DAY 3: THE BATHROOM
Is there a room in your house that you dislike cleaning the most? The bathroom is probably high up there on mine as it feels like so many things are begging to be deep cleaned in such a small space?! The bathroom was hands down the area we used the most plastic in and probably the most amount of chemicals in before we started this toxic-free journey. Shampoo and conditioner bottles, new shower gel bottles weekly, toothpaste, sink cleaner, toilet cleaner etc. it added up fast and weekly we’d be creating A LOT of waste- and this was before we had a baby! Like I learnt with the kitchen, you need some key cleaning powerhouses and you’re all set. So many of these you will already have seen mentioned in previous posts, because, guess what, companies have scammed us for so long into us thinking we need something different for our toilet and something different again for our bath than what we need for our kitchen, and so it goes on, but we really don’t!
This is a long post….I hope you’re ready.
bathroom cleaner:
A few months ago we went ahead and purchased Thieves Cleaner from Young Living. I had heard SO many things through the Young Living community about this and that it was cost effective too. If you have no clue what Young Living is, a leading essential oils business, known for their seed to seal guarantee on their products: You read more here. The cleaner is made up Clove, Cinnamon Bark, Rosemary, Lemon, and Eucalyptus and alcohol- and it smells incredible. This combination of oils are thought to boost the immune system, promote respiratory health as well as having antimicrobial properties. The cleaner is thought to have over 20 uses, and I use it for EVERYTHING in the bathroom from the floor to the toilet, bath, sink and mirrors and windows.
The cleaner comes as a concentrate that is then diluted depending on what is being cleaned and what you need the cleaner for. I use an amber glass bottle (glass jars are recommended because the oils don’t do well in certain plastic) that I buy from over here with a spray attachment. You could also recycle a glass bottle you already have and just add the head attachment that you can also buy separately on their website. It is thought there are 60-65 capfuls of cleaner in each Thieves bottle and I use two capfuls into 500ml of water for my bathroom spray mix. two capfuls is recommended for medium grime and then you can add more or less depending on what you’re cleaning. So, this works out about- 30 bottles of cleaner= 72p per bottle which is way less than the other cleaning products I would be buying. Young Living is sometimes tricky, and people stay away because it’s a hierarchy scheme eg. You either have to come on board to buy or you can buy through someone you know who is a distributor with them. I personally like it, and love their ethics and the quality of the oils, so if you are interested chat to me to find out more! I am in love with the whole thieves collection and can highly recommend it and it’s efficacy. There’s also some other amazing uses for thieves over here.
Cleaning the toilet:
For general cleaning of the toilet I will use thieves cleaner and then for a deeper clean I will use oxygen bleach. This makes it sound like i’m cleaning my toilet everyday…trust me I’m not! Add a few tablespoons of oxygen bleach to the toilet bowl- wait 15 minutes then flush. You can also make a paste by mixing oxygen bleach and just a bit of hot water together to dissolve the bleach. Apply the mixture around the toilet bowl and let it sit for 20 minutes, then scrub and rinse away well.
tOOTHCARE
TOOTHPASTE
Toothpaste has hands down been my most problematic area since trying to go toxin-free and been more aware of the plastic i’m using. I’ve made my own multiple times and let’s be real it sucked and Joseph was 0% down to make it work. We then moved on to other toothpastes but these were in plastic, and then came the question of do we buy fluoride or non fluoride toothpaste, and higher than that was the question of are these even brushing my teeth at all and being effective?
We then, in a moment of running completely out of toothpaste delved back into the world of Colgate having to stop in at a local shop last minute and boy oh boy did our mouths taste and smell fresh and I really did love it ….even though I know this was probably all lies. Then, we recently discovered these toothpaste tablets from ecoLiving as I was doing a wider shop online for some other essentials. These happen to be plastic free and I think okay value for money as the toothpaste we had been buying before was so pricey. The first time I popped one of these in my mouth I wanted to laugh- it felt so ridiculous and I thought there was no way it was going to clean my teeth-but…so far so good! You literally put one tablet in your mouth and chew it until it foams up, and then brush your teeth from there! We love this brand, and purchase a few other things from their shop- they come in a home compostable bag or a tin (which make them really easy to travel with), and you can buy in various size bags. You can also choose if you want them with or without fluoride. They cost roughly £5.75 for 125 tablets (2 month supply) which works out similar to what we were paying on natural toothpaste anyway- they seem to be the cheapest ones I can find for now.
