What to use in your dishwasher that is safe and natural

Of all my new ways to go toxic-free around the house, figuring out what to use in the dishwasher was the toughest one. I searched through tons of posted recipes and read all sorts of comments from people who either had really good results or really bad results.

Bottom line, I think the type of water you have - how soft or hard - will determine a lot as to what will work for you when it comes to the homemade stuff. Also, different things work well for different dishwashers. So there are some variables to work out. Not everything will work the same for everyone.

One combination of ingredients that I was seeing posted quite frequently was Borax, Washing Soda, Kosher salt and Citric Acid. I don't want to use Borax, and citric acid seems too expensive from what I could find.

I started searching for recipes that are Borax-free. I found one that I wanted to try and used it for about a week: Natural Homemade Dishwasher Detergent. Ingredients: water, vinegar, liquid castile soap, pure lemon juice, salt and washing soda.
 
I loved it for about 3 or 4 days, until my glasses all started coming out cloudy. So I kept searching for another one that didn't contain Borax or citric acid, and didn't have too high of a proportion of castile soap (making it too expensive).

Then I remembered a blog post I had bookmarked a while ago that had very useful information in it. 10 Things You Should Know Before Making Homemade Dishwasher Detergent. She concludes that you may only need washing soda to wash your dishes, or maybe also add a little soap.
 
So I thought about all I had read and learned (including using less soap to get better results), and I tried a combination using my best educated guess: 1 tablespoon washing soda and 1 teaspoon castile soap. I also used vinegar as my rinse aid (see below for more on that). Everything came out perfect and sparkly clean! I continued it for a few days getting nearly perfect results every time.

I wasn't sure if it was the castile soap or vinegar (or both) that was doing such a great job, so for about 2 weeks I experimented with each load (I kept the washing soda constant because I knew I wanted to use that as my base). I tried varying amounts of vinegar and castile soap, even leaving each of them out completely.

What I found out was that I definitely needed the vinegar to rinse all the food particles away and get all the glasses shiny and clean. I thought that I might get away with not needing the castile soap, but without it, I have had several things come out with food stuck to them. So, looks like I need both in addition to the washing soda.

So here's what I'm using in my dishwasher: 

1 Tablespoon washing soda
1/2 teaspoon castile soap
1/4 cup vinegar as the rinse aid

Simple and toxic free :)

(I still might get one or two things that come out dirty, but that usually happened with the store-bought stuff too. Overall, I am very happy with these results)

***

Rinse Aid

We had been using Jet Dry for quite some time, but obviously we wanted to ditch that too. I have read all over the place to use vinegar as a rinse aid.

HOWEVER, most people suggest putting it into the rinse aid compartment. I read on a blog post that "the acid in the vinegar can damage the rubber components in the rinse aid compartment." And that came straight from the dishwasher repairman.

So an alternative is to use a small bowl that can sit right-side-up in the top rack and put some white vinegar in it. This will slowly slosh it around as it goes through the cycle.

And as I said above, this is working very well for me.

***

Cost comparison 

I wanted to see where my three ingredients fit into the spectrum of store-bought detergents. Here's what I calculated, listing the least expensive first:

Great Value (Walmart brand) powder detergent, 75oz box
$3.22 (price from their website) / $.04 per ounce

My homemade option
Washing soda + soap + vinegar = 2.13oz per load = $.11 per load
$.05 per ounce

Cascade powder detergent, 75oz box
$6.90 (priced from Walmart's website) / $.09 per ounce

Seventh Generation (all natural) powder detergent, 75oz box
$7.49 (priced from amazon, shipping not included) / $.10 per ounce

I may not have beaten Walmart in price (who can?), but I'm sure I beat them in safety of ingredients (they don't even disclose their ingredient list...what are they hiding?).

Sean's Corn Soup

My husband is great at making soups. He just makes stuff up right out of his head and it turns out spectacular. And with tonight's dinner, our two picky eaters ate this up and asked for more!

Corn soup garnished with paprika and green salsa from Moes.

Sean's Corn Soup

1/2 cup dry white beans
1 medium onion, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 medium white sweet potato, peeled and chopped
4-6 cups chicken broth (or vegetable stock)
1 16oz bag of frozen corn
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp ginger

Cook 1/2 cup dry white beans in water for about an hour and a half, or until soft. Set aside.

