In the Life: How I Live Eco-Friendly

Hello world.

Today I want to get personal; spend a moment to share how I live eco-friendly. I’m not going to cover the whys - it’s overdone and we should come to this choice on our own - but the hows. Society can be confusing, making the green choice look easy look easy; just bring our own bags to the store, that alone will change the world. Or, the flip side where not driving a car again, recycling all of our water, or not eating another scrap of meat can save the planet.

And you’ve joined the cause and decided to go eco-friendly.

What do you do?

I have no idea who is right. I just know what I can do to live green. We need to make changes but not everyone can be a vegetarian and I can’t even afford that Tesla.

To me being green is being mentally conscious. I wake up every day and choose to question everything. Don’t be discouraged. It becomes second nature. Before buying that bar of soap, take a moment and research the ingredients. Are those suds going down the drain polluting water sources?  What does the company stand for? Do they give employees a fair share or do they produce in a solar-powered factory? Can you buy more local produce? Take a Saturday and visit the local market. These little steps, if everyone made the same choice, could be a change. All you have to do is take a moment to question.

A great example for me was buying boxes for our move last weekend. I had saved most of the boxes from our cross country move over a year ago, but even in that time, we accumulated more stuff…. yay… that or I can’t pack as well as my mother-in-law. I think we'll go with the second option. So we stood looking at the options. And guess what, most of the sets were covered in plastic wrap, that disgusting single-use plastic. Gross. Why are we wrapping these boxes in plastic? It’s that whole thing of putting a bag in another bag. The super-sized pack, a lovely 15 box set, which we did end up needing all of, was the only plastic-free option. Yes, it was more money at the time, and we really didn’t think we’d need that many, but we wanted to make a cleaner option.

Here is the point of the story. We looked at the options and we chose the one we thought would be the best on the environment. Did we make the right choice? I think so because I did use all the boxes. But that’s a whole other story.

And this is the start of change. Our country runs on consumerism. If we as a society force companies to question their production practices, then we can become the difference.

Take trash bags. Yes, they are a lovely convenience, but why must they be made of noncompostable materials? So let’s change that. Buy different bags. Companies will see the drop in sales and focus on what consumers are buying. Or better yet, attend county meetings and try to set up composting in the county. Imagine the amount of trash that could be cut back on.

So for the next month, I challenge you all to just question. Want to buy in bulk? Don’t grab those nasty plastic bags offered. Why not see if there are some paper bags in the produce section. Guess what, that was a huge change. Instead of throwing that old t-shirt away, why not cut it up as washable makeup wipes? Image how many more uses you could get out of that same square of fabric.

For us as a society to be the change, we need to change our thoughts. We can do this. It just takes a little mental training my young padawan. Do it and show others that it can be done.

Good luck!

Love Kait

Giving Up Chemicals: Dish Soap Edition

Ok, guys. I did something. I made my own dish soap.

*gasp*

I know, right? Those same thoughts running through your head, I had them too. How can someone possibly make their own dish soap? Aren’t there ingredients that we simply need? What about germs?

I agree. I wasn’t down for the idea when it first crossed my path. It’s like the toothpaste problem, I get it into my head that I can’t live without certain chemical. How will I ever keep my stuff clean and safe?

Well, I’m still alive….

And I’ve been using this soap upwards of 3 weeks.

Clearly, a chemical-free dish soap won’t kill you.

First off, this recipe came from Dr. Axe's book*. Ya, that guy. I’ve been struggling with digestive problems for a while. I felt that I had a clean eating style but, clearly, it wasn’t enough. After every meal, I was still feeling deathly ill and my stomach HURT. So after a reliable recommendation, I gave his book Eat Dirt a whirl. I’ve read 4 of these gut books but this was the best one. I know his site comes across as very Dr. Oz and Dr. Phill, but his book is completely different.

Long story short, Dr. Axe reminded me that we absorb so much through our skin. Just small amounts can lead to gut problems. When I saw that, yes it is possible to make dish soap at home, I decided why not. One more step I can take to living a chemical free life.

