It’s said that a healthier home is the key to a healthier life. The pandemic definitely made us realize how important that is.
You may not realize it, but you may be unintentionally using home-cleaning products that are not healthy. Swapping to products that minimize environmental toxins is easier than you think. It is also one of the best ways to combat the harm we are putting on the environment.
What You Can’t Control
Before making the swap to a healthier home, you must first determine which factors you cannot control. This includes things that emit toxins, such as your home’s paint, construction adhesive, and even your couch, carpet, and curtains.
What you can do is lessen the effect of the toxins they shed. A study conducted last 2016 by the American Chemical Society saw that indoor dust is a mixture of different toxins such as flame retardants, pesticides, and metals like lead, mercury, and arsenic.
Make sure you’re regularly cleaning your home of indoor dust to lessen exposure to these different consumer product chemicals. It sounds scary but don’t despair, you can control some factors.
Cosmetics
There are a lot of toxins in our cosmetics that we may not know about. One highly toxic one that may be present is paraben. The preservative has been linked to hormone disruption which may lead to implications that cause disruptions in the fitness and function of our body.
You may find paraben in various makeup, moisturizers, hair care products, and shaving products to name a few.
Parabens have also been linked to ecological harm, as low levels of butylparaben can cause complete bleaching of corals, as per a study conducted last 2008.
We recommend you swap your most-used beauty products, like deodorant and other skincare items that may contain paraben, to ones that don’t include this harmful ingredient.
According to Healthline, “if a product is paraben-free, the label will typically state “free from parabens” or “0% parabens” as a part of its packaging.
If you’re not sure if a product is paraben-free, you can look at the ingredients list on the back of the bottle. Methylparaben, propylparaben, and butylparaben are three of the most common paraben ingredients.
Isopropylparaben and isobutylparaben also indicate parabens are present. The word “parahydroxybenzoate” is a synonym for parabens.”
Our Paragon Free Products
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Air Fresheners
These may make your house smell nice, but oh boy they’re bad! Air fresheners impact indoor air quality by releasing potentially hazardous chemicals that may find their way inside your body.
They emit VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) which can negatively affect your health in different ways, including eye, nose, and throat irritation, nausea as well as cause damage to your liver, kidney, and central nervous system.
If you are looking to make a swap to a healthier alternative, Altus Advantage now has aromatherapy essential oils available in the shop.
A low-cost and natural alternative may also be as simple as a pot of boiling water (or turning on the crockpot) and adding different dried fruits and spices to add a lovely fragrance to your home. For summer, I recommend adding lemon and rosemary and for winter, cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods, and cloves.
Cleaning Products
Ever used chemicals such as acids, bleach, and detergents to clean your house? Been there, done that! We all know how effective they are in cleaning, but only a few know how damaging they actually are to your health.
A 20-year long study found that the long-term effects of using these products can be as damaging as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.
If you’re looking for alternatives to have a healthier home, Altus Advantage offers a wide array of natural cleaning products that you can use to swap these dangerous chemicals.
Our solid dish soap uses natural and renewable ingredients and also reduces your household’s plastic because it comes in a reusable container.
As for cleaning the toilet, we highly recommend our potty bombs. They are made with a secret blend of baking soda, citric acid, peroxide, fragrance, and color. Each toilet bomb will fizz in your toilet bowl, cleaning it and refreshing the odors.
Another handy product to have on hand in your home is white vinegar. You can use it to deodorize, remove grease, and disinfect against common household bacteria such as salmonella and E. coli.
Laundry Products
Commercial laundry products also contain toxic chemicals. A common chemical found is formaldehyde which prevents wrinkles and increases color-fastness and stain resistance.
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) says “The exact mechanism of action of formaldehyde toxicity is not clear, but it is known that it can interact with molecules on cell membranes and in body tissues and fluids (e.g., proteins and DNA) and disrupt cellular functions. High concentrations cause precipitation of proteins, which results in cell death.”
Our laundry detergent packs are a great natural alternative to these products. Each pack is made with unscented coconut soap, grated, combined with borax, and washing soda to give you clean clothes time after time.