Other toothpastes we have bought and like:
-Kingfisher Fennel Toothpaste : Kingfisher Toothpaste is packed in boxes manufactured from recycled cardboard and its tubes are made from biodegradable cellulose.
-Green people, minty cool toothpaste - Fully recyclable tubes.
TOOTHBRUSH
When the world of bamboo toothbrushes emerged I wasn’t convinced. There was something that almost made me gag as I put a dry piece of wood into my mouth- it reminded me when I used to eat fish and chips on the beach as a kid and the wooden fork of the chips would stick to my tongue. We have purchased many, mainly from Amazon during our time and the biggest problem we have found with them is that the bristles kept falling out into our mouths as we were brushing. They were either too soft, or we found that many brands didn’t distinguish the toothbrushes from one another so we always got confused who they belonged to!
These are the ones we got on best with.
FLOSS
This is actually the only plastic free floss we’ve ever used which is made by Georganics and we have loved it!
Mouth wash
I discovered oil pulling back in Chicago when I was 18 and my cousin and all her American friends were raving about how white their teeth had got through doing it. They put a scoop of coconut oil in my mouth and told me to swish it around and there I was five minutes later with an achey jaw desperate to gag. I kept doing it and it got easier each day; I could do it for longer and I saw some changes in lessened headaches and better sleep!
Oil pulling is known to be beneficial for oral health: put a tablespoon of oil in your mouth, then swish it around for 15–20 minutes. It is known to reduce the amount of harmful bacteria in your mouth. The way oil pulling works is simple — when you swish the oil around your mouth, the bacteria get swept away and dissolve in the liquid oil. Oil pulling should work with any oil, but coconut oil is a good option due to it’s taste! When the 15/20 minutes is up make sure to spit it out, ideally not down the sink as it can solidify, and then brush your teeth as normal. It is up to you how often you do this! This is our favourite coconut oil.
Body Wash:
I shudder to think of the amount of original source bottles we used to go through- vanilla and raspberry was an absolute classic which if you type into the ‘Think dirty’ app (a great app that educates educates users on potential toxins in household) comes out as a shocking number 8 because of all the ‘fragrance’ it contains. Over 2 years ago now, I went on a soap making course and joined the cool kids making bars and fell in love with knowing more about what I was putting on my body. Switching to soap bars also meant we didn’t need to buy plastic bottles any more! Win win. I’ve made plenty of soap bars since and bought plenty too- mainly due to finding the time whilst running after a toddler. This is my go to soap recipe if you want to dabble, don’t freak out making soap is a lot easier than it sounds it does require you to get a few things to get going though! If you want any more details, feel free to message.
It took a little while to get used to soap bars. It always felt super old fashioned for me to use a soap bar- I remember my Grannie and Grandad always used to have a pears soap bar out on the side, but now i’m fully here for the bar soap.
It is cheaper for me to make soap, but when I haven’t got round to it, here are some other of my favourite brands we use regularly and I know cause no irritation to our skin.
-Dr Bronners- One of my all time favourite brands and if I had an unlimited amount of cash I would buy an unlimited supply of this unscented bar soap (a 0 in the think dirty app which makes me very happy)
-Faith In Nature- fragrance free soap
BATH:
We kissed goodbye to Radox bubble soak a long time ago and we replaced it with dead sea salts and epsom salts that AMAZINGLY we can pick up at one of our local package free stores, thank you to Zero Waste Larder. You can also buy them here.
HAIR CARE:
A few years ago Joseph decided he wanted to grow his hair long. The method he stumbled upon was the ‘no poo’ method and it worked so good and so fast! Saying goodbye to shampoo was not only amazing because it meant that toxins were out of our home in that area (and I find that getting Joseph to agree with some of my whacko trailing of non-toxic products is the hardest to convince) but it meant that plastic bottles for shampoo and conditioner were automatically out of our house. The method meant using bicarb as shampoo and apple cider vinegar as a hair rinse- two things we could access easily at a local refill store. I tried this for my own hair and while it wasn’t awful I found it really drying so started making my own shampoo bars instead. Again, soap making won’t be for everyone, but I just fell in love with soap bars in general in this process!
shampoo bars that we love:
Budget option: Friendly Soap - a great great company. EVERYTHING is ethically sourced! They get their shea butter from a women’s co-operative and the coconut oil isn’t produced using slave monkeys to pick the fruit!