What I love about this recipe is that it takes minutes to make. Even my husband has made a batch. It’s essentially equal parts water and castile soap - I used Dr. Bonners - and 1 tablespoon of white vinegar per cup of mixture. I tend to go a little heavier on the white vinegar because it helps with water spots. You can also add your favorite essential oils to make it smell just like Mrs. Meyers. I tend to forget this step to the dismay of my husband. For some reason, he wants all the smells.

Also, you can buy a pretty bottle to put it in. I haven’t yet, which means that I’m still using my last Seventh Generation bottle. Take that, single-use plastics. Now you know why I didn’t include the final product in the photo. I think we can all take a moment to use our imaginations.

This soap isn’t your typical dish soap, and it took me a while to get used to it. It just doesn’t cut grease like the store brands. Sometimes I need to wash a dish twice before all the grease is gone. The suds won’t hold up either. I learned that you don’t want to add water to the sponge. Scrub the dishes and then rinse them. This will help save water since you won’t be tempted to wash under running water.

Will I stick with this? I think so for the time being. I’m starting to get a little bit hooked. There are just so many chemicals in the store brands - just turn that bottle over and look. If you think about it, what did our ancestors use before Dawn was invented? Sand and castile soap was the name of the game.

But if I do go quiet on the blogging front, you’ll know what killed me. Happy making your own soap. After you’ve given it a whirl, let me know what you think.

Love Kait

*Upon further research, it appears that Dr. Axe has changed his recipe on the blog. I used the one that was in his book published two years ago. The link provided is to the new recipe. I might need to give this one a try since he specifically mentions that lemon essential oils helps to cut grease. If you do give this new recip a try, let me know what you think. 

In The Life: Straw Edition

For the past year, I’ve been a baggie carrying straw hater.

Yup, you heard that right.

A straw hater. Bendy…. Straight… Curly-cued…. They are all the same.

I may be a straw snob, but I refuse to use a straw that isn’t made from paper.

Many people are banding together to make this pledge. Hashtags like #stopsucking and The Last Plastic Straw are appearing in hopes of educating the public. Even though I’ve been doing this for over a year, I didn’t realize the magnitude these little critters have on the world. The last Plastic Straw states, “500 million straws are used and discarded in the US every day.” So multiply that by 365 days and you get the picture. And straws aren’t the only ones doing the damage. Image what our

actual total consumption of plastic is….. Another story for another day. I don’t want to be the cause of your nightmares.

The worst part of this story is that even though you dump that plastic tube into the trash can, it doesn’t always make it to the landfill. A lot of those beasts are showing up in valuable ecosystems like our oceans. Plastic doesn’t degrade over time either, it just keeps getting smaller until it ends up as tiny modules which appear on our beaches. I’ve seen the photos from beach cleanups, ones done to collect these tiny specs, and it’s impressive how much they end up collecting. Even if the item says recyclable, how much as a society are recycling correctly? And when was the last time you saw a recycle symbol on a straw?

So for the past year, I’ve tried my best to cut down on straws, instead opting for the nice and biodegradable paper version.

Ok, so I messed up a lot at first. Don’t hate yourself for that. Even today, I’ll absentmindedly grab the straw handed to me not realizing what I’ve done till it was firmly in my drink cup. In the beginning, I would forget about my bursting baggie of paper goodness in my purse. Or, many times, restaurants would deliver my drink already strawed. I hate to add more waste by replacing a straw that is already in use. The first step in all of this was learning which places delivered strawed and making sure they knew I wasn’t wanting that delightful service.

You could suggest that we go straw free completely, but some places I would never place my lips on that glass. And what about those iced drinks at Starbucks? Don’t tell me you are willing to drink that full cup, top free in a moving car? Hence my paper straw carrying status.

I remember the first time I pulled the now very common baggie out of my purse for the first time in front of my friends. The stares. It was just too much fun. I was ecstatic. Here I could help to educate others about the importance of letting go of straws, or I should say the plastic ones, and now I immediately ask my friends if they too would love one.

So I wanted to share this story with you to show that even the small things matter. Cutting the use of straws alone will make a difference. And if we can change the mindset on this one thing, image what else we can do.