In a saute pan, saute onion and celery in some oil on high heat, letting them sit to char a little. After several minutes, add the chopped white sweet potato. Turn the heat down and deglaze the pan by adding a little bit of water or broth (it will sizzle loudly) and scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon (this gets up the char which adds flavor).

In a large pot, combine the onion mixture, white beans, broth, and bag of corn. Boil until cooked. Puree (we use our stick blender). Add spices.

Nut-free Granola Bars

I'm still looking to expand my "bag" of homemade snacks for the kids and I knew they would love granola bars (especially since we never buy them because of Noah's nut allergy).

I actually have never made granola bars before today and I was surprised at how easy it was. I found a nut-free recipe on allrecipes.com (called "Playgroup Granola Bars"). I followed it exactly except I didn't have any wheat germ. They are yummy.

When they came out of the oven, the edges were getting a nice golden-brown. They were still a little soft and the piece I took out was falling apart, but as they cooled they were fine to stay together as "bars."

I'm looking forward to trying them again with different dried fruits and maybe some chocolate chips :)

Soft Homemade Wheat Bread (from a bread machine)

About a year (or two?) ago, I borrowed my mom's old bread machine in hopes of regularly making our own bread (the manual is from 1992, so this is a dinosaur). I tried one loaf and it came out short, dense and became rock hard the next day.

I put the machine in my closet and it stayed there a long time...

I finally got it back out a few weeks ago to make an honest effort this time. I wanted to find a whole wheat recipe that will make soft bread (I mean, why would you want it any other way?). I found one that I have made about 5 times. The bread is definitely soft and we all love it.

The author of the blog post/recipe wrote a lot about it, so I'll let you read what she says and get the recipe from her:

Super Soft Whole Grain Sandwich Bread

She suggests mixing up all the ingredients - except the yeast and salt - the night before and letting it sit in the bread machine. Then add the yeast and salt in the morning and start it up. Soaking the flour like this makes the bread softer and more digestible.

A couple notes about the recipe:

1. It calls for whole wheat pastry or spelt flour. I didn't know where to buy either of those, so I'm just using plain old whole wheat flour. It seems fine to me.

2. The first time I made this, I already had a packet of dry active yeast. This batch turned out a little short. I then bought a small jar of "bread machine" yeast and the dough rose up so tall that it touched the top glass of the machine. I now only put in 2 tsp. of yeast instead of the 2 1/2 tsp that it calls for.

That's about it. If you have a bread machine, give it a try!

How safe is your hand soap?

(note: this got quite long, but I found out some interesting things that you might want to be aware of. The way to make your own hand soap is at the bottom.)

In switching over to toxic-free homemade products around my house, another really easy, no-brainer was the hand soap.

I thought about simply posting the two-ingredient "recipe" for hand soap, but I want to do just a little bit more. It's easy to say we're replacing the store-bought stuff because of all these chemicals we keep talking about. But why specifically should we avoid it? What exactly is in that stuff and do we (ever) want to use it on our hands?

So I did two things. I looked at the labels on the bottles of store-bought hand soap that I have in the house (which are now the old bottles refilled with the good stuff) and I did a google search - "what is bad about hand soap."

I want to start with what I learned doing the google search. A lot of the links on the first page talked about why antibacterial soap isn't so great (this one says "residue-producing antibacterial soap may kill normal healthy bacteria on the skin as well as unhealthy bacteria, allowing resistant bacteria to take its place"), one was a great article worth reading called The Benefits of Using Real, Natural Soap, and two talked about an ingredient called Triclosan.

***

Triclosan

The Benefits of Using Real, Natural Soap:

"Antibacterial and antimicrobial soaps often contain triclosan. Triclosan is a toxic chemical that is known to cause cancer. According to the National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides (NCAMP), manufacturers of a number of triclosan-containing products claim that the active ingredient continues to work for as long as 12 hours after use. Consumers are, therefore, exposed to triclosan for much longer than the 20 seconds it takes to wash their hands or face."

Triclosan, A Chemical Used in Antibacterial Soaps, is Found to Impair Muscle Function:

In recent years, research has shed light on a number of problems with employing triclosan so widely. Studies have shown that the chemical can disrupt the endocrine systems of several different animals. Additionally, triclosan penetrates the skin and enters the bloodstream more easily than previously thought, and has turned up everywhere from aquatic environments to human breast milk in troubling quantities.

