To improve quality of life by radically reducing the use of chemicals in personal care and cleaning.
Being Green is a choice, but that doesn't mean you have to adopt everyone else's ideas of being more environmentally conscious. It's about making changes that are important to you in your life because you want to and they fit with your lifestyle and routine. Perhaps you want to be greener for the earth we live on or be less toxic for you and your family on a daily basis, or maybe being green isn't high on your priority list but you found a product that works more efficiently and it just happens to be greener too. Sometimes it happens you seek out other solutions because you have to. As an example, you may have been more driven to seek out alternatives with less chemicals due to allergies and along the way thought "I'd like to make more changes like this in my life."
That last scenario is very similar to my story. I worked as a stylist for 6 years, two full time one part time in the city. It worked out the same for the last three years with my position in the town where my husband and I settled. As a hairstylist, you are exposed to numerous chemicals on a daily basis. Along with doing chemical services, and consistently having wet hands shampooing clients, plus necessary washings in between, my hands soon took a toll. I experienced symptoms early in my career but taking a break by working part time in year three kept it under control for the time being. My sensitivities and cracking skin was that much more irritated when I did my home cleaning. Well at that point I would give anything a try to avoid the constant stinging on my hands from having open cracks that would be painful with warm water running over my skin. Through family I was introduced to products that allowed me to virtually eliminate the need to use chemicals to clean... I tried them and I loved them and they worked better than traditional cleaning methods. I had found products that worked for me and I made a choice of what I exposed myself to at home until I could change my career.
In the fifth year of hairdressing, after finally deciding I should see a Dr. he confirmed that I had developed contact dermatitis and he had me sent to have allergy testing done. I discovered I was allergic to glyceryl monothioglycolate (acid perm solution) and captan (a fungicide - I believe in Barbacide, a common disinfecting solution for salons) I wasn't ready to quit work yet, so again I cut back to part time. I clumped my 3 days of work in a week together hoping to give my hands some healing time in between. I was okay with omitting perms as it wasn't a high percentage of the services I performed anyway and I was careful when handling barbacide. After working part time for almost a year I found out we were expecting, I worked a few more months and quit in the second trimester of my pregnancy. I still do enjoy doing hair out of my home on occasion, and I expect my hands to be a little sore few days after, but I am ok with that. I am glad to be able to choose when I take customers and not have to fully depend upon it for income. I feel I have more control of the amount of chemicals I am exposed to.
Here are some pictures below of my hands before I cut back my hours at the salon.
January 2008 I was done at the salon and I had found part time work at the school as a T.A. It was nice and flexible, but it wasn't enough to keep busy and help contribute financially, as I wanted to wait closer to being due before I applied for maternity leave. So I decided to join in sharing with others the innovative, cost effective, time saving products that revolutionized the way I cleaned.
Growing up cleaning at home I used bleach in the dish water, Mr. Clean on the floor, vim on the countertops, comet in the bathroom and pledge dusting. It never once crossed my mind what I was actually using, or any possible affects from using such a variety of chemicals - I just did it because that's how my mother taught me. Not that she didn't teach me to clean throughly, she did that part well. I am very particular when I maintain my home, but since I've had opportunities to educate her on what a true clean really is.
I am very thankful to have made changes when i did. The fact that I had found products that had a life changing impact for myself was great but I was also confident I was going to be providing a better quality of life for my children. It's nice to know that they won't get into the stash of chemical cleaners under the bathroom sink - because there isn't one, or that there's no chemical cleaner reside on the floor for them to absorb as they crawl around on it. But If I had known about better alternatives before i had been pregnant, I would've been using them just the same. Sometimes we tend to overlook ourselves, we seem to be a little more cautious of what we eat, use, and do when we are pregnant or have babies, but what about for your own health and benefits before that precious little one arrives?
We will never be able to 100% free from chemicals in our world 100% of the time, they are a part of our world in which we live and sometimes unavoidable - although I do believe that harmful chemicals are in a lot more products than necessary and sometimes we are unaware of them because not all products are required to have complete ingredient labels on them. I must say, I do like knowing that I have control over the majority of factors where a large percentage of toxins are generated from in the home on a daily basis. By performing some research you can come to your own personal conclusions of what are good changes for you to make. You have the right to know what chemical toxins you are exposing yourself to on a daily basis.
Enjoy being green in a way that works for you! I know I do!
http://www.dawnstrydhorst.norwex.biz
No comments:
Post a Comment