Going All Natural - How Easy Is It?

[J_trustno1]

I have always been very health conscious. I have cut down most of the refind foods in my diet since last 8 years (yes, I am guilty of eating wheat or brown rice though) and hardly any refind sugars (maybe once in while ice cream or chocolate but near cycle).

I have mainted distance from cosmetics and makeup because a) I didn't have enough time to waste on them b) studying science and especially majoring in chemistry makes you repell all these chemical filled substance.

I am very sensitive to perfumes because I get migraines from smells therefore I can't use them much either.

Anyway, let's get on with real details here. About 6 years ago I was very interested in finding out the ingredients in shampoos we use and I was faced with horror of all the toxic chemicals that are present in them as a result I decided to read out the labels and avoid most of synthetic ones out there.

I was again going through a list of carcinogens that are present in perfume (and animal counterparts), shampoos and cleaning detergents. I have been quite tempted to make my home based shampoos etc like the facials I do with natural ingredients. There has been a lot of information around the area on all the things that are slowly killing us through the cosmetic /cleaning /perfumery /personal hygiene industry.

Lot of things we eat or put on our skin isn't actually doing us much good. Most of them are leading to autoimmune diseases , diabetes, cancers and more. I can recall being informed about one of the chemicals used in labs causing memory loss while others being carcinogenic or causing respiratory problems.

But the real question that comes to play is that , do we really have all the time in our busy schedules to make home made products using all the natural ingredients?

 

[Deleted member 1860]

It's a very individual thing. If you have the time, go for it.

But, you're willing to pump your body full of drugs? Seems a bit counterproductive. I'd say they're more damaging than shampoo!

 

[jaccat]

I suffer from excema and have a perfume allergy. I stopped using everyday skincare products years ago as they were causing me all sorts of problems. I went cold turkey, right back to basics.

I stopped using shampoo all together, just washing my hair in water and brushing it a lot. It took a few months to adjust but eventually my hair became healthier than it had ever been, albeit it didn't quite feel the same as other peoples when touched. I also started making my own conditioner, simply stinging nettles steeped in hot water for a while. Sounds crazy, but really good for your hair, and it actually cleared up the scalp condition I was suffering.

I switched from shower gel, face washes, etc. to home made soap. That was a bit fiddly. You have to know what you're doing and have the patience to let the soap cure for a few months after you've made it. But I had no choice, nearly every soap I had bought made my fingers bleed. Even some of the more expensive stuff from health food shops.

I made my own moisturisers, sometimes lotions, sometimes I just used pure oils. You can use basic sunflower oil if you don't mind the smell!

I guess I did that for about five years. Good points: It saved me a fair amount of money. My skin was the healthiest it had ever been. I enjoyed experimenting with my own concoctions.

Bad points: my lotions didn't always come out. My hair was near impossible to style like you see in hair adverts! Because there were no preservatives in my products I had to store them in the fridge and they only had a short shelf-life. Setting up, getting all the base ingredients and equipment, cost a fair bit. And using soap long term isn't great for more sensitive parts of your skin.

Do I regret doing it? No. I use shop products now, but am careful to buy organic, chemical free brands that won't aggravate my skin. I still make my own soap though.

It's a fun hobby, and there are plenty of books out there, and websites, to give you ideas, if you think it's for you.

 

[Upside Down Eagle]

It's easy if you want to make some time for it :) It doesn't take "more time" really than using standard products. If you have a nature store nearby, just switch products.

If there is no nature store nearby, then I guess it takes a little more time, but it's worth it once you switch. Here's what I've switched so far:
I guess the only thing what would take more time is cooking. But in the end food that you have made yourself gives you more energy than the chopped up stuff that you can get in supermarkets.

I've changed all my shower & hygiene products, detergent and cleaning products to natural ones. Feels way better and no stench of toxic, which bothers me as well. I try to eat mostly whole foods, self made, rather than ready made from the supermarket. I can't say I feel like it takes a whole extra lot of time. It just requires a bit of a lifestyle change.

 

[J_trustno1]

Very impressive @jaccat and @Radise . I'm very happy to know that naturalists do exist. I'm having to re-type my entire post here because my previous post was deleted since I was on my phone.

I haven't used soap on my body for the last 9 years (almost 10 years). This is all because my skin was very sensitive and I was getting breakouts on my back, chest and face. So I had to cut out on all those soaps. I have been using aqueous cream to shower (it's all organic).

