This post is sponsored by Mirum, but opinions expressed are my own. Before having kids, I made body care purchases based on smell and price. And, I made huge assumptions: it was on the shelf, it must be okay. Right? Toxins in our products? Who does that? Over the past eight years, we’ve come far in our family journey towards natural living. Still, one area of difficulty for me is replacing bath and personal care products. When transitioning your family to natural living, take time to clean up your bath routine!
Steps to Clean Up your Bath Routine
Changing personal care products has been challenging. Not all natural products work the way you’d hope. With my thick, curly hair, finding a natural anti-frizz product is hard! Locating natural products is difficult, too. I can’t go to the expensive health food store for every little item.
However, skin is our largest organ. Skin is our first barrier of defense against toxins. So it’s worth being cautious about what we put on our skin. After all, what goes on our skin, goes in!
Read the ingredients
The first step to clean up your bath routine is to read the ingredients! Reading labels can be overwhelming (especially when the text is so small!). It’s easier to know what you DON’T want to see. Be sure your bath product DOES NOT HAVE:
1. Parabens – a preservative.
2. Phthalates – an endocrine disruptor.
3. Formaldehyde – a known carcinogen with connections to asthma and neuro/developmental toxicity.
4. Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) and/or Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES) – skin irritant.
5. BHA and/or BHT – can cause liver damage.
6. Triclosan & Triclocarban – disrupts thyroid and reproductive functions.
7. Fragrance – brands don’t have to disclose fully and can include allergens and hormone disruptors.
Know a little chemistry! (just a smidge!)
The word “chemical” gets tossed around willy-nilly. Everything is chemical – water, for instance, is a chemical compound. But some chemicals are toxic or highly reactive (unstable), and create cellular changes when they interact with other chemicals (ie, the chemicals in our body cells/DNA!).
Our bodies are wonderfully designed to clear toxins that inadvertently get in. However, in today’s world, we’re overloading our bodies in quantity and levels of toxicity. The body can’t handle the volume and types of toxins!
As a “next step” in our family’s natural living journey, I’m re-educating myself about the chemicals in body products and finding replacement products.
We’re blessed to have a chemistry teacher in the house (hubby!). When reading labels, I ask him “What does… blah-blah-blah-oxide and yadda-yadda-ate mean?” He explains exactly how these chemicals react and bond with chemicals in our body cells. It’s scary the way toxic chemicals permanently bond to body cells, changing and taking over our body chemistry.
So it’s important to select body care products without harmful toxins like those listed above. Knowing what a chemical is and does motivated me to make healthy changes in our bath routine. (see my Cliff Notes above, but for details, visit the EWG.org site!).
Use a plant-based body wash
The toxins mentioned above simply aren’t necessary to get clean! I mean, how dirty ARE WE anyway!? Instead, look for a plant-based body wash.
Our family has enjoyed Schmidt’s brand of deodorants for years. Now I’m thrilled they’ve released a line of soaps and body washes.
The other day, I picked up their Jasmine Tea and Cedarwood + Juniper plant-based body washes at Target. I was not disappointed – Schmidt’s has excellent product consistency! My boys kept opening the caps to smell the natural fragrance, which they declared “delicious.” (We’ll work on appropriate adjectives later!).
I immediately tried Schmidt’s Jasmine Tea body wash to wash my hands and see how it lathered. Oh my word, I LOVE this light and refreshing scent so much! I may have to write “Mommy” all over the bottle so nobody else uses it. Plus, the scent lasts an incredibly long time! My hands smelled pleasantly of Jasmine Tea until well after lunch.
Jasmine Tea is truly a “delicious” and delicate scent. Smelling great is that “little something” that boosts your mood, too. For something more warm and woody, try the Cedarwood + Juniper.
Plus, the body wash lathered up well, especially considering there are no SLS ingredients (which is usually what makes the foam), so it only took a little bit of wash to get good, clean results!
So what’s in Schmidt’s body wash? Schmidt’s body washes are free of sulfates, PEG, artificial fragrance, and artificial dyes. Schmidt’s contains “none of the above” ingredients I warned about! Instead, Schmidt’s body washes use naturally-derived, plant-based ingredients like organic argan oil, ocean-based antioxidants (algeas!), and aminos, which promote skin hydration.
Change your bath routine easily
Sometimes natural body care products can be hard to find. But Schmidt’s Jasmine Tea body wash and Cedarwood+Juniper body wash is now sold exclusively at Target stores, so, pretty much anybody can get their hands on a refreshing-smelling bottle of natural body wash!
The body wash bottles are a generous 16 fluid ounce, so they’ll last our family a long time. And right now, take advantage of a Cartwheel app offer for 20% off Schmidt’s body wash (typically priced at $9.99). That’s a great savings on natural body care!
If you’re moving your family towards natural living, pick an area of life like body care to make small, meaningful changes. Clean up your bath routine and that’s one less area you have to worry about.
