The Ingredient Geek

Swapping Toxins for Healthy Options

menopause

Avoid Synthetic Fragrances and Make Your Own Scent

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Avoid Synthetic Fragrances and Make Your Own ScentIf you’re like me with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (thank you menopause!) with a chance of a migraine, you’ll need to avoid synthetic fragrances and make your own scent (or go without).

Fragrance is everywhere and it’s not just in your perfume, it’s also in your personal care products. Because it’s classified as a “trade secret” companies DO NOT have to disclose what’s included and usually it’s hiding toxic chemicals.

Why use synthetic fragrances that can contain hundreds of toxic chemicals, when you can create your own? I like to put the scent blends that I create in a rollerball for ease of use.

Create Your Own Signature Fragrance

My current favorite personal scent recipe:

Base Note ~ 10 drops Organic Cedarwood (Rich, woody aroma… calming, soothing, grounding for mind & body)

Middle Note ~ 6 drops (USDA certified) Organic Peppermint (Cooling sensation … calming effect on the body, boosts energy, improves mental focus)

Top Note ~ 4 drops (USDA certified) Organic Sweet Orange (Citrusy yet sweet smell … helps uplift and energize the mind and body)

Fill rollerball with Organic Jojoba Oil (Jojoba is the perfect “carrier” to mix with any essential oil or oil recipe that comes into contact with the skin. The properties of Jojoba closely resemble the body’s own natural skin)

Here’s a great chart about Top, Middle and Base “fragrance notes” in the classification of essential oils. Let me know if you’d like get together to experiment making your own fragrance.

Be an “Ingredient Geek” and check the labels on all your home and personal care products ~ even so-called “green” companies often hide behind the word “fragrance”! My previous blog post What’s Hiding Behind the Fragrance Ingredient? gives you more information about this.

I recommend & use Pure Haven products because they disclose all their ingredients.  You will not see the word “fragrance” used in any of their products. They use unadulterated essential oils, tested for purity, at recommended safe levels in combination with time-tested, beneficial botanical butters, powders, extracts, oils, and waxes, to create a well-loved line of safe products. (More about why I chose Pure Haven here).

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My passion is to help families with Swapping Toxins for Healthy Options. I can send you a list of the top ingredients to avoid. Let’s start the conversation about ingredients in products with others ~ Contact me to speak to groups, companies, or a few friends gathered together online or in person. Making small steps CAN make a big impact.  Let’s continue the conversation in our Natural Non Toxic Living Group.

My Journey to Becoming an Ingredient Geek and Why I Chose Pure Haven

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Curious about my journey to becoming an Ingredient Geek and why I chose Pure Haven?

Day we adopted rescue Gracie @GracieGirlJourney on Instagram

Confession ~ I like to read.

When I say I like to read, I mean I REALLY like to read. A true Bibliophile with LackaNewBookaPhobia (fear of being without a new book). As a kid, I read the cereal box during breakfast, the shampoo bottle while washing my hair, and the toothpaste tube while brushing my teeth… you get the idea. I read long into the night with a flashlight under the covers. In fact, I still read under the covers so the light on my Kindle doesn’t disturb my hubby.

I’ve battled various skin issues & allergies including acne, eczema, psoriasis, & contact dermatitis my whole life.

One summer, my eczema got so bad my mom put the prescribed hydrocortisone steroid cream on the inside of my arms and wrapped them with plastic wrap. I slept with gloves on so I wouldn’t scratch! The doctors also tried an elimination diet where I remember ONLY eating green beans and drinking apple juice. I’m sure I probably ate more than that, but that’s all I remember from that time.  Side note, in addition to the red, itchy patches all over, I also wore glasses, had braces with full headgear, and had acne. Let’s just say, I was a vision to behold… and yes, I was smart, so truly a geek too.

My long journey of holistic & healthy learning

My Journey to Becoming an Ingredient Geek and Why I Chose Pure Haven

Us with our now Angel Ginger

Since I enjoy learning and researching healthy options, I’ve taken many courses. Everything from aromatherapy / essential oils, herbal remedies, and homeopathy. Thanks to menopause (aka mental-pause), everything got a bit crazy.  My hormones, thyroid, and adrenals got all out of whack. I began having a variety of extra health issues, including Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) and Environmental Sensitivities (ES). Many fragrances often give me a 3-day migraine. I started making my own products, which was rewarding, but time-consuming.

