My Top 5 Tips to Ditch and Switch Your Products
1. Cut the candles, air fresheners and plug ins out. Did you know that burning a regular ole' scented candle for an hour is about the same in toxins and harm for your health as smoking a cigarette for an hour? Yes, research is proving this -- I didn't just make it up. Crazy, right?!?! So what can you do instead? Purchase natural beeswax or soy candles that are scented with essential oils. Even better? Purchase a Young Living starter kit and diffuse oils within your home for therapeutic benefits as well as for their amazing scents! Check out my clean home diffuser blends for some of my favorites!
2. Download the Think Dirty app and scan your beauty and cleaning products. Nothing can make you feel more icky than scanning the products within your home on the Think Dirty app, only to discover that they have the worst ratings out there. Seriously, it's a game changer when you scan your shampoo and you see right there that it DOES cause cancer, reproductive issues and more.
3. Label Read. Don't just be a sucker for anything that says "natural" on it. Anything can be labeled natural because there's no FDA standards for that. You have to actually flip the bottle over and read the label. Look for minimal ingredients, plant based ingredients and words you can pronounce. If you don't recognize a word, Google it or scan the item on your Think Dirty app. If you don't like what you see, toss it!
4. Stop the Brand Loyalty. I get it, I'm a girl too and I know how we are...we love our beauty products and once we find a good one, we're never going back. Well that's fine and all, but just stop and think about your health. Think about your future and your family's health. Why do you think cancer is so rampant these days or auto immune disorders? Or allergies and hormone issues and infertility? Or awful sleep cycles and loads of medicine that we take daily just to function? It's because we are giving our body chemical, after chemical and toxin after toxin. Whether we lather it on or whether we eat it...all of those toxins pile up and become a huge problem that we don't even realize. Our body gets to where it can't even break them down anymore because it is on overload!
5. Decide what's important. I'm not perfect and many others who take a more natural, chemical free route are not either. I allow myself food indulgences that I enjoy and I maybe once a year go get my nails done. But for the most part, the products that touch my skin or the products that I clean with, are toxin free. The food I can buy that is organic or preservative/artificial free -- I do! It's not about not enjoying life or the good things, it's about finding NEW good, healthy things and then occasionally enjoying the not so good things.
So what to ditch and what to switch to? Well, let's be honest...MOST items that you pick up from most big box stores, don't likely make the cut. There are some great ones out there though with good ingredients -- Seventh Generation is an okay brand to me and Shea Moisture from Wal Mart has good ingredients (hope your hair responds better to their hair care than mine did). There are definitely brands and products out there waiting for you, you just have to look and label read. I can knit pick and find things wrong with other mainstream natural brands, but I will say it over and over --- any switch is better than using the regular garbage sold to us. So even if you're product is only free of a few toxins, but may still contain a few artificial ingredients, it's likely safer than just the popular, non natural version of it.
But what do I personally love and use? Hands down, it's Young Living. I've been experimenting with brands and products for years now -- some I seeked out and some were sent to me for blog reviews. Sure there ARE good ones out there, but Young Living is just different to me. There's a seed to seal guarantee like no other, the products actually work and oh by the way, my hair feels great again thanks to their hair care. AND I get money back on my monthly purchases to buy my family free things that we need and want. I love buying my products from an ethical and customer oriented company that takes care of its employees rather than plopping their products on shelves at Target (but sidenote -- I do LOVE that you can now find more natural items at Target!). They help build entrepreneurs up and take care of their members. Their ethical standards are out of this world -- all the way down to checking some of their crops hourly just to make sure it is picked at its prime time! Their seed to seal guarantee promises you that from when the time it was a seed to the time the oil goes under a sealed cap, there was nothing artificial to touch that oil. No fertilizers, pesticides and no solvents used to extract it, etc...
Curious about using Young Living or making the switch? Then visit here or shoot me an email. But just curious about ditching your products and making slow changes, then GREAT too! Any small change, is a great thing!
If you want to attend my virtual Ditch and Switch class, visit my private Facebook group and request access for a class happening this week! I would love to have you!! We frequently host classes to help educate people on choosing safer oils and products.
Have a beautiful, oily day! And have fun doing the Ditch and Switch!
Sasha