Personal Care Products
Here are some products that I use at home. There are dozens of healthy alternatives and I always recommended that people use one of the phone apps (EWG’s healthy living, Think Dirty, and detox me are three popular choices) to find products. A few general hints:
- Get unscented when you can
- Get clear over colored when you can
- Ignore marketing labels that say “100% Natural” or “Healthy”. Judge the product by the ingredients, or use an app.
- Use half the quantity (or less) that the manufacturer recommends, especially with dishwashers and laundry detergent.
- After several months of living clean, try going without deodorant. You may find you no longer need it.
Soap/shampoo
Dr. Bronner’s Pure-Castile Liquid Soap – Baby Unscented. We use this for hands, body, and shampoo. We dilute it with 50% water before we use it. We buy it in the 1-gallon container from Amazon because it’s cheaper that way.
Deodorant
Rocky Mountain Soap Company Liquid Crystal Deodorant, Tea Tree. You may find that after several months of a clean diet, you no longer need deodorant. I haven’t used deodorant in years (but I would never admit that in public). ?
Toothpaste
David’s Natural Toothpaste
Dishwasher
365 Everyday Value or Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds mixed with equal parts of vinegar. We only fill about 1/3 of the normal soap container on our dishwasher.
Hand Dish Soap
You can try Dr. Bronner’s Pure-Castile Liquid Soap diluted to 1-part soap to 10-parts water. If you have hard water, you may see a film on your dishes (these are mineral deposits). If you do, use Sal Suds.
Laundry
About 2 Tbsp of Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds per load.
General Cleaner for counters, mirrors, etc.
Distilled white vinegar.
If you need an abrasive for scrubbing, use baking soda, but be careful. Baking soda is alkaline, vinegar is acidic. Mix them and they heat up so use one at time.
Disinfectant
In the clinic we disinfect with Isopropyl Alcohol, but a safer alternative for the home is to first spray with hydrogen peroxide, then immediately spray again with vinegar. Click here for details.
Sunscreen
Cover up. Gradually increase exposure several minutes per day more. Also, keep your vitamin D levels between 60 and 100. If you don’t to cover up, try Attitude Mineral Sunscreen. Some people have luck with Organic Coconut Oil, but the SPF value is not too high, so fair-skinned people may need more.
I feel I should go into more detail with sunscreen because avoiding sunscreen may cause harm. Most dermatologists recommend sunscreen and they know a lot more than I do about the skin. Yet I avoid sunscreen. Why? I’m basing my decision on two factors. First, the active ingredients in most sunscreens are very foreign to our bodies and many are known to cause health concerns[1] [2] [3] [4]. In fact, I just read a study published last month, Jan 21, 2020, that shows that six different common active ingredients in sunscreen are systemically absorbed into your body[5]. The second reason is the correlation between skin cancer and sunscreen usage. Sunscreens became wildly popular in the last 35 years. During that time, skin cancer increased 300%[6]. Interesting, the hot, equatorial countries tend to have much lower rates of skin cancer than the US and also tend to use a lot less sunscreen than we do. Any good scientist will tell you that “correlation does not equal causation”. In other word, this isn’t proof that sunscreen contributes to cancer rates. I agree. It’s just my hypothesis. As with many topics, I am not an expert. I just do the best I can based on the studies I have read and on my clinical experience. Based on this combined data – I’ll avoid the sunscreen thank you.
Fruit and Veggie Wash
Spray with distilled white vinegar. Let set for 30 seconds, then rinse.
[1] “Sunlight-induced mutagenicity of a acommon sunscreen ingredient, Knowland J, et.al., Us National Library of Medicine, FEBS Lett. 1993, June 21:324(3):309-13
[2] “UV-induced DNA damage and melanin content in human skin”, TadokoroT, et.al., US National Library of Medicine, FASEB J. 2003 Jun;17(9):1177-9. Epub 2003 Apr 8.
[3] “1,25-dihydroxiyvitmain D3 enhances NK susceptibility of human melanoma cells via Hsp60-mediated FAS expression, J.H. LEE, et.al, European Journal of Immunology, 26 July 2011
[4] “Regulation of Motility, Invasion and Metastatic Potential of Squamous Cell Carcinoma by 1,25D3”, Yingyu Ma MD, PhD, et.ca, PMC, National Institute of Health, 2013 Feb 1; 119(3): 563-574
[5] “Effect of sunscreen Application on Plasma Concentration of Sunscreen Active Ingredients – A Randomized Clinical Trial, M. Matta, PhD; J Florian, PhD; R Zusterzeel, MD, PhD, MPH; et.al., Journal of the American Medical Association, 2020;322(3):256-267. Doi:10.1001/jama.2019.20747
[6] Melanoma, Upstream Downstream, Interdisciplinary Health Communication Program,
University of North Carolina Chapel Hills