...Triclosan impairs muscle function in both animals and humans...The chemical hinders human muscle contractions at the cellular level...

“Triclosan is found in virtually everyone’s home and is pervasive in the environment,” said lead author Isaac Pessah. “These findings provide strong evidence that the chemical is of concern to both human and environmental health.”

According to Triclosan's Wikipedia article, "Two reports . . . suggest that triclosan can combine with chlorine in tap water to form chloroform, which the United States Environmental Protection Agency classifies as a probable human carcinogen, meaning it likely causes cancer.

***

Is it actual soap?

I'm looking at my 64 fl.oz. refill bottle of Image Essentials Aquarium Liquid Hand Soap that I bought at Target awhile back. I'm wondering what these ingredients are and if this is actually real soap or just a bunch of synthetic chemicals.

(information comes from the Cosmetics Database)

Water

Sodium Laureth Sulfate (foaming agent...may be contaminated with potentially toxic manufacturing impurities such as 1,4-dioxane* and ethylene oxide**)

Cocamidopropyl Betaine (a synthetic surfactant. It was named 2004 Allergen of the Year).

Decyl Glucoside (a glucose-based surfactant)

Sodium Chloride (an inorganic salt)

Fragrance

DMDM Hydantoin (an antimicrobial formaldehyde-releaser preservative. Strong evidence of human skin toxicant or allergen. Contamination concern of formaldehyde, which is a known carcinogenic.)

PEG-120 Methyl Glucose Dioleate (a surfactant and emulsifier, used as a thickener. There are contamination concerns of 1,4-dioxane* and ethylene oxide**)

Tetrasodium EDTA (a chelating agent, used to sequester and decrease the reactivity of metal ions that may be present in a product. Classified as expected to be toxic or harmful. Enhances skin absorption.)

Sodium Sulfate (an inorganic salt)

Polyquaternium-7 (a synthetic polymer. Classified as expected to be toxic or harmful. Suspected to be an environmental toxin.)

Citric Acid (in this case, it's used as an acidity adjuster)

Poloxamer 124 (a synthetic surfactant)

PEG-7 Glyceryl Cocoate (This synthetic polymer is based on PEG (polyethylene glycol) and fatty acids derived from coconut oil. Due to the presence of PEG, this ingredient may contain potentially toxic manufacturing impurities such as 1,4-dioxane* and ethylene oxide**)

Red 33 (a synthetic dye produced from petroleum or coal tar sources. Widely used FD&C and D&C colors are coaltar (bituminous coal) derivatives that are continuously tested on animals due to their carcinogenic properties.)

Blue 1 (blue dye)

*The carcinogen 1,4-dioxane contaminates up to 46% of personal care products tested. The chemical is an unwanted byproduct of an ingredient processing method called ethoxylation used to reduce the risk of skin irritation for petroleum-based ingredients. Though 1,4-dioxane can easily be removed from products before they are sold, its widespread presence in products indicates that many manufacturers fail to take this simple step.

**Ethylene Oxide is a known human carcinogen and a known human respiratory toxicant. It's a flammable toxic gas used as an intermediate and fumigant.

Wow. I'm officially disgusted. So this hand soap that my family used directly on their skin for months, contains 2 ingredients that may be toxic or harmful, and 4 ingredients that might produce carcinogenic by-products, including formaldehyde.

***

Carcinogenic By-products

Okay, so I just learned a lot by researching the ingredients on the back of my refill hand soap. I didn't have the first clue as to what these ingredients were, let alone their toxicity levels. And the most disturbing part to me are these two by-products that are known carcinogens (1,4-dioxane and ethylene oxide). So I did some more reading on them.

I found two write-ups about this on the ATTITUDE boutique website: FAQ Body Care and We think you should know (good to read for more of the whole story). Here's a good summary of what they tell us:

To save money, manufacturers use ethoxylated ingredients contaminated with 1,4-dioxane and ethylene oxide by-products, which are classified as carcinogens (groups 1 and 2), according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer. These industrial pollutants are not identified on the label, so it’s very difficult for the consumer to know whether a product contains them or not. Because these by-products appear in low concentrations, industry and the governments ignore them, hiding behind the age-old principle that it’s the amount that kills, thus tolerating these contaminants.

