People often ask me, “where do I start with going toxin-free”. And if you've listened to the podcast for a while, you know I have my favorite place to start. But there are usually typical stages of going toxin-free and choosing more eco-friendly products for your home.
What are those stages?
Why do people tend to go towards them and is there a better way ?
What are some hesitations and things that might hold you back while going toxin-free?
What are the Typical Stages of Going Toxin-Free - Where are you on your non-toxic and green living journey and what should you detox next?
I didn't grow up in a toxin-free home or a crunchy home.We grew up very typical American. My mom did most of the cooking and cleaning at home. Both my parents worked outside the home. And while my mom was a bit more green growing up in the 60s and, and trying to pay attention to the earth, she did the best that she could with the time and the money that we had. She really had no idea that there were so many harmful ingredients in our products.
And let's be honest. Due to manufacturing changes, and corporations becoming these mega corporations and buying up smaller brands, the ingredients and products are worse than they used to be. The products I grew up with didn't have GMOs and other harmful ingredients. Plus there are thousands of new chemicals created every single year. As we know we live in a capitalist society and making more money often ends up becoming the primary goal of most companies, leading them to choosing cheaper ways to do things. And that unfortunately impacts our health.
I started learning about harmful chemicals and toxin-free living when I had my daughters. I had a friend who started opening up my eyes to the fact that we really need to pay attention to what we're bringing into our homes and reading ingredient labels and becoming informed consumers so we can make good choices for our families. When I went through this journey, first I started with plastics, getting the plastics out, because I had recently learned about BPA in plastics. At the time, I had a young daughter and everything was plastic, I mean, everything that she ate a snack out of was plastic, every glass of milk she had was in plastic. They didn't have as many baby safe glass options as they do now.
Then I moved into cleaning products. I started buying cleaning products from the natural section, products I thought were safe. Like Mrs. Myers, for example. Little did I know that it still had chemicals in it that I would not want to have around my children.You’d think I would have seen the red flag, when I would spray the geranium spray on my countertops, and start coughing. There's no way that that could have been good for me. I mean, my body was reacting to it almost immediately afterwards. But I trusted the company marketing and got greenwashed. Eventually I switched laundry detergent. I still hadn't even thought about the products that I personally used on a daily basis. I had switched out cookware and plastics and cleaning and laundry. Then I went into my daughter's products and detoxed all of the products we used for her, soap, lotion, still not considering the products that I was using on my body every single day.
These are often the typical stages of going toxin-freel. A lot of people don't just automatically switch to toxin-free in everything in their entire life. They may have already switched out their plastics, or maybe have switched out their cookware, but they haven't necessarily done their cleaning products or their laundry products.
I also think that a lot of people probably switch out their cleaning products before their laundry products. I talk about a lot here on the podcast, that laundry is more important, simply because you're wearing your clothes all day long. You're smelling any fragrances that are embedded in those detergents and that's not good for you. You're also absorbing some of the chemicals that are left in your clothing through your skin. They're touching your skin all day and they're in your sheets that you're sleeping with, your head on your pillow. However, with cleaning products, often the amount of time you’re exposed to them is brief and you only use them every week or so. With cleaning products, the amount of time that you are exposed to them is just less.
That's why I think it's important to think about the products that you use every day and consider detoxing those first. Start with those products you use every day, the products you're putting on your body, instead of starting with cleaning products.
Instead of doing cleaning products because you feel like they're harsher. Typically they do tend to be harsher, but you're using them so much less frequently. And they're maybe only touching your hands while you're washing something. It's not something that you're putting on your body every single day, repeatedly, and it's not covering a large portion of your body.
If someone were to ask me, “I'm going toxin-free. I just started this journey. My eyes have just been opened.Where should I start?”
My recommended stages of going toxin-free:
Laundry: First, I would say laundry still, I still think laundry is important. Also it's the easiest. It's fewer products, so just a swap or two will make a big impact on your body burden.
Personal Care Products You Use Every Day: Then I would say move into the products you use every day on your body. Your lotions, your soaps, your skincare, your makeup, and do that for the whole family. Wemoms often prioritize our kids but it's still very, very important for us to take care of our health too. And it's important for our husbands, dads, and our partners to take care of their health as well.
Cleaning Products: Then I would put cleaning as number three. And I know that probably some people will think that that's a little backwards. But I just think it's more important to prioritize exposure and the amount of exposure you're getting. And it's going to be higher for those personal care products, over your cleaning products.
More Expensive Swaps for Your Home: After that, I would move into starting to think about the larger items in your home. Like, if you're buying a new couch, have you thought about the quality of the materials in that couch? Is it made in a facility or manufactured in some way that it's going to have chemicals off gassing - VOCs off gassing in your home for a long period of time? Those large items are a lot more difficult and expensive to swap out, so starting with the small stuff can make it easier so that your everyday life is becoming increasingly toxin-free.
I think there are so many different reasons why people are held back from going toxin-free, but just to name a few. One of them is that I think people are overwhelmed. We are constantly just bombarded by information in all places. And especially when it gets to a level of knowing science and health and that sort of thing. It can just get really overwhelming, right? I have a master's degree in public health. So I know this information.I know how to read journal articles that are related to health and the impacts of materials and chemicals and products on our health. But not everybody comes with that sort of knowledge.
It also can be really hard to know who to trust. You know, I talk about that all the time, about investigating the brands that you're supporting. Making sure that you're reading the ingredient labels and figuring out, what brands can you trust? And what products can you trust? And which ones should you buy? It’s overwhelming and there's also a lack of trust there and often that just stops people, they just can't handle it, and they just don't know where to go.
I also think what stops people or what holds people back going toxin-free is cost. A lot of people might get this information and think they have to switch every single product they’ve ever used before. And I get that they would think that. And yes, that would cost a lot of money. Now, that's not how I do things. I know how expensive it can be. And I also know that if you suggest that a lot of people are going to say, “Whoa, I can't afford that right now.” And that's why I don't suggest that. I suggest that you finish up using what you already have and replace the products you love with something that's toxin-free when it's time to replace the product.
I also know that as Americans, we typically buy a lot of things that we don't actually use. We buy something new because our friend liked it, or we saw it on a commercial or an influencer spoke about it. And we try it a couple times but we don't really love it, we hold on to it, we keep it under our sink, and we don't throw it away because we don’t want to be wasteful.
I think that's one of the biggest steps here in this toxin free journey is to think about what products you truly use and love. I bet if you can just pare it down to those most important products, that you can find toxin-free versions of the products you love, and you will be happier and healthier by doing that quick ditch and switch.
So that’s just my basic download of the typical stages that people go through.
I'm so curious to know what stage you are in? Have you just learned about toxin-free or are you in the middle of it or you are in the middle of switching all your cleaning products and realizing that maybe you should do your personal care products first? Maybe you learned this information and you got so overwhelmed, you just stopped and decided to go back on your old conventional favorites. So I would love to hear where you are and what you think and you can hit me up and my DMs and Instagram @themeganmikkelsen or you can email me because I love to help on that format as well. And my email is megan@detox.design. Or you can connect with an entire toxin-free community on my Facebook group Toxin-Free Talk. If you want to keep it really simple, check out my list of favorite products on my Safe Swap Guide or shop my online store where I only stock products that I have thoroughly researched and love to use in my own home.
Thanks for helping to make this planet happier and healthier one step at a time.
