Kermit was right when he sang, "It's not easy being green".
Living in the south brings on challenges of its own. People in this area seem to very narrow minded. So, when they meet a mama that baby wears, cloth diapers, practices attachment parenting, makes her own laundry soap and is excited about planting an organic garden; I get treated like a leper. Of course my husband is "brainwashed" for being as into these things as I am. I would give anything to live in an area that is more open minded. I get tired of the snide comments, being called a hippie or the snide "we'll see how long it lasts." I have news for the critics. I'm not changing any time soon. If anything Shane and I have become even more dedicated to living as green as possible.
Green means so many things these days. For us it is our dedication to eating as naturally and healthy as possible, while reducing the amount of artificial chemicals in our lives. Recently, I've begun making our body wash, shampoo, conditioner and face wash. I even made some dish soap the other night which doesn't cut grease like I want so I will stick to my Babyganics Organic dish wash. Am I nuts? Quite possibly, but since becoming a mom I've become increasingly uncomfortable with the amount of artificial "man-made" chemicals in the products we use. It is sickening how many carcinogens get sneakily put into our products. I have finally started paying attention to labels and anything that could possibly toxic has gotten the boot. Has it been easy? Heck no.
I've found some great sites to help me assess the risk in the products we used. This is where I researched our personal products like soap, shampoo, makeup and toothpaste. http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/ This is a great resource if you want to find out exactly what is in that supposedly natural bottle of Johnson and Johnson Baby Wash. (It scored a 7/10, 10 being the most toxic) http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/product/99375/Johnson_%26_Johnson_Johnson%27s_Moisture_Care_Baby_Wash/ That's just one example. There are too many to list on here.
I'm going to end on that note for now. I don't do anything without massive amounts of research. It took me 2 months to decide on the laundry soap recipe to use for our family. That is just one example, but consider this: If I'm that anal about laundry soap, imagine how much research and thought I've put into products that my daughter uses. Like I said, it's not easy being green. The amount of crap you take from people combined with the amount of research is exhausting. I'm hoping that I can share my research on here for others to use so that they can save a little bit of time and be informed about the decisions they are making.
Thank you Ashley!. I've been seeing some of your posts on FB about how you make your own soaps and have always been curious. My boys and I have sensitive skin so anything to take out the unnecessary chemicals is worth the time to research.Just keep doing what your doing and be proud of yourself for all the wonderful things you are doing for you and your family. Boo to snide comments!
ReplyDeleteNo problem Kerri. Let me know what kind of products you would like to make for them and I will see what I can come up with and test on us. We have incredibly sensitive skin here too. I can't even use fragrance free fabric softener on my clothes without breaking out.
ReplyDeleteWe recently started trying Dr. Woods (cheaper version of Dr. Bronners) castile soap. You can always give that a shot. It doesn't break any of us out. In fact, Shane can't use shaving cream or soap when shaving his face because of the ensuing rash. This morning he shaved using castile soap and no rash.
I've got a few soap recipes I'll post later this week. We're still working on the right combo for body soap. I'm hoping to try my hand at goat's milk soap soon, but it takes a while to cure.