I recently did an episode on detoxing products for babies and kids, but I didn’t really share about how having my own kids is what started me on my own toxin-free living journey.

When my 14 year old daughter was one, I came across a recall notice that a toy had lead in it. I was shocked.

I got my masters in public health and studied a bit on environmental health, but my work and studies focused more on healthy eating and physical activity. I didn’t realize how little regulation there was around toys and other items we buy and bring into our home. So I dug in. 

How I would detox and choose safe and non-toxic products for my babies and home if I could go back in time.

One product I thought was safe and non-toxic was Dreft laundry detergent. I thought that smell was perfect for babies. Little did I know that Dreft still had “fragrance” in it. (Fragrance is a loophole that can hide thousands of chemicals within that one term.) If you’re looking for a safe laundry detergent for babies and little one’s I’d recommend the unscented laundry detergent available in my shop. 

Before I knew what I know now, I chose products based on the packaging. I assumed that I could trust the marketing on the front of the package. Pretty packages specifically designed for babies and children. Often these products were MORE expensive, higher end products specifically made for babies. But little did I know that the ingredients in these products weren’t any better, healthier, safer, or toxin-free.

I also was duped by a few other products as I continued to detox our home. For example cleaning products. I used to assume that going to the “natural” section of the grocery store meant that the products sold there would be safe. For example, Mrs. Meyers. That cute packaging, it had to be safe, right?!?

Mrs. Meyers is a greenwashing brand. There is no Mrs. Meyers. It’s the brain child of a larger corporation to make a niche cleaning product that they could charge more money for. You can check out more about Mrs. Meyers in this blog post, but the most annoying thing they do is sandwich the ingredient “fragrance” between a bunch of essential oils. You think it’s safe because it has all those essential oils in there but really…there’s fragrance. Ugh! So annoying!

As I continued to learn more and more about the toxins in our home, I learned about BPA in plastics and we switched to using glass as much as possible. 

It took me even longer to detox our laundry detergent. I just didn’t think about the fact that our clothes and linens touch most of our body throughout the day or that we’re breathing in whatever fragrance is making our clothes smell “fresh”. That is a whole lot of exposure to chemicals. As we know our skin is our largest organ and our skin is absorbing whatever chemicals are left on our clothes. (Of course absorption depends on the size of the molecule, we don’t absorb everything that touches our skin.)

I often hear people say “the damage is done, there’s no point in switching now.” But nope! That’s wrong! There’s always time to improve, change, and do better. Our body burden is made up of all of our exposures that add up within our whole system. We always have the option to lower our body burden by making better choices. The products you choose today can improve your wellbeing for the future.