DIY: Perfume...

I have a confession to make. I used to be a fragrance junkie. Yeah, that’s right I was a perfume addict. I used to have a shelf full of bottles of the stuff, all different brands, and scents, the majority of them expensive. I wore it everyday and I loved it. Then I woke up to the fact that I was paying for a lot more then a pretty scent in all those pretty little glass bottles. Virtually all perfumes contain synthetic compounds and toxic chemicals. We’re talking endocrine disrupters, phthalates, parabens, hormone disrupters. These toxins in your favorite designer fragrances can cause anything from migraines and headaches to allergic reaction, allergy development, asthma, cancer and more. Once I got wise to this, the perfumes I once loved so dearly began smelling a little less sweet. Though it did take me a little time to kick the habit completely. You know how it is, some things you can quite cold potato while others take a bit more effort. For me, junking the perfume habit was all about trial and error. Meaning - if I wasn’t going to use perfume to smell good anymore what was I going to do? And how was it going to work? Figuring that kind of stuff out takes time, and can only be done by experimentation, so that’s what I did.

Last Christmas I was given Kim Barnouin’s book “Skinny Bitch: Home Beauty and Style” by my good friend J, which I promptly began reading after the festivities were over. There is a section in the book about perfume which was my first awakening to the dangers of store-bought fragrance. Of course, for some people when it comes to certain things more then one awakening is needed, so I didn’t give up perfume right away. I kept on with it, but the seed had been planted, and eventually I began doing my own research into why perfume was so bad. By the time I was finished I realized that if I truly cared about my body, my health, the environment, and the animals I couldn’t in good conscience continue to wear perfume. So I pledged right then and there not to buy any new perfume, and I began my search for safe, healthful, cruelty-free, and sustainable alternatives. Unfortunately as I came to realize very quickly not too many of those exist in the world, and of the few companies out there who are producing safe, cruelty-free, environmentally friendly fragrances I realized by looking at the ingredients that I could easily do the same thing at home for a fraction of the cost. It would just take a little bit of study, some creativity, and good old trial and error.

As far as I’m concerned good quality essential oils are the way to go. They may seem expensive at first when you see that most of them only come in a quantity of one or two ounces, but these oils are super concentrated and highly potent so a little really does go a long way. It’s been maybe ten months since I bought my very first bottle of essential oil and I haven’t had to replace a single one yet. When you take into consideration that I use these oils for more then just my own homemade perfume, you see that you actually get a lot of bang for your buck. However just because you start buying essential oils instead of commercial fragrances doesn't mean you can stop being a savvy consumer. You still need to read the labels to ensure that the essential oils you're buying are the real deal. Too many cheap oils are out there for sale, full of synthetic chemicals. What you want to look for is oils that are organic, 100% pure essential oil, have no synthetics, and also ones that are ethically wildcrafted. Don't automatically go for the cheapest oils you can find, but keep in mind that you don't have to break the bank for good quality either. Shop smart, keep savvy.

Now I’ll admit that in the beginning it took a little getting used to. Since homemade perfumes using essential oils are made by blending essential oils with a carrier oil - such as jojoba, almond, avocado, borage, primrose, apricot kernel etc.. - it can leave you feeling a little greasy or oily afterwards. Whereas perfume sprays on, dries and you forget it’s even there. So at first I wasn’t used to that sensation of ‘feeling’ the perfume on my skin, it was a bit odd, and annoying, and I felt slick. So I began using a little less, and making sure I rubbed it in well, and over time - not very long really - I stopped noticing it. I adapted, and I love the scents that I create so much that I would never even consider going back to toxin laden perfume. It’s great to have absolute control over what you’re putting into and onto your body, and with the wealth of beautiful essential oils out there your scent combinations and fragrance options are virtually endless. Plus I feel much cleaner using homemade perfume, I don’t sneeze after I apply it, or get random headaches, and I can breath easier. In fact breathing easier is the most amazing thing. You know that old saying that some people don’t know their sick until they’re actually healthy? Well it’s kind of like that. I didn’t know I had a sensitivity to artificial scents until I stopped using them. Now I can barely stand to be around people who are wearing perfume, they could be standing five to ten feet away from me and I start feeling a headache come on, my nose tickles, and my throat constricts. Walking through a department store these days is absolute murder, lucky for me I rarely find myself in department stores.

