4/2010
It was a little over 2 years ago that I began my journey towards healthy and green living. Like many people, I had been recycling my newspapers and plastic containers but that was about it. With a neighbor and friend, I went to a seminar at a local museum called "Non Toxic Living for Families". That changed EVERYTHING! I started to define my life in 2 segments. There was the "before" the awakening and the "after" the awakening. Before, I ate what ever I wanted without thinking about it. Seriously, I had really no idea where my food came from. I didn't know much about organics and I had no idea what CSA stood for.
Before, I didn't think about what I was putting on my body. I didn't know that the products I was using everyday were filled with dozens of synthetic chemicals, some of which are known to be dangerous. I just went to the discount store and loaded up on whatever was cheapest, came in the biggest container or I had a coupon for. I thought (wrongly) that in the US, whatever was on the store shelves was safe, tested and regulated by the FDA.
Before, I didn't think about what household products I used. I thought that I needed a cleaner for everything. I had all purpose cleaner, window cleaner, floor cleaner, carpet cleaner, toilet bowl cleaner, sink cleaner, stainless steel cleaner... My cupboards were full of cleaners. I thought that all my cleaning products were necessary. It was like a mystery in a bottle. There were no ingredients on the label but they worked so they must be some kind of miracle substance. Again, I thought they were safe, tested and regulated. Who knew I was so wrong?
At the Seminar I went to, I learned a few things. Well, actually a lot of things but the gist of it was that there are a lot of scary chemicals everywhere and in everything. I learned that children were more vulnerable. They I went home and freaked out. I went through my cupboards the next day on a mission to see if I had any of those dreaded chemicals lurking in my products. Well, what do you know? Every product had the nasty names that I had learned about. There wasn't one thing that was considered non-toxic, save my Bon Ami cleaner for the sink!
I spent a couple of, no DOZENS of hours on www.cosmeticsdatabase.com looking up my personal care products for a safety rating. Yikes! That was an eye opener. I ended up throwing out the one's that were rated the most dangerous. The one's that were moderate hazards, I kept using until they were finished. I mean, I'm not exactly made out of money and replacing EVERYTHING all at once was going to make me max my credit card. Slowly, I began buying safer personal care products from companies I had learned about on the cosmetics database. I tried to buy mostly from companies who had signed the Compact for Safe Cosmetics because this way I knew that none of the 1100 chemicals banned in the EU countries would be in my products (that's a topic for another day!)
After a few months, I began to experiment on my own. These new and safer products were really expensive. I spent a lot of time reading and researching and buying some basic ingredients. Then I spent even more time mixing the ingredients and testing the outcome. My neighbor and family members tested too. Some things were a flop, some were hopeful, some were down right great! I was on to something. I kept mixing and testing away in my kitchen until I was finally happy.
Success was nice but I realized the the journey was greater calling. I had "discovered" something I was really passionate about and that I loved doing! I mean, here I am in my 40's, three kids in school, hadn't been working for 5 years and wondering what I was going to do with my life. Then "POW", I realized I needed to share what I had learned and created with others. This is how Be Green Bath and Body was born. I'm so happy to be able to share my products,
that are safe AND affordable with others. I really enjoy experimenting with different ingredients. I love learning what the different ingredients do and about the healing properties of carrier oils, herbs and essential oils.
Since my journey began, I've learned a lot about what's in the products that you find on the shelves at the store. The average woman uses over 10 personal care products each day. Shouldn't we understand what's in them? YES, YES, YES! In the coming weeks and months, I'll be blogging about different chemicals you should watch out for in the products you are using. I'll tell you what some of the worst one's are, why they're bad, what types of products they're in and I'll offersafer alternative ingredients for you to look for.
So welcome and I hope you are ready to start or continue on your own journey.
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