affiliate or anything.
Nikki: Oh, I use Dazzle Dry. It is great. I didn't know it was clean.
Megan: Yes, it is. The other thing, I think that the stickers aren't perfect, but the stickers aren't giving quite the amount of smell that you would get, because a lot of the issues with nail polish is related to the VOCs that are in them. The volatile organic compounds, that's what you smell in the nail polish. Also, you know, maybe do it less often, instead of having your toenails painted all winter long. Nobody sees your toenails, let your toenails go free in the winter. Don't expose yourself to those chemicals during the winter or save it for special occasions. Again, it's that balance of doing your best most of the time and you know, giving yourself this grace as well.
Nikki: I love giving yourself grace. Every new endeavor, every new goal we tackle we give ourselves grace. Now, how do I take my polish off in a clean way?
Megan: I actually buy them on Amazon, I can't remember the name of it, but I will send you a link. What I do is similar to when you get your gel nails taken off, where they put a bunch of it on a Q tip or a cotton swab, and they let it soak in for a while. You have to do that. Because again, it's not straight acetone so it's not taking it off as easily. But this brand does work.
Nikki: Very cool. I love all these tips. This has been so mind blowingly helpful and amazing that you have a course so people can go and learn how to do all this themselves. And we'll definitely share that link in the show notes so that people can take back their power when it comes to creating a toxin-free home.
Megan: Or even just subscribing to my email. Maybe you're not ready for the course yet. I get it. Maybe you're brand new to the idea of going toxin-free. Just subscribe to my email and get these tips every week and just start learning and figuring out how you can do it yourself.
Nikki: Yeah, absolutely. We'll definitely share those links and the link to the podcast. I love everything you're doing. I really, really appreciate you being here.
Megan: Yeah, super fun podcast. Thank you for having me, Nikki!
