Five Products You Should Swap To Low Tox
There is a misconception out there that if you live a low tox lifestyle, you have to eliminate all toxins in your life. This would actually be impossible because you are still going to be exposed to toxins and chemicals simply by living in society.
It is not about perfection, it’s about progress and improvement.
By simply editing some of the products you have in your home, you can make massive shifts for your health and well-being!
Let’s look at the five products that impact us the most and are also easy swaps for lower tox alternatives.
Tips to Get You Started
Begin with the products you use the most. This process can feel overwhelming if you suddenly look at all of the products you are using on a daily basis. But by choosing to “ditch and switch” the products you use most AND that you have personal contact with, makes it a manageable journey.
It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Take baby steps as you go on this or otherwise, you’ll become increasingly frustrated early on. I have taken over 8 years to get to this point and I am still learning about ways to improve upon my tox level in our home!
Look for transparency in a company’s product list. A list of ingredients is a good place to start and then look to the research a company offers when it comes to the products they have. (If you feel overwhelmed here, go back and read tip #2 again)
Learn how to read ingredients. Speaking of ingredients, become familiar with those listed on the products you use. If you are not familiar with an ingredient, look it up. The Environmental Working Group is a great place to start when it comes to understanding ingredients in the products we use.
The Top Five
Let’s begin with the FIVE products I think can make a big difference in most people’s lives.
Laundry Detergent
When we wash our clothes in a detergent that has a higher toxic load, our skin is going to absorb many of these chemicals when we wear our clothes. Conventional laundry products are notorious for their overuse of fragrance with many companies now using their “long lasting fresh scents”. Artificial fragrances are linked to multiple different health issues like breathing issues, headaches, dizziness, nausea, shortness of breath and more.
According to the Lung Association, “scented products can contain several toxic chemicals that constantly turn into vapour in the air and attach themselves to hair, clothing, and surroundings. One commonly used chemical is diethyl phthalate, which is used to make scents last longer. It can cause allergic skin reactions (contact dermatitis) and is classified as a skin sensitizer and a reproductive toxin.”
My Fav Low Tox Alternatives: dōTERRA Abōde Laundry Pods, TruEarth Unscented Laundry strips
Facial Cleanser/Moisturizer
We wash our face twice a day plus more often if showering. Our skin is our largest organ and it absorbs all of what we put onto our skin through over 2 million different pores. A study published in the American Journal of Public Health looked into the skin’s absorption rates of chemicals found in drinking water. It showed that the skin absorbed an average of 64% of total contaminant dosage. (1) . Products with fragrant ingredients have been shown to have upwards of 100% absoprtion.(2)
My Fav Low Tox Alternatives: dōTERRA (Verage Skin Care Line), Beauty Counter, True Botanicals (problem skin), Osea
Shampoo/Conditioner
The more I have learned over the years about hair care, the less I mess with my hair. For starters, I wash my hair once a week, unless I have a reason to wash in-between. Conventional hair care products are high in nasty ingredients that are not only not great for you but also for the environment.
Surfactants - these produce lather in your products
Fragrances - combine synthetic fragrances with phthalates (a carcinogen that is meant to have the aroma in your products last longer) and you are lathering your scalp up with a lot of toxic chemicals
Parabans - used as a preservative but studies have linked this to breast cancer
Emulsifiers - designed to improve the consistency of the product but have a negative impact on the environment (emulsifiers in food, once consumed, have negative impacts on your health)
There are plenty of natural hair care product lines out there that do not use chemicals or ingredients that are a concern to your health and the environment.
My Fav Low Tox Alternatives: dōTERRA Hair Care Line (shampoo, conditioner, leave in conditioner), True Botanicals, homemade dry shampoo
Sunscreens
Sunscreens can offer some protection if you are out in the sun for long periods of time (however, I think the best protection against the sun is simply not to be in the sun for that long). The UV rays from the sun actually offer great benefits, the main one being that they contribute to your Vitamin D levels. When we use sunscreens, we block the ability of our body to mix UV rays with cholesterol and make vitamin D.
Conventional sunscreens are notorious for using ingredients that are linked to many different disease processes, including cancer and hormonal issues. The EWG states, “In 2019, when the federal Food and Drug Administration - the agency that governs sunscreen safety - proposed its most recent updates to sunscreen regulations, it found that only two ingredients, zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, could be classified as safe and effective, baed on the currently available information. But in the past year, numerous new studies have raised new concerns about endocrine-disrupting effects from three other ingredients: hemosalate, avobenzone, and oxybenzone.”
These ingredients have been linked to hormone disruption, skin reactions, low testosterone, endometriosis, and more.
My Fav Low Tox Alternatives: dōTERRA (coming July 2022), ThinkBaby, Beauty Counter
Toothpaste
Inevitably when you are brushing your teeth, you are going to be exposed to ingredients you wouldn’t normally consume but will. Ingredients in conventional toothpastes to have concern about include artificial flavouring, artificial colouring, artificial sweeteners, diethanolamine, fluoride, parabens, microbeads, and more.
You can make an incredible DIY toothpaste with coconut oil, baking soda and your favourite essential oils (I love Peppermint).
My Fav Low Tox Alternatives: dōTERRA OnGuard toothpaste, Attitude (adults and kids)
A note on Baby & Child Care Products
If there is one thing I would urge parents to look at it, it is the impact of the baby and kid care products we use on our children: Shampoos, conditioners, bubble bath, cleansers, acne treatments, toothpastes, sunscreens, and more.
Johnson & Johnson, a “trusted” company by so many families worldwide has had multiple law suits brought forward on them due to the ingredients they have used in their products. As of February 2021, the company faced 27,168 talcum powder lawsuits, with victims complaining of ovarian cancer and mesotheliomas, a type of cancer occurring in the tissue layer covering internal organs.(3)
Johnson’s Baby Head to Toe Wash rates a 5 on the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Database due to it’s possible links to cancer, allergies, developmental and reproductive toxicity, and immunotoxicity.(4)
My Fav Low Tox Alternatives: Hello Bello, Attitude, The Honest Company
Where to Buy Low Tox Products
Most of these products are not available through conventional stores like grocery stores, Walmart or Target. I purchase most, if not all, of our products online and direct ship to our home.
SOURCES
Brown et al. The role of skin absorption as a route of exposure for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in drinking water. Am J Public Health. 1984 May; 74(5): 479–484.
Robinson et al. The Importance of Exposure Estimation in the Assessment of Skin Sensitization risk. Contact Dermatitis 2000; 42:251-259.
https://www.visiontimes.com/2021/06/10/johnson-and-johnson-lawsuits-us.html
https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/products/874578-Johnsons_Baby_HeadToToe_Wash/