I wanted to find one place to shop for a full-line of personal care products

My hubby & I got tired standing over a hot stove melting beeswax for my eczema lotion. I saw a post about products made with great organic ingredients and essential oils. Praying that none of the products would irritate my skin or give me a migraine, I signed up as a consultant to get the best price. Thankfully, I loved all the products right out of my kit. It wasn’t until I started the training that I learned about “greenwashing.” I THOUGHT I was reading labels carefully & buying products that were safe, natural, and organic.

Taken in by clever marketing, I realized I was not only wasting my money, but also exposing myself to harmful toxins.  That made me angry!

That’s when everything changed for me. I REALLY started reading the labels of EVERY product we used. Roy says I’m now a “crusader” empowering families to choose the healthiest lifestyle possible. Unfortunately, many are unknowingly harming themselves with their everyday products! Take a look to see if you are Avoiding These Top Toxins. Unsure of the ingredients on the products you’re using? I’m happy to help you decipher them. I’ll honestly let you know if they look good, or if there are ingredients of concern.

Products that are guaranteed 100% free of toxins.

That’s just one of the reasons why I chose to become an Independent Consultant for Pure Haven.  They create fresh products, made in small batches, free of toxins, environmentally sustainable, gluten-free, and cruelty-free. They adhere to a strict, six-step ingredient sourcing procedure and manufacture the products in their USDA Certified Organic facility.

Ready to start Swapping Toxins for Healthy Options?

Now that you know why I chose Pure Haven, are you ready to start Swapping Toxins for Healthy Options? Here are some First Steps to Living Toxic Free. It doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Let’s chat, and let me help you on your own natural non-toxic journey. I can send you a list of the top ingredients to avoid.

Monique, the Ingredient Geek has an uncanny sense of ingredients and what is reasonable for our best health.  She is able to make sense of some complicated products that would baffle any normal person. Being an Ingredient Geek is her superpower! ~ Milea S.

Let’s start the conversation about ingredients in products with others ~ Contact me to speak to groups, companies, or a few friends gathered together online or in person.

What’s Hiding Behind the Fragrance Ingredient?

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What’s Hiding Behind the Fragrance Ingredient?Did you know that the word “fragrance” when used on personal care and home products is not just one ingredient?

So what’s hiding behind the fragrance ingredient?  Good question, especially since it seems to be everywhere. I don’t know about you, but since I am an Ingredient Geek, I’m always checking the backs of the labels ~ even (especially) the so-called “green” companies! Thanks to “mental-pause” I now have Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS) in addition to my eczema (and various other issues).  I REALLY need to know what chemicals might be in the products I’m using. Read my post Are You Avoiding These Top Toxins? to learn more about other top ingredients are best to avoid.

Phthalates are a large family of hormone disrupting chemicals and are hidden in the word “fragrance.”

@healthy_child says, “And it’s not only where you think it is, like perfume, body cream, and candles. It’s in diapers, toothpaste, even baby dolls and orange juice!”

@womensvoices says, “The term “fragrance” can be a mixture of up to 100 different chemicals, out of more than 3,000 commonly-used fragrance chemicals! Chemicals of concern in fragrance are linked to allergies, cancer, birth defects, and infertility.”

Even if a product says “unscented” on the front, please always read the actual ingredients on the label.

If I see the word fragrance, or perfume, or parfum, I don’t use it, simple as that. Because it’s classified as a “trade secret” companies DO NOT have to disclose what’s included ~ even if there’s a child going into anaphylactic shock triggered by a popular body spray (as seen in the move “Stink”)!! You can also read the story here (Thankfully due to the strong outcry, as of 02/13/17 the ingredients are started to be disclosed to the public).

Oh, and guess what?

That room spray you THINK is cleaning the air and smelling so fresh?

It’s just masking the odor and filling your lungs with unknown chemicals!

What’s hiding behind the fragrance ingredient? EWG’s Greener School Cleaning Supplies Report found that in the most popular air freshener, only 3 ingredients were disclosed on the label, yet the lab found 87 chemicals!!  (WAIT, WHAT?!) That’s crazy to have that many undisclosed ingredients, in fact it could be quite are dangerous to many.

If you want to wear some type of scent, check out this post Avoid Synthetic Fragrances and Make Your Own Scent

Overwhelmed? Want some help?

My passion is to help families with Swapping Toxins for Healthy Options. I can send you a list of the top ingredients to avoid. Let’s start the conversation about ingredients in products with others ~ Contact me to speak to groups, companies, or a few friends gathered together online or in person. Making small steps CAN make a big impact.  Let’s continue the conversation in our Natural Non Toxic Living Group.

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Here are some great articles if you want to learn more:

✔  Healthy Child

✔  Womens Voices