It's Time To Raid Your Medicine Cabinet!

So, you've learned a lot about the dangerous chemicals lurking in your personal care products. You now know that even the "organic" "all-natural" products you were buying are not chemical-free after all! You want to stop purchasing products with chemicals that make you sick, but you feel overwhelmed--what's your next step?

There are several ways to get started. First, it would be helfpul to know what personal care products you should be checking for chemicals.

The answer is ALL OF THEM. Go through everything in your bathroom. As I previously mentioned, don't assume that just because something you own is marketed as pure and "natural" that it is free of cancer causing chemicals. Check all your labels, even the organic ones! Here is a list of items you might want to check for chemicals. If a product has a chemical name that you can't pronounce, it's a good idea to double check this product. There are countless websites that will tell you what chemicals to avoid. A list of products you should check follows:

* Toothpaste, Mouth Wash etc..
* Deodorant
* Face cream, body lotion, hand lotion, any type of lotion
* Shower gel, body wash, bar soap, hand soap--any soap!
* Cologne, Aftershave, Perfume, Body Spray
* All makeup (lipstick, eyeshadow, liquid liner, foundation)
* Shampoo, Conditioner, hair treatments
* Hair dyes
* Hair spray, hair gel, hair mousse, hair paste etc...
* Sunscreen, sunblock
* Face masks, facial scrub, face wash, etc...
* Shaving gel, shaving lotion
* Depilatory lotions (lotions that dissolve hair)

Alright, so you get the picture. Obviously it's impossible for me to mention every single personal care product in your bathrrom. If you are still confused,just follow this rule of thumb--**anything you put on your body should be checked**

1. The "Throw it all out" method

If you're like me, the minute you find out about something that's not good for you, you want to get rid of it. When I first started finding out about this stuff, I went into my bathroom and literally wiped out all of my personal care products and replaced them with their chemical-free counterparts. Here's how to do it:

* Bring a big recycling bin/container into your bathroom
* Go through all of your personal care products
* Check for parabens and any of the names for dioxane, or anything unpronouncable
* Dump out what's inside of the bottles with these chemicals
* Rinse out the bottles/containers
* Put them in the recycling bin

I know what some of you are going to say--"but we're going to be washing these chemicals into the water supply". Yes that's true, and it's not good, but the good news is that you won't be buying or using these products ever again. So you won't pollute our water supply with that stuff anymore after today. Until we can find a better way to dispose of these chemicals, then we have to dump them out into our sink or toilet one last time so that we don't ever have to do that again! \

2. The "Slow Fade" Method

Some of you may be thinking you can't afford to buy all new products in one fell swoop. Some of you may have found a lot of products in your bathroom that have chemicals in them, but think it's totally wasteful to just throw out an entire bottle of shampoo. That's fine.

You can always just use up what you have, and then once you've finished the bottle/container, replace it with a healthier product.

Personally, I think if you can avoid putting that chemical on your body for even one more day, do it and just get rid of it. But not everyone can afford to do that. Baby steps are good too.

* Use up the bottle of chemical-containing products
* Recycle the container
* Never buy that product again
* Replace it with a healthier, chemical-free alternative.

So get to it! Look at getting rid of these products as a fresh start. A new contract with yourself and your body for optimum wellness!