So the manufacturers and the government think that because these cancer-causing toxins are present in tiny amounts, that it's all okay for us? Are they serious? Oh, I guess it's just like how high fructose corn syrup is "okay in moderation"...although it's in everything. We are not a country of moderation!

On the 1,4-dioxane page of the Cosmetic Database website, you can see all "Ingredients potentially containing the impurity 1,4-dioxane." This takes you to a list of 1,813 ingredients. Of those, 649 are listed in products within their database (some of those ingredients at the bottom of the list are only in one product that is labeled as an "old product." But that doesn't mean it's not sitting on someone's shelf still being used).

And the top two ingredient winners are:

Polysorbate-20, contained in 4,750 products (within the database)
Sodium Laureth Sulfate, contained in 3,822 products

There are a lot of "polysorbates," "PEGs," and -reths" (laureth, steareth, etc.) at the top.

Okay, so what to do about it. The article Contaminants in Bath Products, which talks about 1,4-dioxane and formaldehyde, gives us a few tips:

1. Avoid using products that list ingredients that may be contaminated with 1,4-dioxane, including:

• sodium myreth sulfate
• PEG compounds
• chemicals that include the clauses "xynol," "ceteareth" and "oleth"

2. Avoid products that contain formaldehye-releasing preservatives, including:

• quaternium-15
• DMDM hydantoin
• imidazolidinyl urea
• diazolidinyl urea
• sodium hydroxymethylglycinate
• 2-bromo-2-nitropropane-1,3 diol (Bronopol)

That is certainly excellent advice. But when you're standing in the store, looking at the back of a label, are you going to remember which of the unpronounceable ingredients are the really bad ones? 

My advice: MAKE YOUR OWN.

***

Homemade Liquid Hand Soap

I didn't intend on this post getting so long. But the more I learn about all this, the more it just infuriates me that this is going on without most of the general public knowing about it (including me for years). I want to help spread the word. This stuff will kill you.

So, as I said in one of my previous posts, castile soap is an awesome natural soap that is plant-based. It is toxic free and not at all synthetic. It's REAL soap. I'm using it in my laundry soap, my dishwasher, my dish soap, as my hand soap, and will soon be using it in my homemade shampoo.

This is the proportion of how I like to make it (you may like it thicker or waterier):

In a soap dispenser, put in one part liquid castile soap, two parts water. Shake it up.

That's it, end of story.

Toxic Free: Cleaning the Bathroom

Going for toxic free cleaning in the bathroom is so super easy, there's no excuse not to do it. There are no recipes to search for or things to try and try again.

You need two things to clean your bathroom: Vinegar and Baking Soda.

For your sink, counter, shower and tub, mix a spray bottle with equal parts white vinegar and water. This will disinfect and get rid of any mold and mildew.

I tried it a while ago in our hard-to-clean-because-it's-so-tiny shower and it seems like it's taking longer for the pink stuff to return than from when I used Tilex.

For the toilets, just sprinkling some baking soda, spray some vinegar and scrub with the brush. This also has seemed to keep the visible yuckiness away for longer. 

I also mixed up some glass/mirror cleaner using this recipe I found. It works great. (update: my friend Amy just left a comment about using the vinegar/water mixture on the mirror too. I tried it and it works perfectly...no streaks! Yay for simplifying.)

The water/vinegar mix is a good all-purpose cleaner, not just for the bathroom.

These small and easy changes will be better for your lungs and easier on your wallet.

Toxic Free: The Laundry

Ah, the never-ending job (along with the dishes).

If you have any interest in "going green" with anything in your house, I would say ditching your laundry detergent is a must (switching to laundry soap instead).

According to this article on eHow, "detergent is made from petroleum products. It contains many preservatives and antibacterial agents, which do not have an agreeable smell. As a result, detergents usually contain heavy perfumes to counteract the odor."

Detergents contain surfactants, which help to reduce surface tension in water, thus allowing dirt to be removed. They can either be plant-based or petroleum-based. Surfactants are not a bad thing (soap is a surfactant), it's just that most detergents use petroleum-based surfactants.