More premium option: Ethique shampoo bar - They say that each shampoo bar is equivalent to 3 bottles of liquid shampoo. Ethique was founded in New Zealand, in 2012, and is on a mission to rid the world of plastic waste. It is proud to be a certified sustainable business that is also carbon neutral, plastic free, vegan, palm oil free, cruelty free and sustainable.
SHAMPOO AND CONDITIONER
I also always have shampoo and conditioner going that I can fill up from my local store. This tends to be Faith in Nature and it works great for my hair. Since lockdown, I think because I was more comfortable letting my hair get greasy because of not seeing people, it’s balanced itself out and now I only need to wash my hair every 4-5 days. Faith in Nature have a huge range of products and scents, but it’s the Faith In Nature Jojoba that I’m currently using and love. They only use 100% natural scents- which makes me happy. Their bottles are also made of recycled materials.
I recently was gifted product to try from KSONI. They make natural body care products in infinitely recyclable aluminium cans so their products are 100% plastic free! They have three collections and I chose the products from the rejuvenating range mainly because I saw they contained frankincense and bergamot oils and i’m a big fan!
The brand was started by two friends after seeing just how much impact plastic was having on the environment through a diving trip in Asia, and working within the health and beauty industry.
The products smell absolutely divine, they reminded me of some luxury spa experience and a took me back to a holiday Joseph and I went to Bali soon after we were married.
The shampoo is in a literal can which I thought was fun, and the image you can see on the far right is of the reusable Ksoni cap, which allows you to close your can when not in use and also precision pour so you only use the shampoo or body wash you need. The cap is biodegradable too!
My hair felt INCREDIBLE afterwards and so deeply nourished, I think more so than what I am currently using. They are made only with natural ingredients and are sulphate, paraben and SLS free.
They are definitely higher priced than what I spend now for shampoo and conditioner. The shampoo is priced at £12 for 250ml and the conditioner is £16 for 250ml. I don’t think they are overpriced because they definitely felt like luxury products made incredibly well they just don’t fit within our budget currently to buy again unless for a special occasion…because let’s face it they’re really good.
If you’re interested they’re available on the Ksoni website along with a few other stockists. There is also currently 10% off your first order!
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I (we) don’t use any other products on our hair, apart from if my ends are dry I add some cedarwood oil from Young Living.
Just a note to say that if you do switch to toxic free products for your hair and you’ve been using products that do contain toxins there will mot probably be a detox process that goes down! Just to encourage you that this detox period will end and you’re hair will be all the better for it! It’s a perfect time to go through it in lockdown though when you’re seeing less people!
TOWELS
A year or so ago I was gifted some incredible towels by my friends over at Arc Lore. They are made from organic cotton and dyes as certified by Global Organic Textile Standard ("GOTS"), the highest internationally recognised standard on the production of cotton. All their items are handmade in Turkey on traditional looms and are so unique and stunning. Check them out over here. We also love these SENTO bath towels from Ferm living which happen to be on sale on Trouva right now- we bought them on sale too.
That’s all for today. What are your favourite products to use in the bathroom, I’d love to know? Does the thought of making any of these switches scare you or excite you?
Tomorrow we will be taking a look at Self Care and Toiletries.
If you missed yesterday’s post on laundry you can find that here.
ps. Please note that most of the links to amazon are amazon affiliate links where at no additional cost to you I will earn a small commission if you decide to make a purchase after clicking through the link. I recommend these products because they are helpful and useful not in order to get you to spend money unless you feel you need them or they will help you on your journey!
pps. ‘Non-toxic’ is a claim in itself without regulation. When I use it, I am referring to products that don’t include ingredients linked to toxic responses (like hormone disruption, cancer, etc.) in humans.