Change #3-Dryer Sheets/Fabric Softener

*First of all, a little update on my headache/dry-cleaning experiment*

I am happy to report that I have not had a single headache at work since I stopped sending my labcoats to the cleaners! I talked to my friend and co-worker, M, about it as well. M has also stopped having headaches! She said that she took ibuprofen almost daily at work, but has not had to take any since she started washing her labcoat at home!

So now that I'm reading labels, I looked at my bounce dryer sheet box to see what the sheets were made of. I found a very vague "Bounce contains cationic softeners." I looked up the MSDS for Bounce free and sensitive (sounds harmless, right?), and found the only chemical listed is Stearic Acid. Stearic Acid is a fatty acid that can be derived from plants, like the coconut, or animals, like pigs and cows. Even euthanized dogs and cats from shelters. Ew. I had to wonder, if they won't list something simple like Stearic Acid, what else are they not listing?! Apparently, there aren't many rules that companies have to follow for listing ingredients in things like dryer sheets. And there are even more lenient rules on chemicals used to cover up the smell of other chemicals-such as those that are probably  making my dryer sheets "free and sensitive."  Even more comical to me was the fact that the MSDS for scented Gain fabric softeners, such as Mango Tango and the original Fresh Scent, also listed Stearic Acid as the only chemical. Seriously? Studies commissioned from the EPA that actually tested the chemical gases coming off of different household products found up to 28 different chemicals being emitted from one dryer sheet. And just like the dry cleaning and laundry detergent chemicals, they do not do the body good.

The dryer sheets that smell so good are the worst offenders. Remember, fragrance equals chemicals! (unless you are using something natural like essential oils!)

These are just 5 of the chemicals that were "caught" coming off of the dryer sheets in the EPA study:

Benzyl acetate: Linked to pancreatic cancer

A-Terpineol: Can cause respiratory problems, including fatal edema, and central nervous system damage.

Ethyl Acetate: A narcotic on the EPA's Hazardous Waste list.

Limonene: Known carcinogen.

Benzyl Alcohol: Upper respiratory tract irritant.

No thanks!

I have been using reusable dryer sheets for the last 10 loads of my laundry and I love them! They are chemical free and can be used 500 times. Several different types are sold on Amazon. They have done really well with removing static in the dryer! Some people love to used wool dryer balls in place of dryer sheets, and some people use vinegar in their rinse cycle. Try something new! You will "Gain" chemical free laundry, and your budget will start to "Bounce" back!   :)

Change #2-Laundry Detergent

Have you ever looked at the ingredient list on your laundry detergent? I hadn't until last month. I always bought my detergent by scent and sale. Who doesn't want to smell like Tahitian coconut blowing in a sea breeze wearing cotton fresh aloe infused goodness? I may also have a slight addiction to the smell of Gain. Then I had kids, and I looked for fragrance free formulas, under the assumption that they were safer. I had no idea my detergent that was "great for sensitive skin" was a nice little cocktail of water and chemicals soaking through my clothes into my skin 24/7.

1,4-dioxane is a particularly dangerous chemical found in MANY laundry detergents. A study was done on some popular detergents and below is the parts per million amount of dioxane (or lack of) found in them.

Tide Total Care (P&G) - 55 ppm Ivory Snow (P&G) - 30 ppm Tide Free (P&G) - 29 ppm Purex Ultra (Dial Corp.) - 25 ppm 2x Ultra Gain (P&G) – 21 ppm Cheer Bright Clean (P&G) - 20 ppm ERA (P&G) - 14 ppm Arm & Hammer (Church & Dwight Co) - 5 ppm 2x Ultra Wisk (Sun Products Corp.) – 3.8 ppm Woolite Complete (Reckitt Benckiser) - 1.3 ppm ALL (Unilever) – 0.6 ppm Dreft powdered (P&G) - NDSun Burst Sunsational Scents (Sun Products Corp.) – ND

Planet Ultra - 6 ppm Mrs. Meyers - 1.5 ppm Clorox Green Works – ND ECOS (Earth Friendly Products) – ND Life Tree – ND Method Squeaky Green – ND Seventh Generation Free and Clear – ND

So why is dioxane bad? It is a cancer causing chemical that the CDC says is potentially toxic to your brain and central nervous system, not to mention your kidneys, liver, and respiratory system. Not only is it a human carcinogen, it is also showing up in drinking water. (I'm pretty sure my trusty Brita isn't removing this.)