The companies that make these detergents are not required to list their ingredients on the label. So there's no way of really knowing what's in there.

All this matters because detergents leave residue on our clothes and some gets absorbed through our skin from the constant contact. Read "The Truth About Detergent" (it's a bit heavy on the drama, but it gives you something to think about).

***

So anyway. After trying a couple laundry soap recipes and not liking them (because of the ingredients they used, not because of how well they worked) and doing a lot of searching around trying to find the perfect recipe...I decided to make my own. Here's how I picked my ingredients:

1. Castile Soap. Bottom line, what do we need to clean our clothes with? SOAP. And I want one that's 100% pure and natural.

2. Washing Soda. One of its main purposes is to be a laundry booster. It's used in many homemade laundry soap recipes and I want to include it for a little extra kick.

3. Vinegar. Under the "laundry" tab on the 1001 Uses for Distilled White Vinegar, it lists 20 reasons to use it in the laundry (removes stains and odors, reduces static cling, prevents yellowing, attacks mildew, acts as a fabric softener, brings out bright colors, etc.). Seems like a good thing to include.

So here's my recipe (and yes, it's getting my clothes clean):

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap

1 cup liquid castile soap
1/2 cup washing soda
1/2 cup white vinegar

Heat 2 cups of water on the stove over medium heat. Add washing soda and vinegar and stir until dissolved.

When it has cooled, funnel into a one gallon container (like a milk jug) and add castile soap. Fill the rest of the way with cold tap water.

Use 1/4 to 1/2 cup per load.

***

This costs less than half of what we were paying for our detergent (and we always bought the cheapest we could find).

My decision to Green Clean (Part II)

In my last post, I talked about the reasons to rid our houses of all these store-bought cleaning products and personal care products that contain many, many toxic chemicals that enter our bodies. I have no doubt that over time, it must have a negative affect on our health.

Replacing all store-bought cleaners with homemade ones takes some effort in the beginning - researching ingredients (what to use and where to buy), finding recipes, trying things out and then trying something different if it doesn't work - but once everything is in place and you find what works for you, then you can easily continue with little effort.

And of course the reason I'm doing all this is to hopefully make it easier for someone else to get started by sharing what I've learned.

***

A look at what needs to change

Okay, so after I made my commitment to stop using store-bought cleaners and detergents, I had to look at what products I needed to make for myself. At first, it felt a bit overwhelming, so I made a list and started one at a time. I'm still not completely done, but I've made some great progress.

Here are the things that I needed to work on for my house:

Laundry
Laundry detergent

Kitchen
Dishwashing detergent
Dish soap for handwashing
All-purpose cleaner

Bathroom
Toilet cleaner
Sink/Counter/Shower/Tub cleaner
Mirror/Glass cleaner

Personal Care Products
Hand Soap
Shampoo
Bar soap for the shower*
Toothpaste*
Deodorant
Lotion

* for now, these two things I will just buy all-natural products. I'm not ready to make my own soap...and I have to get a little braver to make my own toothpaste, but I'm sure I'll get there eventually.

Up to this point, I have pretty much tackled everything except shampoo and lotion and I'm pretty happy with what I've got so far.

One entire category that I personally don't have to worry about is make-up - I haven't worn make-up since my first child was born - so I can't speak to that. I have no idea if making your own is possible, but I know that all store-bought products are NOT created equal. I would suggest buying only truly natural products (which I'm sure are more expensive). To see where your current make-up products stand, find out at cosmeticdatabase.com.

***

Store-bought is out the window...now what?

5 ingredients you'll need 

Let's talk about ingredients for making your own cleaners. Here are the basics that will get the job done:

White Vinegar - It kills mold, bacteria and germs. A great natural disinfectant!

I just found this website for 1001 uses for white distilled vinegar. So there you go.

Baking Soda - I think we all know about baking soda. It works as a mild abrasive, a deodorizer, and a stain remover. It's a great cleaner, especially when mixed with vinegar.

10 Uses for Baking Soda
27 Ways to Clean with Baking Soda
51 Fantastic Uses for Baking Soda

Washing Soda - Washing soda is baking soda's cousin. They are similar, but not the same. I'm not going to get into the chemistry that makes up the difference, but basically, washing soda is a wonderful ingredient to include in your cleaners.

