How Natural Cleaning Improved My Health

Why I Trust Dr. Bronner's Baby Soap and Other Natural Products for a Chemical-Free Home

Years ago, I realized that nearly every product in my home—from shampoo to laundry detergent—was filled with synthetic chemicals. As someone with MCS (Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, I thought, why am I using all of these when I react to chemicals?

That's when I discovered Dr. Bronner's Baby Unscented Pure-Castile Soap. It changed everything.

Why Dr. Bronner's Baby Soap?

This soap is truly unique. It's made with just one chemical during processing—and that's completely gone by the time the soap is finished. It contains no added fragrance or essential oils, yet still cleans beautifully. Despite being made from oils to which I usually react, I've never had a reaction to this soap. I was so thrilled! This is because of the change in the oils turning into soap, which makes the difference or something about their processing of this soap. I thought the fact that I don't have any reaction to Dr. Bronner's Baby soap meant they process their oils differently. That is not true; when I bought other products from Dr. Bronner's, they made me ill.

I started using it, and my health improved!  I was so thrilled! 

I love that I can use it for just about every cleaning need:

• Cleaning our home

• Washing our hands and bodies

• Shampoo

• Even shaving

And I love that it's just one product for everything.

The Hidden Dangers of Fragrance and Essential Oils

Most people associate fragrance with nature—flowers, herbs, citrus. But synthetic fragrance is far from natural. It's a cocktail of dozens (sometimes hundreds) of chemicals, many of them toxic. When you combine different scented products, they mix into new compounds, making the air even more harmful.

Reactions are common—studies show that around 30% of people experience symptoms immediately, such as headaches, asthma, or congestion. It is now known that they cause many other harmful illnesses. This is a massive issue in our society regarding health. Do an internet search "are fragrances harmful" and this will be clear to you.

Even essential oils, which are considered "natural," are harmful and make me very ill. Producing a single pound of oil requires hundreds or even thousands of pounds of plant material. This not only concentrates the oils but also the pesticides and toxins that come with them. Our bodies were never meant to handle such intense exposure.

How We Use Dr. Bronner's and Other Natural Products in Our Home for Cleaning

Dr. Bronner's is different since it is very concentrated. It can plug up the squeeze bottle. It does not create bubbles in a sink of water, but the benefits of using it are amazing! Here's how Keith and I use Dr. Bronner's Baby Soap every day:

Hand & Body Wash

We use a foam soap dispenser, which is so fun:

• Mix 1 cup of water with ¼ cup of soap or follow the directions for your dispenser.

• This works great for shaving for me, too!

Hair Care

• Shampoo: Undiluted soap

• Shaving for Keith: Undiluted soap

• Hair Rinse: 1 tbsp organic white vinegar in 1 cup water - then rinse out the vinegar.

• Leaves hair soft, manageable, and easy to brush. If your hair is difficult to brush out, it is probably from the chemical residue left in your hair from other shampoos. For instance, some shampoos contain silicone. Why would this be needed in a shampoo? Silicone is one of the most toxic ingredients for me. The easiest way to identify silicones is to look for words that end in one of these: –cone, –conol, –silane, or –siloxane. Once the chemicals are gone, your hair will be much easier to brush out.    

•  If the bottle plugs up, we scrape the soap from under the top. Dr. Bronner's bottles are great since they have a pointy part to help open the lid.  We reuse these bottles as needed around our home.

Showers, Sinks & Tubs

• We use it undiluted with a simple brush—it cleans everything!

Dishes

• We hand-wash using our foam soap on a loofah sponge.

• Tip: Put a little water on everything before doing the dishes to make it all soft and easy to clean.

• I have not found a chemical-free dishwasher soap that I can tolerate.

Laundry

• Just 1 cup of organic white vinegar in the bleach compartment

• No soap needed

• It removes odors, stains, and mildew, is a fabric softener, and brightens and whitens clothes. Wow, how impressive! We have found this all to be true!

Floors & Surfaces

• For mopping, add soap to a bucket of water. I love using the Twist and Shout Mop that I bought on Amazon - no spraying toxic chemicals on my floor!

• For counters and cabinets, stainless steel, and general cleaning, I fold a washcloth in half, half again, wet it, then I use our soap from the soap dispenser to clean; turn the cloth over to wipe the soap off.

• For stainless steel that is difficult to clean, such as the front of a dishwasher, I use pure organic lemon juice. I dip a wet cloth in it, wash the dishwasher with the lemon, and then turn the cloth over to clean off the lemon residue. If needed, you can do another treatment. The results are amazing!  

• For dusting, we use a wet washcloth.

Windows & Mirrors

• Just water and paper towels

• For tough jobs, add vinegar

Deep Cleaning

• We use Bob's Red Mill baking soda, which is mined and processed with water; it's the only one I tolerate.

Tools & Brushes

A Word of Caution About "Green" Products

• For cleaning, we use organic loofah sponges from Etsy. I buy this product because they also sell essential oils: Whole Unpeeled Unprocessed Loofah Sponge - Organic, Non-GMO, Heirloom, Farm Grown, Non-treated, 100% Natural (item De-seeded). Then Keith peels it so I stay safe. I buy it from MoonBeamFarmStore.

• We use nothing plastic; many cleaning utensils are toxic. I had severe reactions to several that claimed to be plant-based.

• I also buy Bamboo Dish Brush Set,4 Pack Kitchen Palm Pot Brush from Amazon.

• To clean these, I put a little undiluted Dr. Bronner's soap in my hand, rub it on the brush or sponge, and rub vigorously between my fingers; this works so well to clean it. I switch out the brushes to let them dry out.

What About Oils?

Surprisingly, I can't tolerate any oils produced in the U.S., even organic ones. A woman who sold CBD oil once explained that a chemical is used to process oils in the U.S., regardless of whether they are organic or not. That's not true in Europe.

Now we use Bono olive oil, 100% made in Italy—and I do not react at all. It's available on Amazon, and I'm so grateful for it.

Natural Living Is Good for My Skin Too

For a long time, I avoided washing the backs of my hands to reduce exposure to soap. But they became dry and rough, almost like alligator skin. I began to wash the back of my hands every time with Dr. Bronner's, and soon, the skin on the back of my hands was soft and healthy.  I cannot use any lotions due to my chemical sensitivity, yet my skin is soft and healthy, even living in the desert here in Arizona.  

Environmental Working Group (EWG):

You can look up the safety of the products you use here:

• EWG Cleaners

• EWG Skin Deep

• EWG Food Scores

I am thankful to have EWG. However, their scores are too lenient. Cleaning products with an ingredient that causes cancer are scored as a D. Why are they not scored as an F? Also, they are not transparent. They remove the ingredients and scores for their EWG Verified products. Why? I want to research those, too. They verify products that include fragrances and essential oils. Why? These two products are incredibly toxic and harmful. They make me very ill in minutes.

Final Thoughts

With just one safe, simple product—Dr. Bronner's Baby Unscented Soap—we clean our entire home without synthetic chemicals. I no longer suffer reactions from everyday cleaning tasks. My skin is healthy, my home is clean, and with other changes I have made, my body has healed!

If you have health issues or want to work to heal our Earth or protect your health in the future, every action to remove toxic chemicals is the right choice.  

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