Your Fresh-Smelling Laundry May Be Toxic

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gansky1

gansky1

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Steve (gyrafoam) sent this to me today - very interesting reading. I come in contact with all sorts of smells, chemicals and probably toxins all the time in the cleaning biz. There are many air fresheners - most all sprays, plug-in oils, candles, gels, etc. that I can no longer tolerate. The powerful detergents, softeners and additives are repulsive to me - one of the reason I won't allow any Mexican detergents and am gravitating more and more toward unscented or very lightly scented products. Perhaps we are perfuming ourselves into health issues?

There was a movie called Safe with Julianne Moore about this subject - she suffered from severe reactions to common chemicals and pollutants. It was a rather "slow" film but it was thought provoking.

 
I second that

Is there anything out there now with light lemon, like fab was at one time. sl. lemon fragrance and CLEAN. The descriptions of some these new-fanlged scents remind me of the drink menu at an asian theme restaurant, I am a tide guy but "mountain spring" reeks to my sense of smell. It often seems the Plain versions are not on the shelves or maybe they get "snatched up" early before i shop.
 
I agree that many additives, chemicals, scents, etc., will eventually be linked to many common physical ailments. It's not always that each additive or chemical, individually, is a problem; It's the witches brew of hundreds of them intermingling in our systems that is the problem. We're inundated with them 24/7.
 
No "stank" in our laundry or cleaning supplies, pl

Unscented everything laundry-wise and household-wise, using washing soda and borax for the most part. Can't stand scented candles, "plug-ins" or other "fresheners"...start choking if around anything like that. Maybe it has to do with growing up in the 60s with asthma, and having a mom (AND A DOCTOR!) who chain-smoked...yep, the Doc would have a ciggie hangin' outa his mouth every time we walked into his office...it was a different world then, most definitely...
 
I usually use "green" type detergents--Seventh Generation and other similar brands. There are various reasons for this, but one of the major reasons is that I can't stand the heavy scenting that the detergents normal people use.

I bought a small sample of one popular brand. The scent was nothing short of overwhelming--the laundry area smelled almost like a perfume factory had exploded. The clothes, once dried, were wearable...but had a strong, lingering scent.
 
When you think about it, our laundry has a smell, our shampoo and soap have a smell, we put on hair products and perfumes that smell, we get into cars with scents, we spray our homes with scents... When does it stop?
 
Light Lemon Scent Detergent

Yes-- There is a nice Light Lemon Liquid Detergent out there if you can find it. I've found it here at Target. It is Tide 2X Pure essentials with Citrus Extracts, Lemon Verbena Scent. It smells sort of strong right out of the bottle, but leaves a very light scent on clothing once washed-- Seems to clean well also.
 
One of the primary issues with today's cleaners is that they don't contain "soap." Most "409" or "Fantastic" cleaners are just a huge pile of chemicals, no lye based products or something close to that. Love Murphy's Oil Soap, also Simple Green, and sometimes with ammonia for added punch.
Last weekend, our long time cleaning lady (15+ years), Patricia, cleaned all the washable surfaces, such as baths, kitchen and all floors with vinegar and water. Amazing how clean everything was (was ... 2 dogs, CockaPoo and German Shepard 9 month puppy with a domination complex). Also, she loves Electroluxs and loves our Ultra Lux. She could sell these machines and make a fortune.
Interesting.
More to come .....
~Pat
 
Anti-perspirant deodorants

A very interesting thread,actually for a fair while I have been a little concerned also about underarm anti-perspirant deodorants,many make me scratch and itch in the armpit.
I have tried a few non-scented ones which do seem to be a bit better, however I wonder also about the aluminium ingredients which seems to be in virtually all of them, apart from a few which are aluminium free,but which do not work as effectively.
There have been a few medical reports done on these which clears the aluminium ingredients of any danger, but I guess you can never really be totally sure can you?.
Any thoughts anyone?.
Cheers.
Steve.
 
It may be worth being worried about anti-perspirants

I know I've heard some rumblings of worry and concern. Some alternative medicine people have even gone so far as to suggest that it may be a cause of breast cancer. This may go too far...but whenever I hear any sort of "health hazard" rumbling, I wonder. I can remember a time when there were those rumblings about hydrogenated fats (commonly used in margarine). At that time, these rumbligns which were dismissed. Times changed, mainstream medicine learned a few things, and in the US, they have to list "trans fat" levels on nutrition labels.
 
Aluminum may not be causing your itch. More likely the problem is one of the glycols, or maybe alcohol (check your labels). Unless you're allergic to something, itchiness comes from overdrying the skin.

Try waiting an hour or two after you shower, before you apply deodorant. If the itchiness is reduced (or gone altogether), you found the problem.
 
If I grow a few more eyes maybe I'll see better.
I could use a few more arms and hands too----maybe even a second head (brains included).

I'll keep right on using my VIVA, FOCA, and Suavatel thankyou!
 
Many artificial smells are repulsive to me as well. Honestly, the smell of dryer sheets make me want to hurl.

Found and old box of "Spic and Span". Found the scent to be subdued and acutally pleasant.

8-5-2008-06-27-35--Toggleswitch2.jpg
 
Turn your arm-pits into charm-pits!

As far as avoiding aluminum goes in deodorants/anti-persperants, the problem from my perspective is that the ones that don't have this ingredient are deodorants "only" and tend to (try to) cover natural stink with artificial stink. Many are very heavily scented. I use these when I have run out of the usual anti-persperant/depdorant and the constant perfume wafting from the arm-pits reminds me to go buy the "real thing"

Notice the "unscented" one. Have not tried it in that I don't relish being all damp and stinky "under there".

8-5-2008-06-34-42--Toggleswitch2.jpg
 
Damned if you do, and damned if you don't.

Scenario:

Beautiful woman on a train from Paris to Amsterdam. Red spaghetti-strap dress, nice face, hair make-up. Even I turned around to take in her beauty.

She lifted here arm to light a cigarette and I nearly fainted from the perfume-over-stink and the hairy armpit jungle that was plainly visible. Her teeth were also, black, brown, yellow missing and rotted. Did I mention she had very hairy legs?

Lesson:

1- Preventative maintenace is not a bad thing.
2- You never know what is cultural until you step out of your culture. I'm used to women shaving their pits.

That being said, there is no shame in a man trimming his pits to have less odor and wetness. Problem with that is the deodorant then comes into closer contact with the skin and may be more readily absorbed into the body.
 
There is another

category also...coffee.

A colleague at the office insists on using vanilla flavored coffee. It reeks of a chemical odor. I can't stand the smell and it gives me a headache.

Why is it the people who love scented items are also the ones who bath in perfumes and cologne??

It's one reason I avoid shopping malls. I hate walking into a store and some trollope is waiting to spray you down with the newest overpriced stinking perfume on the market.
 
The worst I've run into is Bed, Bath & Beyond in Santa Cruz. Man I can't even breathe in there.
 

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