When it comes to DIY perfume my favorite carrier oil to use is Almond Oil, which is good for sensitive skin like mine. Though you can use any good carrier oil that suits your fancy and your skin type. While my favorite essential oils to use for fragrance include - but are not limited to - peppermint, eucalyptus, lavender, rosemary, white thyme, lemongrass, citronella, and ylang ylang, depending on my mood. Since pledging at the beginning of the year not to buy any new perfume my supply of commercial store-bought fragrance has diminished to one half-full bottle of Calvin Klein’s Euphoria. This was previously my favorite fragrance in the world, and now all I see when I look at it is toxic waste. Still I can’t bring myself to throw away a perfectly ‘good’ half bottle of perfume, and yet I can’t bring myself to put it onto my skin either. Perhaps I’ll keep it as a reminder of why I don’t want that sort of thing in my life anymore.

One other interesting thing I’ve realized in this trial and error of making my own perfume is that perfume truly serves no purpose. It’s entirely unnecessary. As much as I love my own homemade stuff I don’t wear it everyday. I typically only wear it to work, or if my husband and I are going out somewhere nice, or if I’m in need of a little mood elevation - because essential oils are great for this too! The rest of the time I don’t wear any fragrance, and I’m perfectly okay with that. Our society has conditioned us into believing that to be desirable we need to constantly smell of something other then ourselves, and this is utter nonsense. We have some how been bamboozled into thinking that our own natural scents are offensive or unflattering and this is simply not the case. The moment you truly realize this you will be set free, and you will never again seek out the wisdom of corporations to try and determine how you should and shouldn’t smell.

So give essential oils a try and see how you like them, but of course don’t take only my word for it. Do the research yourself and see. If you’re interested in more information the Environmental Working Group did a study testing 17 top name brand perfumes. In the end they found that each product had at least 14 secret chemicals that weren’t listed on the packaging because of the ‘trade secret’ laws. A total of 38 secret chemicals were found among all seventeen brands.  A dozen of these chemicals were hormone disrupters, with an average of four hormone disrupting chemicals per product. Ten of the ingredient in each product could cause allergies to develop or cause allergic reaction. But the worst part is that the EWG found that roughly 91% of the ingredients in each producing including those on the label and those not included in the label had not been tested for human safety. You see like various other industries The International Fragrance Association (IFRA) is self-regulating, which means they can test their own products for safety and then hand over their reports, but no governing agency double checks the proclaimed safety of the products tested they just take the IFRA’s word for it. How messed up is that?

So if you’re interested in looking into this more in depth, or you want to find out what’s in the products you have sitting in your makeup bag or on your shelf check out the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetics Database.

EWG's Skin Deep Cosmetic's Database

You might also like to browse through a copy of

Kim Barnouin’s book “Skinny Bitch: Home Beauty and Style”

PS: This DIY Perfume post is part of a new series of posts I have planned about making green products yourself at home. It's a way to avoid chemical contamination, stop supporting corporations who only care about their profit margins not your health, lessen our carbon footprint on the planet, and save a few bucks in the process. As I become more and more aware of the realities of the common everyday products we buy without giving it a second though I realize there has to be a better way, and as I discover these better ways I hope to share them with you too! 

The Dirty Dozen - How To Best Avoid Harmful Toxins In Your Produce....

When I say the words The Dirty Dozen, what’s the first thing to pop into your mind? If you’re like most people you just thought of the 1967 film staring Lee Marvin, and Ernest Borgnine. This however is not The Dirty Dozen I’m talking about.

Organic. It’s a word that’s been getting thrown around a lot in the past few years, as people all across the nation and the world are slowly becoming aware of where their food comes from, how it’s grown, and how those practices effect not only our own health but our environment as well. The Organic food market is currently the fastest growing market in the food industry, and grocers that want to remain afloat in today’s brutal economy are slowly but surely - and wisely - expanding their Organic lines for consumers. Yet there’s still a lot of confusion about what organic really means, and quite a bit of skepticism as to whether or not it’s truly better. (Topics better discussed another time, and both in their own individual post) However the biggest complain I hear on a day to day basis is entirely price related.

"But, Organic costs too much." Is what I always hear, and while it’s true that organic food appears to cost more then conventionally grown food the reality is in fact quite different. The average consumer has not been paying the true cost of food for quite some time. As various industries - Such as the Meat, and Dairy Industries - enjoy the benefit of multiple government subsidies which keep the cost of these products artificially low. Except it’s not just the meat, and dairy producers that benefit. The government also highly subsidizes the growing of Corn, Wheat, and Soy, and the same is now going for conventionally grown produce which is laden with chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Many of which are toxic, pollutants, and known disease promoting agents.