Last note with all of this. While searching for your new paper straw buddy, know that not all brands are the same. Don’t get discouraged if the first ones you pick up don’t hold up to the task. I’ve had straws that last through a solid meal and others that start to dissolve the minute they hit liquid. Give a few different ones a try and have fun carrying around your own baggie full of straws.

Love Kait

This or That: Zuzu Luxe vs. 100% Pure Mascara

Mascara - A crime in a little tube and one girl’s journey to find a chemical-free version.

*queue “The Sounds of Silence” *

My dear friend,

I’m sorry to say goodbye to you,

When I realized how crude,

Your ingredients list was.

ahhhhhhh

In the trash you gooooooooo….

Today I would like to say a few words. Benefit mascara was a dear friend. This little tube took me to many places; parties, weddings, and even tackled plots to take over the world. But now…. *wipes eyes*…. We must say goodbye to this great and wonderful partner.

And those crocodile tears were really wiping out that last swipe of mascara. I made that tube last. If there was a way, I found and used it to make every darn drop come out. I didn’t want it to end but, eventually, good things do end and I was left with nothing to volumize or lengthen my lashes.

Armed with my phone, advice from the sister-in-law, and a budget I pledged to correct a wrong. It was time to find a chemical-free version.

A few clicks, some interesting descriptions, and random guesses later, I came down to two brands; Zuzu Luxe and 100% Pure.

Zulu Luxe

$17.60

Think Dirty Rating: 3 (Contains Titanium Dioxide)

Overall Thoughts: Would never wear again

Let’s start with the fact that I was won over by the price tag; that and they used the word lengthening in the description, my biggest want in mascara. Sold. On top of that, the brand is local to Seattle, owned by larger company Gabriel which has been in production for decades, and what???? Insta-gratification. You can buy it at Whole Foods. Here…. Take my money.

Should have known the price tag came at a cost. The cost of the worse tube I’ve purchased since my pre-teen years. The goop got everywhere. And I’ll call it that because it smells horrible. Really makes me want to second guess that natural thing.

I understand that we’re going natural here but that doesn’t mean you should give it the worst wand on the face of the planet. I ended up applying the stuff to my old benefit wand to get something to happen. Clump after horrible messy clump. I ended up looking like a five-year-old that got into the makeup bag and decided to play dress up.

100% Pure

$26.00

Think Dirty Rating: 3 (Contains Origanum Vulgare Oregano Leaf)

Overall Thoughts: Takes time to get used to but now I’m hooked

Good news, there is hope out there. This little brand has started to grow along the West Coast and I’m so happy because *little dance* there’s a store the Seattle area. I really didn’t want to pay for shipping on one product, especially if I ended up hating it. I wasn’t too confident after my first natural attempt. Maybe it would have been better if I had tried some other product like blush?

First stop in the store and I was so happy. Sadly for my husband, we ended up walking out with more than just the mascara. I’ll note that not all items fall into the zero range as shown above. Their nail polishes are ranked pretty high on the toxicity scale. In terms of this mascara, they do have zero ranked versions, I want to say that the ranking is more due to allergic concerns than toxicity.

Ok back to my thoughts.

I’m going to stick with this brand for a while. The wand is amazing, producing lashes just like Benefit. Downsides though, the stuff does tend to get everywhere during application, doesn’t last for all-day wear (needs to be reapplied after a few hours) and getting those nice lashes takes work. We’re talking multiple coats with curling in between.

Overall, I have hope. There are brands out there that could give me the results I want. Sad part is, the quality comes with a price, something that we should all know when buying makeup. Let’s see how 100% Pure’s other products go. I don’t know. I might get brave and try out a few other brands.

Love Kait

In The Life: Apps to the Rescue

*This blog wasn’t sponsored by the following companies. I just use them myself and find them helpful.*

You’re in the store, it’s crowded and a million labels stare back at you. Bright and bold, they shout out common turns of phrase.

All Natural

Chemical Free

Essential Oils

But what should you choose? Not all brands are the same, and even Whole Foods’ rankings can be misleading. Who has time to stand there staring at the multitude of options researching every single ingredient? What if all the ingredients aren't even shown? Sure, eventually you’ll learn them but wouldn’t it be nice to have something a little easier in these moments? Do more intensive research later when you have time?