Here's the really bad part. It won't be listed on that ingredient list. Dioxane is a by-product of sodium lauryl sulfate and sodium laureth sulfate. But wait-before you run to see if your detergent contains SLS or SLES, you need to know that they can be listed by many other names. Over 150 of them. So you have two options. Google every ingredient's definition on the bottle (like I did-get ready to be really upset if you've been washing clothes for your children) or look for a detergent that specifically advertises SLS and SLES free.

Another ingredient of particular concern to me as a mother of boys is Nonylphenol Ethoxylate, or NPE. It is an estrogen mimmicker. When it is absorbed by your skin, your body cannot tell the difference between it and estrogen. Cue hormonal imbalances.

I really could go on and on and on and on and on and on....there are too many chemicals "cleaning" our clothes than I have time to discuss.  Many of them are the very things that make them smell so good and appealing. The most important thing we can do is read labels. If you don't know what something means, look it up. Look for detergents that use a short list of products. Buy detergents that are as natural as possible. Research and be an informed consumer! Let your brain pick your laundry detergent, not your nose.

I have yet to find my "holy grail" of laundry detergent. I plan on experimenting with homemade versions, as well as a product I have only recently discovered called Soapnuts. I will definitely keep you updated with my experiences. Right now I am using Ecos laundry detergent. (It was the "best option" I could find in my panicked search at Wal-Mart.) I have found that when I have really smelly laundry (like clothes where the boys have had accidents) that I need to add 1/2 cup of baking soda to really get them smelling fresh. Next I'll discuss dryer sheets...

Change #1-No More Dry Cleaning

The first change we are making is an easy one for us: no more dry cleaning. As a rule, if the tag says "dry clean only," I don't buy it. I don't want to make the trip to the cleaners, and I don't want to pay someone else to do something I can so easily do at home. And I must admit, the few dry clean only items I have owned have always been washed in the washing machine. Nothing blew up, and I didn't have a wardrobe malfunction the next time I wore it! Growing up, my sister and I were "modestly paid" to wash and iron all of my dad's button up shirts and dress pants. That he wore everyday. EVERYDAY. (I'm sorry we moved out, mom.)  It was a lot of ironing. On the bright side, it doesn't phase me at all to do this for my family in lieu of taking clothes to the cleaners.

So why are you even blogging about this, you ask? I'm glad you asked. I work in a dental office where I wear scrubs and a lab jacket. I wash my scrubs at home, and my employer pays for everyone's lab jackets to be picked up weekly, dry-cleaned, and returned to us. I have been wearing these jackets for almost 2 years. This is the first time in my life that I have regularly worn anything dry-cleaned.

 I have been noticing a trend for the last year or so: all of us complain regularly about having headaches at work. I know what you're thinking: DUH. You're at work. However, I consider myself majorly blessed to love what I do and to love even more the people I work with. So I don't feel so much "stress" at work simply from being at work. I thought maybe it was a product I used there? Then I realized I temp at other offices where the same products are used, and I don't get a headache. But I am wearing a jacket laundered from my own home. It's the only major difference I can find on my non-headache work days.

I have decided to stop sending my jackets to the dry cleaners. I brought a jacket home last night to wash  in my washing machine. I washed it once. I opened the lid. Soap was weirdly stuck to it and would not wash off. I had to put that jacket through the rinse cycle 3 times before it rinsed correctly. I washed it again for good measure. Yuck. I will update in a few weeks and let you know if this makes a difference! Some of my co-workers are going to try this with me and I will give you their input as well.

So that's just my personal experience. Here's the facts, Jack!