Arm & Hammer makes this product (I'm not sure if there are other brands) and on the box they call it a "Detergent Booster and Household Cleaner." It also says it "cleans grease from indoor and outdoor surfaces all around your home." In addition to cleaning surfaces, it can also be used in the laundry and on dishes.

Washing soda can be found in the laundry aisle, or make it yourself by baking some baking soda in the oven (I think that saves a little money).

Castile Soap - This is a type of soap that is made from vegetable oil (usually olive oil) and is pure and natural...no harmful chemicals added. It can be used on your dishes, in the laundry, as a general cleaner, as hand soap, as shampoo or body wash. Pretty much anything you need to clean with soap!

I have just recently discovered this stuff and it's my new best friend. I'm using it in a lot of my recipes and I'm very happy with it.

As far as where to find it, I think you're limited to health food stores, specialty shops that sell natural products, or the internet. I bought a gallon of liquid castile soap and several bars on amazon.com.

(I'm noticing how much the prices fluctuate from day to day on these soaps on amazon. Prices have gone up on both the products I bought.)

Dr. Bronner's is a popular brand that most people say is really good quality - therefore worth the price. The bar soap I bought was Dr. Woods - a little cheaper than Bronner's - and I think it's fine. For me, I had to get over the initial price-shock of buying it in bulk. But ultimately, per batch of whatever-you're-making, it's cheaper than store-bought equivalents.

12 Great Ways to Use Castile Soap 
How to Use Castile Soap

Lemon Juice - It's a natural cleaner and degreaser. I'm currently only using it in my dishwashing detergent, but here are 24 Things you can clean with a lemon.



***

What to think twice about buying

There were two products I bought when I started doing all this. They were mentioned in recipes and I bought them without doing any research for myself - just assuming they were fine and all natural. After doing some reading on them, I have decided to keep both out of my toxic-free recipes.

Fels-Naptha. This is a "heavy duty laundry bar soap" as described on their packaging. It is used to pre-treat stains. I saw it mentioned in a few recipes for homemade laundry soap and hand soap (grated and melted).

I realized, after reading the ingredient list on their website, that this bar soap includes talc. That is an ingredient to stay away from. It's a suspected carcinogen (read more: Risks of Talcum Powder and Talcum Powder and Cancer).

Borax. If you've never heard of this (like me 2 months ago), it's basically a natural mineral based on the element boron, that can be used as a cleaner and can do many other things (like kill insects). The most common brand of this is 20 Mule Team (marketed as a "Detergent Booster"). Borax is an ingredient in MANY, MANY homemade cleaning recipes.

So, I bought a box right off the bat (76oz for $3.something) and started using it as part of an all-purpose cleaner and in my laundry soap. Then I came across this article: Avoid borax in your green cleaning products. Since then, I have been trying to locate a difinitive answer as to whether or not this is 100% completely safe to use. That has been hard to do.

From what I've gathered, borax is harmful if ingested in large quantities (like many things are, but that doesn't mean small amounts aren't perfectly fine), and can irritate the skin. It may or may not be linked to reproductive toxicity (I've read conflicting reports). The cosmetic database gives it a "moderate" score for "overall hazard" and the good guide says the ingredient Sodium Tetraborate Decahydrate is suspected of causing neurotoxicity (which alters the normal activity of the nervous system in such a way as to cause damage to nervous tissue).

A lot of people say Borax to be perfectly safe, and maybe it really is, but I've read enough about it to raise a red flag for me personally. I have chosen to leave it out of my homemade recipes, and you'll have to decide that for yourself.

***

Okay, since this post ran a little long :) I'm going to take a breather. I'll continue later with the recipes I've gathered for happy cleaning.

My decision to Green Clean

We're going to take a side-step from food for a minute.

A couple months ago, I watched a documentary on Netflix that forever changed the way I clean my house.

The name of it is Chemerical: Redefining Clean for a New Generation (there's a trailer for it on their website). I definitely recommend watching it if you can. If you don't have Netflix, it's available on youtube for $2.99.

This documentary helped me to see just how harmful the toxic chemicals are in our everyday store-bought cleaners and personal care products. I had known some of this - mostly in a vague sense - but this helped me to really clarify what exactly we're putting into our bodies by using these products and that it truly is harmful to us because of the constant contact we're having with all of it.

