Regular laundry detergent and fabric softener…for the love of….ditch it!

Why should you get rid of that laundry detergent?
Well here’s why:
1. You’re washing your clothes in toxins.
2. The toxins stay in your clothes.
3. You put on your clothes.
4. The toxins lingering in your clothing are absorbed into your body through your skin.
ALL.DAY.LONG….
5. Those toxins can cause damage to your body

Just sayin’….

So please, use a natural laundry detergent and no fabric softener.

Here are some great recipes to make your own natural laundry detergent. And if you are not the DIY kind, there is also a great ready-to-use solution from Young Living.

2. DIY powder detergent

1 kilo of fine cleaning soda (about 2.2 lb)
400 grams Dr. Bronner’s baby soap (or other naturally unscented soap)
Essential oil, for example, Lemon, Orange, Purification or Lavender.

Put the soap in smaller pieces in a food processor with the cleaning soda and grind to a fine powder. Store in a glass jar and put a bottle of essential oil next to it.
When you are going to wash your clothes, put 2-3 tablespoons of the powder in the detergent compartment and put 5 drops of essential oil in the fabric softener compartment.

• Roll the wool into three sturdy balls slightly larger than a tennis ball.
• Make sure the end of the yarn is tucked away (do this with a crochet hook or regular needle).
• Cut one leg of a pantyhose and insert the first ball into the pantyhose. All the way down to the foot.
• Tie off the ball with a piece of yarn and place the next ball in the tights etc. so that you have a caterpillar of the 3 balls in the tights.
• Put the caterpillar of balls in the washing machine with your laundry and let it wash with the laundry. The wool will now start to felt.
• When the wash is done, cut off the tights and the balls are now, if all goes well, very firm and the yarn is felted together.
• Store your dryer balls by the dryer and when you turn on the dryer, add a drop of essential oil on each ball and put the balls in the dryer.
The balls will make your laundry dry faster (saving money) and make your laundry smell nice.

4. Ready-to-use solution

Don’t want to make your own laundry detergent. No problem! There is also a ready-made option. I personally enjoy using this Thieves detergent from Young Living. I alternate with the homemade variant.

THIS IS WHY

1. I would also like to give you a few reasons why I no longer use regular detergent:
   Many detergents contain tensides like SLS that are not very healthy for your body. This substance is associated with allergies and eczema. It is even claimed to be a carcinogen. However, this has not been proven yet. But if I have the choice, I would rather choose the healthy option without tensides ;-). Just in case!
2. A lot of perfume is often used in detergents. Our daughter cannot use perfume. She gets little bumps on her upper arms for example. I know a lot of people have those little bumps, itching or eczema and I’m curious to know how many people would see their symptoms disappear if they stopped using perfume….
   And I especially want to ask moms with babies and little kids to please not wash your baby clothes with perfume detergent. Those scents are way too intense for those little ones (even the special baby detergents often contain perfume).
   I wish I had known this when I gave birth…. I washed all the baby clothes with detergent with perfume at that time. So not okay for our daughter in hindsight…
3. Detergents are harmful to the environment. Fabric softeners especially are really harmful. Can you imagine how much of this harmful ends up in the water because of all the detergent used? Those are immense ship loads full of junk!
4. Besides the ingredients I mentioned, laundry detergent contains other harmful substances such as preservatives, dyes, optical brighteners, bleach. I’d rather not have those on (and IN) my body either. Our skin is our largest organ through our skin the substances that remain in our clothes after washing are absorbed into our bodies. No thank you very much!

Love, Marcia