I grew up in a product-junkie household. It seemed my mom, a cosmetologist, had every professional salon product available at the time. My friends loved looking in our cupboards and testing different things on their hair and skin.
Like many American households, we also had numerous cleaning products, candles, and air fresheners, tons of lawn chemicals in the garage, and gave no consideration to other sources of toxicity.
It wasn't until I was in my late twenties that I began considering reducing my exposure to toxicity. An author and radio host I listened to went through a horrific ordeal with toxic mold in his family's home. Once they were on the road to recovery, he and his wife began to use his show once a week to educate listeners on the steps they were taking to detox and live better.
At the time, their advice looked like deprivation to me. No candles? No great smelling lotion? No fabric softener? How sad.
It wasn't long after that I was introduced to essential oils. I quickly learned to employ these beautiful tools to transform our household cleaning and my beauty routine without any feeling of deprivation. We used them for everything from pest control to pesto. Not only were they safer, at a few pennies per drop, they were also less expensive and more effective!
Our body is beautifully designed to eliminate toxicity, but unfortunately, our modern lifestyles provide a greater toxic load then they can handle. Have you transitioned your household yet? What are some areas in which you still use toxic chemicals?