Well, I’m here to share what I do, because not even I have the time or energy to make all the products that I use at home. I like convenience like everyone else. There are two go-to sources that I use; the Talk Dirty app and the Environmental Working Group (EWG). EWG’s app is called Healthy Living.  

EWG is nice because they are a not-for-profit organization trying to be far in rankings. The downside is that not everything is easy to find. I don’t tend to use them all the time especially when I’m searching in the store.

Talk Dirty has an easy to use app. The downside, they do push certain products but are very clear in their disclaimer. No shady business that I’ve seen so far.

The positive to both is that they provide a list of ingredients.

Queue *dancing*

Just one hop skip jump around either site to find research on specific ingredients.

Talk Dirty even provides links to all of their sources. It’s a one and done deal, something that only the EWG website offers. The EWG app provides the list of ingredients but nothing more.

Now if you need something quicker, each site provides a ranking of the ingredients. I would take that with a grain of salt. These can be misleading with certain chemicals because neither company takes into account the amount of the ingredient in the product. Ingredients known to cause allergic reactions can also be ranked higher though there is nothing dangerous about them. But still, using these sites will get you going in the right direction. It might even help you think before you pick up that next bottle of shampoo. Take a moment, search and see what the results show.

Have another site you love or thoughts on the ones above? Let me know in the comments! I love learning all the different options out there.

Love Kait

Giving up Chemicals: Makeup Edition

As I wrote this blog, I felt like I was walking across a worn torn battlefield, used brushes and empty bottles of foundation littering the ground.

*queue Wonder Woman Movie*

My weapons, a half used wand of mascara and compact of blush. I stand alone, waiting for others to join me in the fight as I sound the battle cry.

*Maaaaaaakkkkkkeeeeeeuuuuuuppppp*

I’m coming for ya….

So let’s talk makeup. I feel that in society, this has become a touchy topic. Either you go oh natural, letting your inner beauty shine forth, or you wear all the makeup to quote “highlight your best features”. I really don’t belong in a camp, finding my days jumping around between the two, and I don’t think there is a wrong or right answer to either option.

This blog isn’t about to wear makeup or not to wear makeup. Instead, I want to talk about what’s in those makeup products that we buy, something I was enlightened to only a few months ago. You may think “really, you just now realized that?”… All those mass marketed and mass produced brands are bad for you? Yup, because my husband saved the day simply by googling the ingredients. *Ugh, using google as a verb still gets me.*

It all started one fine day, the rain clinging to our damp jackets when we took a stroll into Ulta because I was out of mascara. I refused to go back to my favorite brand since rumors of their animal testing practices were coming to light. (I apologize for all the benefit mascara I gave as Christmas presents one year.) So there I stood, gazing upon the packaged tubes of ultra black Tarte mascara, reading their loud words of amazing results and exciting length. I picked a few, putting them down, coming to a final decision when wait…. My husband, forever on his phone in these moments turns and says “I wouldn’t do that”. “Why?” I asked, confused and wondering as to his words. Did we not have the money for this pricey $26 tube of gunk?

Nope. Curiosity led him down a rabbit hole ending in the discovery that some of the ingredients in the tube in my hand could have adverse, cancerous effects. We can’t have that now, can we?

Upon further research, I now refuse to buy Kat Von D and Tarte, two highly encouraged brands by my trusted vegan sources. From this point on, my goal is to stay below a toxicity level of 3, which some of Tarte’s products do fall into, but not a lot. Kat Von D has lipstick ranked at a toxicity ranking of 7 out of 10. Just typing that makes my skin crawl. The skin is our biggest organ, I’m sure you’ve heard this before, so I want all my products to be a zero if possible. And you don’t have to believe the ranking sites. Just google the ingredients yourself and you’ll come to the same conclusion.

