When I realized how toxic my personal care routine was, these are the first 7 things I changed
I used to think I was doing pretty well when it came to clean living. I sprung for organic groceries, separated my recycling, and used soap and vinegar instead of heavy-duty cleaning products.
But over the last year, something just didn’t seem to add up. I was feeling slower and more lethargic... having trouble getting out of bed in the morning for the first time in my life. The crow’s feet on my face seemed like they were deepening and I was more hormonal than I ever remembered being.
One morning, I cracked open a new tube of toothpaste and got curious…. What was actually in there? I had to dig around their website to find the full ingredients list… and I saw things like:
Stannous fluoride complex… yes, that’s a type of fluoride.
Cetylpyridinium chloride… an antiseptic made from ammonia.
Sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) seemed to be in nearly everything. Soaps, shampoos, toothpastes, bodywash, detergents, and more. The International Journal of Toxicology recommends that you limit its use… but how can you limit it when it’s in everything?
Parabens were the last straw. After a bit of googling, I learned that they have been associated with disturbances in estrogen activity as well as premature aging. It hit me like a freight train. Is this why I was more hormonal? As I was getting older was my body more sensitive to these chemicals?
At that point, I started dragging a garbage bin around the house, throwing all those synthetic personal care products out. And then I went to the cupboards and chucked out the mass-market protein powders, greenwashed snacks, and questionable energy drinks.
For about an hour, I felt born again. But then a sense of panic started to creep up… what can I trust for personal care?
That started a months-long journey of finding, researching, and trying out self-care products that are toxin-free, and work as well or better than the mass-market stuff. And you can skip all that work by checking out the 7 best things I replaced those toxic products with (and 1 Bonus!).
#1. Anti-Aging Skincare That Doesn't Play Coy With The Ingredients
#2. I Started Taking These Vitamins To Banish Eye Drops For Good
#3. How I Keep The Shampoo While Skipping The Bottle (and the Hippie Hair)
#4. A dentist-approved solution to naturally fix your teeth and gums
#5. How I Fixed my 'Hormone Caused' Sleep & Energy Issues
#6. Zero-Waste Toothpaste That Works As Well As The Big Brands
#7. The RIGHT kind of Magnesium Can Send You to Dream Land
If you didn't know, Magnesium supplements are a lot of people's 'secret weapon' when it comes to falling asleep... But not all types of magnesium are created equal. Magnesium Silicate (aka talc), is used in sub-par supplements as a filler and anti-caking agent. This Talc is similar to asbestos in composition and can cause stomach and lung problems when inhaled or ingested (it's even been the subject of a few class action lawsuits!).
Thankfully Naturalstacks 'MagTech' Magnesium complex rides safely to the rescue. I was introduced to the magical stuff when hormonal issues were causing a lot of sleepless nights. These folks claim to have created the most bioavailable magnesium supplement on earth. Magtech uses three kinds of Magnesium to send you off to dreamland. 1) Magnesium Glycinate; to relax muscles 2) Magnesium Taurate; to calm your nervous system and 3) Magnesium L-Threonate; to relieve brain fog and memory problems associated with sleep deprivation.
This stuff has a permanent home on my nightstand.
Yes, You Can Purge The Toxins Without Giving Up The Good Stuff
The 7 products above are the cream of the crop, and I use every one of them almost daily. In almost all cases, they’re also small businesses run by people who really care about your customers, and all of them have excellent customer service (believe me… I called them.) So it’s really zero risk to try them and support a more ethical kind of capitalism.
Thanks for reading!