Dry cleaning uses chemicals that are not water soluble to "clean" the clothes. The most commonly used one is called Perchloroethylene, or perc for short. This volatile organic compound is not removed from your clothes. You continue to wear it after your clothes have been dry-cleaned. Amongst other things, it can cause skin irritation, dizziness, and -GASP- headaches!

I looked perc up on the OSHA (agency that protects workers) website and this is what it said:
There is some evidence of an association between perc and increased risk of certain cancers in dry cleaning workers exposed for many years. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has designated perc a "potential occupational carcinogen." The National Toxicology Program has designated it as "reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen." The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has designated perc as a "probable human carcinogen."

Those of you who work in the medical field are familiar with an MDSD sheet. It basically gives you all the information you need to know about a chemical. I looked up the MSDS on perc and found:
KEEP AWAY FROM HEAT, SPARKS, FLAME. DO NOT GET IN EYES, ON SKIN, ON CLOTHING. AVOID BREATHING VAPOR. KEEP IN TIGHTLY CLOSED CONTAINER. USE WITH ADEQUATE VENTILATION. WASH THOROUGHLY AFTER HANDLING.

Anyone else find the irony in "do not get on clothing?!"

Also, our friends in California may not be as fruity and nutty as we like to think, according to The Las Angeles Times: 
In 2007, the California Air Resources Board adopted the Airborne Toxic Control Measure to phase out dry cleaners' use of perchloroethylene, or perc, by 2023.

The good new is that there are alternatives to perc. Eco friendly dry cleaners are using materials better for you and the environment. If you can find one that uses Liquid CO2, that's even better! It's safer for you, gentler on your clothes, and  there is no risk of groundwater contamination! You can go to nodryclean.com to find one nearest you.

It is recommended that if you must dry clean, unwrap the clothes from the package and hang them outside or in your garage to degas. Studies have shown that levels of perc stay in your home for a couple of days. (again, see MSDS sheet's "avoid breathing vapor.")

So that's change #1. No more percolating. :) I'll tell you what we ARE using to clean our clothes in the next post!

Laura

Change Is Gonna Come

It all started when my good friend J was preparing her nursery. She became one of those people. You know, the kind that read labels and hug trees. Ok, so maybe she wasn't hugging trees. But she kept talking about parabens. They were in this, they were in that, they were hiding in alleyways looking for innocent bystanders...I was blissfully ignorant. I didn't want to know that my convenient lifestyle of store bought products and processed foods was, well, really bad for me. 

She specifically talked about parabens disrupting testosterone levels. As the mother of 2 boys, and being married to a dude as well, this struck a chord. I swept it under a brain rug and tried to ignore it, but I would trip on it most nights at bath time. I avoided the list of strange words on the shampoo bottles. I pretended because it said "baby" it must be good!

Fast forward to December of 2012. My husband, Mr. S, began working out with a trainer at a local gym. Being the smart guy that he is, Mr. S. looked into what he could do to get the best results possible from lifting weights. He found out that his testosterone needs to be at a certain level for his body to successfully build muscle, and that there are several things we use and eat everyday that negatively affect those levels. He read a book that talked about - wait for it - parabens. And brought it home for me to read. It was like I was being hunted by the paraben police and had just been handed my warrant. I reluctantly looked at it last month after putting the boys to bed. I planned to read the table of contents and look for reasons not to read it. I expected to find chapters like "make your own outhouse" and "the top 10 reasons never to eat chocolate again."I didn't stop reading until I finished it. That book led to this book, which led to that article, which linked to this website...I couldn't stop researching. And I couldn't wait to start making CHANGES.

I am documenting the lifestyle changes we make on this blog. Some may be food related, some may be product related, and some may be environmentally related.  In a perfect world I would burn everything I own, go to Whole Foods and buy everything new, and then move into the next HGTV green home. Instead, I will be making baby steps toward a greener lifestyle. My family will be learning how to live naturally in a chemical world, one change at a time. Each blog I write will be about a different change my family is making. 

I am in no way an expert on this. I am truly learning as I go. I hope you will learn with me, and maybe make some changes with me along the way! I'll post our first change soon!

Laura