officially called crazy

This process can be and is completely overwhelming.  Realizing that you have about 8 kazillion toxic chemicals in your home.  Either they are going down the hatch or you are smearing it all over your body or breathing it in.  Whatever it may be, it's quite terrifying.  Knowledge is power right?

So.... it all began a few years ago attending a Green Cleaning Party.  A friend taught us how horrible 'normal' cleaning products were and that they were very toxic.  We learned how to make a few key cleaning products with safe non-toxic ingredients.  Recently I became more aware of personal care products and makeup toxicity.  Holy moly did I freak out...  Plus a little more healthy organic options never hurt anyone anyways right?  First step.  Prove to your husband you are not crazy.  mmmm okay slightly crazy is okay.

Safe house cleaning products
Homemade cleaning ingredients typically include white vinegar, baking soda, castile liquid soap, pure essential oils, club soda, olive oil, etc.  Curious about my recipes you can find them in this book: Clean House Clean Planet.  A few things I purchase like hand soap, laundry detergent and dish soap by brands such as 7th Generation, Honest Company and Mrs. Meyers.  Just changing those products alone from chemical based to natural safer ingredients made a huge difference for me in cleaning.  I felt like I wasn't poisoning our little family including our four legged animals and then I also didn't mind cleaning as much.

Safe personal care products
I started thinking about my personal care products and looked up some of my daily products I used on EWG Skin Deep and the Good Guide.  (note: some products have limited information or none so you will have to look up ingredients)  Insert terrified look.  I either threw them in the trash or returned the unopened items, almost $400 worth of items that were from either Ulta, Sephora or Target that were in boxes including makeup, face wash, face lotion, shampoo, conditioners, deodorants, sunscreens (spray that the hubs used), toothpaste, etc.  This is when Joe really thought I was crazy and going off the deep end.  I mean he thought I was crazy for making my own cleaning products at the start.  There are still a few items we will finish using until the end to find alternatives (for example, eye drops, eye contact solution, nail polish, nail polish remover, etc). OH and candles...  UGH!  I returned all of them, except the two that were partially burned.  Now I'm on the hunt for non-toxic candles which appears to be 100% bees wax.

Here are a few personal care items I started out with:
-Nature's Gate toothpaste
-Nubian soap in lavender and shea butter
-Acure shampoo + conditioner
-Acure facewash + toner + day and night face cream + eye care + mask
-Organic un-refined virgin coconut oil
     -face scrub - 50/50 - un-refined virgin coconut oil + brown sugar
     -hair masks - 100 - un-refined virgin coconut oil - leave in for 30+ minutes and wash / condition as usual
     -deodorant
           -hard stick - un-refined virgin coconut oil + corn starch + pure baking soda + beeswax (recipe)
           -soft (jar) - 3 tbs un-refined virgin coconut oil + 2 tbs corn starch + 2 tbs pure baking soda
-100% pure tea tree oil - zap those unwanted zits

Safe makeup

As far as makeup goes, the majority of it went in the trash.  Sad, but true.  Either it was ancient and I didn't use it or I realized that it was highly toxic.  Causing cancer!?!  High in metals!?!?  Toxic stuff that goes into your blood stream!?!?!?  AHH!  Near the end of the process I was left with nearly no makeup. crap!  Plus I had decided I was wearing way to much makeup anyways and I feel more free with less.  So as of right now this is what I am using.

Here are a few makeup items I started out with to try:
-Alima Pure Foundation
-Alima Pure Powder
-Alima Pure Concealer
-Alima Pure Blush
-Alima Pure Bronzer
-Honeybee Garden's Truly Organic Mascara

Casual barely there makeup for a more dewy natural look:
-Juice Beauty CC cream - this is very, very sheer - not for you if you are looking for coverage, but does give you a nice glowy look.  PLUS it has 12 benefits to increasing the beautify of your natural skin!
-Juice Beauty Powder

I kept the Tarte Amazonian MATTEnificent Clay palette.  It seems to be fairly clean and I wasn't able to return it.

So in the end...
I will say that just because an item says organic or natural doesn't mean it is completely clean and low in toxins.  I've purchased items at Whole Foods thinking it was 'clean' and realized that it wasn't so I had to return them.  Lesson learned there.  So make sure you look products up before you purchase them.

Curious on how your products rank? Check out EWG Skin Deep and the Good Guide to find out what was in your products.  They even have aps for your phone.