DavidWolfe.comProcessed foods and fast foods are often loaded with toxic ingredients. Eating a natural, whole foods diet is a great way to avoid putting harmful chemicals into your body. Unfortunately, there other toxic chemicals hiding elsewhere, right in your own home.
The purpose of laundry detergent is to clean your clothes, so it might surprise you to learn that your store-bought detergent is far from clean when it comes to the ingredients. Laundry detergents are often made from harsh chemicals. They also include synthetic fragrances to give them a fresh scent.
Here are four ingredients found in laundry soap that you need to avoid:
1. Diethanolamine
This ingredients comes from ammonia and ethylene oxide. It’s very common in conventional laundry detergents. Diethanolamine has been known to cause irritation to the eyes and skin. It’s also been linked to developmental and reproductive toxicity in animal studies, and some researchers believe it may be a human carcinogen.
2. Dyes
Adding dyes to laundry detergent has no purpose in terms of the detergent’s cleaning abilities. It’s simply for aesthetic reasons. Dyes are created using non-natural compounds which may have a negative effect on your skin.
3. Fragrances
Detergent manufacturing companies use “fragrance” as an umbrella term to incorporate chemicals without having to list them on the label. Whenever you see fragrance as an ingredient, there’s a good chance there are multiple unknown chemicals in the detergent. Fragrance can cause severe headaches and irritations.
4. Optical Brighteners
Optical brighteners are added to detergent to create the illusion that your white clothes are brighter after you wash them. They cause more blue light reflection, which makes your clothes appear brighter. Optical brighteners post a threat to the environment because they are not biodegradable. Particles can end up polluting our lakes and streams.
Safe And Natural Detergents
It’s great to get in the habit of reading labels, but be aware that laundry manufacturing companies are not required to list all of their ingredients on product labels. They can hide multiple toxic ingredients under the term “fragrance.” Look for a detergent that’s fragrance free and dye free. Here are a few natural detergents to look for:
1. Nature Clean
The founder of Nature Clean began creating healthier household cleaning products after his wife had an allergic reaction to the harsh chemicals in laundry detergents. Nature Clean carries natural, Eco-friendly household cleaning products that are unscented and hypoallergenic!
2. Bio-Vert
All Bio-vert products are either certified or in the process of being certified by EcoLogo – Canada’s only recognized environmental certification mark. The company even features an “Environmental Facts” label on each of their products!
3. Seventh Generation
Seventh Generation offers a variety of fresh scents in their all-natural cruelty-free products, without using synthetic fragrances! They use plant-based essential oils and botanical extracts to achieve their scents. The majority of their products are USDA Certified Biobased and their packaging is created using 100% post-consumer recycled bottles.
The Hearty Soul
Seventh Generation
Seventh Generation
Bio-vert
The Huffington Post
Environmental Working Group