Because organic farms doesn’t use chemical fertilizers or pesticides, and because organic farms don’t operate on such a massive industrialized scale, Organic farmer’s yields are not as large. Organic farms also employ more manual labor - which requires payment, which drives up cost - and another important thing to take into consideration is the cost in dollars as well as the cost in time that it takes to switch a non-organic farm to an organic one. The certification process isn’t cheap, and it isn’t quick either. All these things contribute to the grocery store price of organic goods. However if conventional farms weren’t subsidized by the government a conventional tomato would cost the same as an organic one. When you buy organic products you’re not only doing something good for yourself - by not ingesting harmful toxins - but you’re also doing good for our planet, Organic farming is sustainable, it enriches our soil rather then depletes it by filling it with chemicals, you’re working with the earth instead of against it, like nature intended, and you’re expressing compassion in the process. Compassion for yourself, as well as compassion for the earth we inhabit and all the creatures that share it with us.

Now I understand that for a lot of people it simply isn’t feasible to buy everything organic all of the time. I know this, because I myself am in that boat. I’m a lower-middle-class girl after all; but I know that buying organic is important, and so I do it whenever and wherever I can. I do it with the health of my husband and I as my first thought, and the planet as my second. I don’t want to eat harmful cancer causing toxins, I want to eat clean food that will nourish my body rather then destroy it, but to fit organics into the budget you have to shop smart, and so here is The Dirty Dozen list. It’s the Environmental Working Groups list of Fruits and Vegetables that are most toxic when grown conventionally. If you can’t yet afford to buy everything organic, then this list at least is a great place to start. The items found on this list are so heavily sprayed that USDA testing found that they could contain anywhere between 47-67 toxic pesticides, and that was AFTER being washed with a USDA high-powered pressure water system. Now I know there is no way the water pressure of your household sink is going to top that, so next time you’re in the store please give some thought to buying these foods organic counterparts.

The Dirty Dozen

1) Celery
2) Peaches
3) Strawberries
4) Apples
5) Blueberries (Domestic)
6) Nectarines
7) Bell Peppers
8) Spinach, Kale, and Collard Greens
9) Cherries
10) Potatoes
11) Grapes (imported)
12) Lettice

These foods are believed to be the most susceptible because of their soft, sometimes porous skin which allows the fruit and vegetables to easily absorb more pesticides. Vegetables like celery can also absorb pesticides from the soil and groundwater as they grow, making washing or peeling pesticides away virtually impossible.

Amy Rosenthal of the Environmental Working Group - which is a non-profit organization dedicated to public health - says "You can reduce your exposure to pesticides by up to 80 percent by buying the organic versions of the Dirty Dozen" 80 percent! It really is something to consider when new studies are coming out all the time showing a correlation between pesticide ingestion and health problems such as cancer, ADHD, nervous system disorders, and brain developmental disorders in growing children. With such chemical compounds such as DDT and Methyl Bromide being used is it any wonder?

Changing anything in one’s life is difficult, we get used to a certain way of things and it can often be difficult if not down right impossible to snap ourselves out if it, but I strongly and sincerely urge you to give this some consideration. Especially if you have children. I think we can all agree that we want our children to grow up strong, healthy and with the best possible chances for living a long, happy, and healthy life. I think we can all agree that we’d like to leave this planet a better place than we found it, and that we’d like to leave a world for our grandchildren that’s still inhabitable. This is a small but crucial step towards that goal, and remember the more we choose to buy organic, the more our demand is recognized by ‘Big Food’ and the more that demand begs to be met. Also I don’t want to label the entire Food Industry as some dark bogeyman in the corner laughing down at the destruction they’re causing. Think of them more as a corporation, with their sole concern being profit, by continuing to buy their products we’re giving them the false idea that we support their destructive agricultural practices and therefor they continue to engage in them. Our pennies speak louder then our words, and so the more organic we buy, the sooner they’re going to realize that they won’t loose money by switching over, and of course with more and more of us choosing organic everyday, the lower the cost of organic goods will eventually go. It’s common sense - and a little bit of math.

So please, act and eat responsibly, and if you’re interested in learning more please visit the Environmental Working Group’s website ( http://www.ewg.org/  ) for the latest updates and information on everything from pesticides in food, to harmful compounds in cosmetics and cleaning products.

*** P.S. Just last year Pears and Carrots were on the Dirty Dozen list, and in 2008 Tomatoes were on the list as well. Though these items appear to now be in the clear, it might still be a good idea to consider buying their organic varieties.***