Making everyday life a little less toxic…our current favorite natural products

It’s no secret that we are bombarded by toxins pretty much everywhere we go, from the air we breath(pollution) to the lotion we put on our skin so Jasi and I both make a conscious effort to minimize that where we can. Honestly it’s pretty much impossible to avoid toxins all together but you CAN take control and drastically decrease the amount you are exposed to daily just by making a few easy changes to your daily routine….like what products you use at home. We have tried a ton and will continue to try new products as we go but for now here are a few products we recommend:

• Natural deodorant. Not all are created equal so if you’ve tried some and hate them don’t give up there are good ones out there I promise! Our favorite right now is Schmidt’s Natural Deodorant. It comes in 2 forms- pot and stick. I personally prefer the potted one…for some reason I think it works better and my favorite scent is the lavender sage. There are a bunch of different scents to choose from and sensitive formulas as well if your skin reacts negatively to baking soda. Oh and you can get it online at Vitacost which is great and I’ve actually bought it multiple times at Marshalls for A LOT less. I really really really want to try Vapour Beauty’s new AER deo next. It’s definitely pricey but you can get the trial sample set with all three scents for $10 and it comes with a code for 20% a full size deodorant on vapourbeauty.com.
• Nontoxic body lotion. I’m sure you’ve all heard that whatever you put on your skin only takes 26 seconds to enter your bloodstream and that’s why we use cleaner ingredients directly on our skin! If you are sensitive to scents then you should definitely try this unscented one from Mineral Fusion. Right now I’m using these two from Shea Moisture here and here.
• As far as body wash goes I tend to use what I get for my kids. Right now we are using Everyone Products (EO) Lavender Lullaby. I usually order this from Vitacost but I found it last time at Marshalls for $6. I also love SheaMoisture Baby Chamomile and Argan Oil….it smells sooooooo good. If you are not into using kid products then this one from Raw Sugar is really good. I have their raw coconut mango hand soap by every sink in our house and not gonna lie I’m totally crushing on their packaging. Side note- Raw Sugar donates a bar of soap to a family in need for every product sold…hell yea we will support that!!!!
• Favorite natural toothpaste that is the closest to mainstream in texture and taste would have to be David’s Premium Natural Toothpaste. My kids have used Earthpaste in the lemon flavor pretty much since they’ve had teeth and they love it. Earthpaste does not have a foaming agent so it doesn’t foam up like you are probably used to but they love it. Van likes it so much that we have caught him literally sucking it out the tube, that boy y’all!
• Household all purpose cleaners that work for us are Method All Purpose and J.R. Watkins (the coconut one smells really good). Mrs. Meyers is also great but if you are sensitive to scents this brand may be a little strong for you.
• We choose to use physical sunscreen instead of chemical sunscreen- for our face we use this tinted Skin Ceuticals. It’s super thin and lasts forever because a little goes a long way. In the summer we use any of these on the whole family- Coola unsented (you can actually find this waaaaay cheaper at Marshalls), Suntegrity Unscented, and Bare Republic (make sure you get the one labeled clear)
• Makeup- honestly neither of us wear much makeup( Jasi literally wears zero unless she is going to an event). I usually fill in my eyebrows daily and if I feel a little pale I’ll put bronzer on. My favorite clean bronzer is RMS Buriti Bronzer. Super clean ingredients, gives the best sheen, and a little goes a long way so it has lasted me forever.

I think that’ll do for now. I have a ton of more clean product recommendations but I’ll save those for another day! It is easy to feel overwhelmed when you are trying to switch to a cleaner/greener lifestyle but honestly the tiniest change helps so try switching one product at a time if you find it overwhelming. And honestly if this isn’t for you then just keep doing what works for you and your family!

~Sonni