Happy Sunday friends! I wanted to talk to you today a little bit more in depth about a realization I had not too long ago about toxins in the products we use. As you know, I had been going through a lot of testing to figure out what was causing all of my strange health issues, and during the check ups and exams I mentioned that I was getting frequent breast pain. I was immediately scheduled for an ultrasound where they discovered a small tumour. They weren’t too concerned about it, and scheduled me for a follow up in 6 months to ensure it wasn’t growing.

Six months later I was back in my doctor’s office with the follow up results. The breast tumour had been growing at about a 10% rate every month over the past 6 months (they start to take it more seriously when it grows at 15%) but thankfully it looks benign so for now they are just monitoring twice a year.

Now, as you know from my previous post here, this wasn’t the first time there was a slight concern about the big C. This time last year my doctor was concerned I had lymphoma, a cancer in my lymph nodes. There are also 7 different types of cancer in my family history. While I am entirely grateful that I am in the clear for both lymphoma and breast cancer, I couldn’t help but to think “what if”.

When I say “what if” I don’t mean it in a victimizing sense where I’m thinking “Oh my God what if I had cancer how horrible would that be!!” I was thinking of it as “Oh my God, what if this were cancer and I had been contributing to something to cause it?”. I immediately started to look into the things I was putting onto and into my body.

Ditch the deo

The first thing to chuck was my deodorant. Most conventional deodorants are also antiperspirants which blocks your body from sweating. Not only is this not good (your body needs to sweat to get rid of toxins) but it blocks your body from sweating with an ingredient called aluminum, which is linked to causing breast cancer.

I had always known this in the back of my mind, but I never really took it seriously. Buying big name deodorant brands from drug stores was easy, I could buy them in bulk for cheap and they stopped me from sweating and stinking! But in the grand scheme of things, would that ease have been worth it if I had been diagnosed with breast cancer that was linked to the deodorant I used? Definitely not. So I picked up a brand called Schmidt’s and began my transition.

Quit the candle addiction

Secondly, I stopped lighting candles. WHAT?! Okay I know, I love candles as much as you but wow are they ever bad for you. The big name brands especially. All the fragrance in them to make your home smell like cinnabons and rainbows? Yeah, that’s all fake chemicals that you, your family and your pets are inhaling into your bodies. Again, that was something I always overlooked. I had dabbled in using essential oils before, but really took the plunge this time after learning more about the difference between true essential oils and cheap imposer ones sold at most big name stores. I bought a brand called Young Living, which is definitely more pricey but they are pure, safe and effective (I can get more into this on another post). Young Living also makes all natural cleaners – which will be my next transition. I did get the laundry detergent and ditched my fabric softener immediately though because think about it! Your clothes are washed with chemicals and toxins, that you then wear and your skin absorbs those chemicals as you go throughout the day. Yikes!!

Stop washing with toxic products

And finally, my biggest and most exciting change. I looked at my hair products and body wash. I switched my body wash and moisturizer to an all natural Canadian company called Jusu and it smells and works amazingly.

But, I never thought about hair products as being toxic, because everyone uses them! Turns out not all hair products are made equal. Here’s a fun exercise, take a look at the ingredients in your shampoo & conditioner! Bet you can’t read what it is eh? Here’s what was in mine:

Water (Aqua), Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Glycol Distearate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Chloride, Fragrance (Parfum), Glycerin, Dimethicone, Dimethiconol, Acrylates/Beheneth-25 Methacrylate Copolymer, Styrene/Acrylates Copolymer, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Citric Acid, Tetrasodium Edta, Amodimethicone, Dmdm Hydantoin, Peg-45M, Tea-Dodecylbenzenesulfonate, Cocamide Mea, Lysine Hcl, Arginine, Peg-9M, Cetrimonium Chloride, Ppg-9, Propylene Glycol, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, Mica (Ci 77019), Titanium Dioxide (Ci 77891), Yellow 5 (Ci 19140), Red 33 (Ci 17200).

…sorry, what? If you don’t know what 95% of those ingredients are, you’re not alone. And guess what, these ingredients build up on your scalp layer by layer and your body begins to absorb them. Now that’s scary! Have you been suffering for hair thinning/balding/hair loss? Surprisingly enough, it could be because of your shampoo.

Over the past 2 years when I was trying to figure out my health issues, my hair got much thinner and my hairline began to lose a lot of hair. It got so bad that I even got my bald spots microbladed (tattooed) because I didn’t think I had any other option. And then I was introduced to this wonderful brand called Monat which completely changed my hair.

The miracle product free of toxins

Monat is an all natural, safe, non-toxic hair care line. Now I know what you’re thinking, it’s all natural so how well can it really work? Well the answer, is VERY. Take a look at my before and after picture below of my bald spots. This is in just two months. TWO MONTHS PEOPLE!! The products work to strip away years of product buildup that you get from using shampoos and conditioners like the ones above to allow new hair to grow and nutrients to penetrate the hair shaft. Think of it this way, if you put foundation on your face every day and never washed it off, your pores would be incredibly clogged and dirty. The same thing happens to our scalp when we use products with sulfates, parabens and waxes. When your hair sheds, new hair can’t grow because it can’t poke through that thick buildup you have on your scalp. Who knew!!

 

Not only did this product completely change my confidence from my bald spots, but it added way more volume & hydration back into my hair and has enhanced my natural curls! Mega bonus.

The brand says NO to:

• Parabens
• Sulfates
• Cyclic Silicones
• BHT
• DEA/MEA
• Polyethylene Glycol
• Phthalates
• Phenoxyethanol
• Petrolatum, Mineral Oil, or Paraffin Wax
• Triclosan
• Plastic Microbeads
• Formaldehyde Releasers
• Harmful Fragrance
• Animal Testing
• Harmful Colours
• Gluten

Which sounds pretty dang great to someone wanting to eliminate the toxins I’m putting on my body. If you’re interested in learning more about these products, comment below or visit hairgoalswithcara.com . The products also all come with a 30 day money back guarantee which is fantastic!

The verdict

So how have I been feeling since making the switch? Well, I switched right at the beginning of winter. Winter for the past two years have left me extremely drained and borderline depressed. I was extremely exhausted and couldn’t get out of bed a lot of the time. Now, I have much more energy than I did in the past. I am still very much affected by the amount of sunlight I get (I really thrive in the summer with the 16-18+ hour sunlight) but a lot of my symptoms have subsided and I am so very grateful for that!

If you’re looking to begin to eliminate the toxins you expose yourself to, try some of the methods I mentioned above and see the difference for yourself!