In this first post, I'm going to give you the information I learned in the documentary. Following that, I'm going to share with you what I've learned about homemade cleaners and what I've started making for myself.

Making your own is cheaper than store-bought and absolutely healthier because you are eliminating ALL toxic chemicals and using natural ingredients.

***

Chemerical: Redefining Clean for a New Generation

The Goode Family

Throughout this documentary, the Goode family is followed for 3 months to see if they can go toxic free in their cleaning supplies and personal care products. They are a family of 5 (two teenagers and one in middle school), and live on a tight budget.

At the beginning of the 3 months, they have 40 store-bought cleaners in their home that are found to contain dozens of toxic chemicals. The home's air quality is tested in 3 rooms over 3 nights. There are found to be dangerously high levels of VOCs (volatile organic compounds) in the house.

Throughout the 3 months, the family is convinced of the benefits of natural, homemade cleaners and will not go back to the way they used to clean their home. Their air quality was tested again, and the toxic levels were much less than half of what it was before, bringing them down to acceptable and healthy levels.


Cleaning Products

• Americans are in contact with over 72,000 chemicals per year.
• Women who stay at home have a cancer rate 54% higher than women who work outside of the home (the narrator/producer's mom stayed at home and she died of cancer at 57).
• Chlorine is the #1 household poison.
• Napthalene - a chemical in carpet cleaner - is a toxin created from coal tar. It can damage your liver, blood, heart and brain.
• Ammonia and Chlorine were first used in WWI to kill the enemy. They were then reformulated to attack the new enemy: bacteria, mold and mildew.
• Residues from cleaners are left behind that you end up ingesting.
• Indoor air quality is 10 to 50 times worse than outdoor air, thanks in part to the products we clean with, known as VOCs.
• Over 2 million Americans have a condition called Multiple Chemical Sensitivity - a severe sensitivity to everyday chemicals.
• Every year, 10s of thousands of children under the age of 5 are poisoned by the chemicals found in our household cleaners and personal care products. Yet the chemical industry has convinced us that this is a suitable and reasonable risk to accept for having their products in our homes.

Natural cleaning products: Soap and water, Vinegar, Baking Soda.


Personal Care Products

Cosmetics. Your body absorbs makeup through your skin. You end up ingesting what you put on your lips, and you inhale what you spray into the air which gets absorbed through your lungs.

Fragrances. They are made of phthalates, plastic chemicals that will build up in your system and that have been associated with various types of cancer. Studies on phthalates have linked their use to a drop in male sperm count and a reduction in the birth rates of male offspring. Phthalates are in personal care products, cosmetics and hundreds of other items.

Parabens. They are a commonly used preservative in cosmetics, other care products and food. According to Wikipedia, "they are becoming increasingly controversial, however, because they have been found in breast cancer tumors. Parabens have also displayed the ability to slightly mimic estrogen (a hormone known to play a role in the development of breast cancer). No effective direct links between parabens and cancer have been established, however. Another concern is that the estrogen-mimic aspect of parabens may be a factor in the increasing prevalence of early puberty in girls."

Sodium Lauryl Sulphate. A foaming agent linked to known carcinogens that is in almost everything we use from toothpaste to dishwashing soap. Read more.

Talking with Stacy Malkan, author of Not Just a Pretty Face. In 2007, she looked at 33 popular brands of red lipstick. 61% contained LEAD. The companies she contacted said that lead is only a problem for children. Yes, lead is a neurotoxin, which can interfere with brain development and is most dangerous during developmental phases of children...but, where do they think children come from ("Pregnant women and women of child-bearing age are also at increased risk, because lead ingested by the mother can cross the placenta and affect the unborn fetus").

Personal care products are not regulated like food. Claims can be made like - Organic, Natural, Pure, Gentle, Dr. Recommended, Hypoallergenic, etc. and they mean nothing. They are without any legal standard what-so-ever.


Conclusion to the film

I wrote down two quotes that I want to end on.

"Gradually, there's an accumulation of these toxins in your body and over the long term they have a health affect on you."

"The changes that you make don't have to be expensive. It's about taking your time and finding out what works for you. If you try something and it doesn't work, try something else. And be willing to take that journey."