Now, let’s look at the common brands. CoverGirl, a widely accessible brand that many use, averages out in the 7s. Revlon, another brand that is found in every store, ranges from 7 all the way up to 9. People get away with selling this stuff? I want to support a brand that pushes natural clean makeup. And who knows if the so-called ‘safe’ chemicals don’t come back in the future classified as deadly?

Sadly, the age of trusting companies is gone, though I doubt we ever could since the mom and pop shops of yesteryear have died out. All they want is a quick buck, large profits, and consumers begging for more. So, will you take the pledge with me and start going chemical free? Take a moment, look into what you’ve been using, you might be overall shocked.

But don’t rush right now and throw everything you have away. I’m not. Just stop for a moment before you buy that next lipstick or foundation, look into something new, or better yet, check back here. As I find new brands I like, I’ll do a blog on them to let you know how I’m faring in this new realm of chemical free makeup.

Already have a brand that you know and love? Comment below and let me know. I would love the insight.

Love Kait

Giving Up Chemicals: Toothpaste Edition

My goal in life is to become chemically free, but….

I freak out about my teeth. And no.

queue *eye roll*

It isn’t for the usual things like how straight they or how white they are. I hate the tissue test.

I’m deathly afraid to get a cavity, or essentially, have any major dental work. There are also these moments when I fear that a tooth is loose and about to fall out. A weird fear since I had braces for almost 7 years and boy did they tug on those babies. I think if they didn’t fall out then, there’s a small chance they will fall out now. I’m still pretty young to have that worry.

The only way to assuage this fear is knowing that my mouth is filled with all the chemicals possible to ensure that won’t happen.

I silently laugh at myself, because, though they did help me stay away from cavities, I cracked a tooth.

How?

My dentist doesn’t even believe me.

On a soft bread roll during a wedding reception. It was so bad, anything I ate sent shooting pain. Nope, I didn’t get to enjoy the wedding cake…. My…. favorite… part… of… a… wedding. I mean seriously, why else go?

Well, that was the start of needing to make a change. Turns out, that leading brand of toothpaste I had been using was probably the cause. Supposedly, in cases like mine, the toothpaste can actually weaken the teeth. Especially if every morning, like I was, you wake up with white slush in your mouth. I ignored it thinking it wasn’t anything - maybe I had slept with my mouth open or a weird cause like that.

Ok so all that hard work and BAM!

My teeth were ruined.

I’m being a little dramatic. But I had to get my tooth shaved down and a crown put on. My future could hold a root canal. You should join the pool on how long I can last before I break down crying from the pain and beg the dentist to take it all away.

*You didn’t come to read this just for the information right?*

Back to the story. I marched myself up to the health food store and bought me some gooooood toothpaste. I opted for Tom’s of Maine because at some point in my childhood my mother had bought it. It was something I knew. Clearly, if it didn’t kill us then it might be ok to try again.

Fast forward.

I’ve been using this toothpaste I want to say for almost two years. In the past year, I’ve had two cleanings. Guess what? A super clean bill of health. They even said I have some of the cleanest teeth. I might want to pat myself on the back for that one. I don’t know how much should go to the toothpaste. But my gums are healthy and I didn’t make it on any cavity watch lists. My husband, who also has the mouth for cavities - something about all the juices and acids are the right breeding ground - had only a tiny, possibly could become one, cavity.

Now *hangs head in shame* I wasn’t totally chemically free with this option. One reason I also picked Tom’s was because they had a Flouride option. I couldn’t fully jump off that ledge. But I don’t know….

Maybe I can now.

Some information on the brand:

Environmental Working Group Score - 2

Owned by Colgate - Palmolive

Advertises sustainable practices

No Animal Testing

Donates 10% of profits to human and environmental goodness (what this means I have no clue)

I think that this is a great first option. This brand can be found in most major stores (you don’t have to schlep off to that bad smelling health food store if you don’t want to. Oh wait they are better now. Flashback to my youth.)

Doing my research, I do have a few problems with the brand. I really don’t like that they are owned by such a big corporation. I feel that a lot of these corporations buy out smaller companies and hide behind them to say they are doing good. We are still fueling them and why not make these changes across the board.

So take the plunge. I lived. And you can too.

But seriously. Here is one more step to becoming clean and free and living green.