I had horrible dermatitis on my hands due to my obsessive hand cleaning and trying to keep up with my hygiene. As a result of that I developed sensitivity to chemicals in soaps. My hands were swollen and bruised due to that. I had several blood tests done for that condition but doctors couldn't find anything. My hands were sensitive to heat, sun light, warm water and they were itchy whenever foreign chemicals touched my hands (i.e. Powdered gloves). They were sore and I had pain bending my finger. As a result I had to stop washing them as much and I had difficulty having shower for 3 weeks. I couldn't even eat with my hands because they were badly swollen. I still get few swollen spots whenever I over wash my hands due to removal of outer skin layer and moisture. Therefore, I wash them with Non-ionic cream (organic cream) whenever I need to. I also make sure that my hands are well hydrated.

I have been searching for shampoo ingredients but not really sure what to use. The current shampoos I have are organic at least from the list of chemicals I have read on the label but you never know what these chemical companies are selling. I am sorted for my face care and natural facials. It's just about getting my shampoo and conditioner ready. I know that I can use diluted lemon or vinegar for conditioner as it helps to maintain balance of hair pH. But I am worried about using baking soda as a shampoo because I don't want my hair looking dead. I have oily hair (they become oily even when I am washing them every other day).

I'm not planning on using any hair coloring products instead thinking about using Heena in future when I start getting grey hair. With cooking, I don't eat takeouts. Most of the food I have is mainly veges, fruit, grains (I need to cut down on them because my my auto-immune disease).

Let me know what you have been using for shampoos, conditioner and household cleaning products. It'll be really good to have an insight into this.

Thanks for sharing this information with me. It's been really helpful to me :)

 

[jaccat]

My favourite company is Green People for skincare/shampoos etc. but they are expensive. I like their ethics. I do use their toothpaste as its SLS free.

Right now I am using MooGoo, Australian products. Not as expensive, but still pretty natural. They developed their original products to use on cows!

As for household cleaning I like bioD and Method. Don't know if you can get these in your country though.

You should be able to look up the ethics of these companies, and most others. Most usually tell you exactly what ingredients they use and where they come from too.

 

[Julesnaz]

My ex used baking soda and vinegar to wash his hair. Can't really say if it made his hair look dead or not since he had dreads and didn't really take care of them. I used henna before to dye my hair. Just a warning it's very messy.

 

[Upside Down Eagle]

I use coconut oil (pure, cold pressed) on my hair before I shampoo, because I treat my hair horribly when I'm triggered. really helps. Coconut oil is also said to be healthy in cooking, but with some recipes it can taste disgusting (in others it's quite nice).

But @jaccat is right about the products being expensive. It's more about money than about time, I think. Even if you just buy fastfood, it's way more cheap than when you go buy all the groceries and make something delicious.

I use products by Dr. Hauschka (toothpaste), & am trying products from the nature store randomly. I now have a shower gel that had been shipped in all the way from the US so in terms of environmentally friendly, you could question it. It's better to get things locally.

Btw if you have the time you can also fabricate your own shower gels and such. There's lots of pages about organic/natural living on the web that can tell you about it.

 

[J_trustno1]

Thanks @jaccat and @Radise. Really appreciate your help. I've been using organic conditioner and shampoo for the last 4 years, it's by an Australian company. Whenever I'm dealing with dandruff I use Tea tree oil shampoo made by NZ company. I've read their ethics and they do seem pretty decent.

 

[Freedomfighter]

Good post, when we start to really research what we use on a daily basis then we learn that chemicals rule, in food, in fabrics, health products, cosmetic products. The list goes on and on.
I am now producing a lot of those from natural ingredients. I like that and it also saves a ton of money, soooo much healthier.

 

[Nighthawk]

I had to go all natural due to my auto imune disorder. I definetly found that I had physical intolerance to a few foods. I first did an elimination diet and then started adding back food into my diet. Its was realy hard at first. The one thing I can say is I no longer crave food the way I used to.

Good luck

 

[Deleted member 28740]

Best site for finding out what is in skin care is SkinDeep ewg.org/skindee. (Environmental Working Group). Searchable data on products and ingredients, ratings for toxic content. For natural at home, natural-homeremedies-for-life.com