Come to Your Scents-es!

This page is for those of you who are ready to get chemical fragrances out of your home, off your clothes and out of your bodies!

First of all -- congratulations!  And welcome to life -- fragrance-free.  I think that you'll find that living fragrance free can be easy and economical, and if you are one of the people who have been having reactions to chemical fragrance without knowing it, you will probably experience an uptick in your general health and well-being!

Step 1 -- Look at your labels:

• Get out all of your body-care, laundry, and cleaning products, and check the labels.  If you see the word "fragrance," this is a product that you will want to get rid of.  These are the kind of things you want to see on your labels:
  • • "Contains No Fragrance"
    • "Scented Only with Pure Essential Oils"
  • Beware of labels claiming that the product is "Unscented", or stating that it is "natural" or "biodegradable" -- these products may still contain petrochemicals, and suites of other toxic chemicals.  Generally, a product that is only scented with botanical essential oils will proudly claim this.

Step 2 -- Find Healthy Alternatives

Many excellent products, free of chemical fragrance, are available. You can usually find these at your local coop, natural foods store, and often in the natural foods and bodycare sections of your regular grocery store. (Be sure to check the labels! Some of the so-called "natural" products contain fragrance. For example, "Country Save" liquid laundry detergent contains fragrance.) Countless websites offer a wide array of these products.

You can choose from a wide range of products. Perhaps you want to pamper yourself with luxurious hand-crafted potions made with entirely organic ingredients. Or maybe you want to get simple and do it yourself... you can even wash your hair with baking soda! Here's a "how to" article:  http://natural-products.suite101.com/article.cfm/break_the_shampoo_habit

• Laundry Products
  • Seventh Generation Free and Clear Products (just one of many brands making "clean" products)
  • Vinegar added to rinse cycle softens clothes and reduces static
  • "Laundry Balls" (tumbler balls for your dryer reduce drying time and static -- you can also use a couple of tennis balls)
  • Seventh Generation also now makes a fragrance-free dryer sheet which we have found to be very effective in reducing static.
• Household Cleaning
  • Baking Soda and Vinegar are your CHEAP, incredible FRIENDS!  Wash the windows, unclog drains, scrub pots, and much, much, more (wash your hair).  There are very few thing that can't be cleaned with these two simple ingredients.
  • Citra-Solv -- this will clean just about anything that Baking Soda and Vinegar can't handle -- be sure to dilute.
  • Many, many other products are available. "Clean" cleaning technology has made great strides!