What To Swap In Your Home If You Want To Ditch Toxins

Trying to live cleaner so you can feel better? Getting started seems daunting, but I promise it's not impossible. First, you need to acknowledge that the products you use every day often contain hidden ingredients that may not be the best for your body. This means snacks, soap, cookware, deodorant, and clothes. For most of us who are just entering our "crunchy" era, the products in our homes often contain sneaky ingredients that can impact our hormones and overall health.

So here's your no-fluff list of smart swaps. Everything in here has a cleaner, lower-toxin alternative that actually works. Remember, read the label and don’t always trust the marketing, and be intentional with your purchases!

1. Branch Basics or Puracy Laundry Detergent — Instead of Tide

Clean Brands: Plant-Based, No Fragrance, No Optical Brighteners
Tide: Fragrance, Dyes, SLS, Polyethylene Glycol

Exposure to the harmful chemicals found in many laundry detergents may raise your risk of serious health issues, including fatigue and even cancer.

2. Beeswax or Coconut Wax Candles — Instead of Bath & Body Works

Clean Candles: Beeswax, Coconut Wax, Cotton Wick, Essential Oils
Conventional Candles: Paraffin Wax, Phthalates, Synthetic Fragrance

If your candle gives you a headache or leaves black soot, swap it out. Here's our guide to non-toxic candles that smell wonderful.

3. MASA Chips — Instead of Generic Tortilla Chips

MASA Ingredients: Organic Corn, Grass-Fed Beef Tallow, Salt
Typical Chips: Corn, Canola/Sunflower/Soybean Oil, Preservatives

Handmade and fried in tallow, it's the one chip that doesn’t wreck your gut. If you want to try it out, use the code EVIE here for 25% off your first order.

4. Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds — Instead of Dawn

Sal Suds: Plant-Based Surfactants, No Synthetic Fragrance, Biodegradable
Dawn: Artificial Fragrance, Dyes, Petroleum-Based Surfactants

Dr. Bronner's can be used for anything. Dawn contains ingredients that can be harmful to aquatic organisms and may irritate your skin.

5. Purity Goat Milk Soap — Instead of Dove or Dial

Clean Ingredients:  Raw goat milk; Saponified natural fats, coconut oil, sunflower oil.
Conventional Soaps: BHT, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, “Fragrance”

Why would you want the added chemicals on your skin? Try out goat milk soap for a more gentle option!

6. 100% Cotton or Bamboo Underwear — Instead of Polyester Blends

Try: Pact, Organic Basics, Knickey

Polyester traps bacteria, heat, and moisture. Worse, it could affect your fertility. Cotton breathes and is much better for your hormones.

7. Caraway or Xtrema — Instead of Teflon Non-Stick Cookware

Non-Toxic Cookware: Ceramic-Coated, Stainless Steel, Cast Iron
Teflon Pans: PFAS, PFOA, Forever Chemicals

If it flakes, you're ingesting it.

8. Primally Pure — Instead of Secret or Degree

Clean Deodorant: Tallow, Coconut Oil, Essential Oils
Drugstore Deodorant: Aluminum, Parabens, Synthetic Fragrance

You’re not supposed to sweat out hormone disruptors.

9. Real Butter or Ghee — Instead of Margarine or “Plant-Based Butters”

Butter = cultured cream and that's it. Margarine = hydrogenated seed oil + artificial flavor. Avoid!

10. Organic Cotton Pads & Tampons — Instead of Scented Drugstore Brands

Clean Brands: Rael, Cora, Lola
Conventional: Bleached Rayon, Fragrance, Plastic Applicators

Cotton tampons and pads. Need I say more?

11. Force of Nature or Vinegar + Baking Soda — Instead of Lysol or Clorox Wipes

You can kill germs without wrecking your lungs, and bleach isn’t your only option.

12. Ursa Major or Innersense Shampoo — Instead of Pantene or Tresemmé

Clean Shampoo: No Sulfates, No Silicones, No Fragrance
Conventional: SLS, Dimethicone, Parfum

We don't want chemicals going through our scalp! Opt for a shampoo without sulfates and silicones.

13. Glass or Stainless Storage — Instead of Plastic Tupperware

Try: Pyrex, Weck, W&P

Microwaving tomato sauce in plastic = chemical soup.

14. Non-Nano Zinc Sunscreen — Instead of Chemical SPF Sprays

Try: Badger, Kinfield, Babo Botanicals
Avoid: Oxybenzone, Octinoxate

Opt for a non-nano zinc sunscreen, specially if you’re in water or applying to kids.

15. Tallow Balm or Organic Oils — Instead of Lotion with Fragrance

Clean Moisturizer: Organic Tallow, Olive Oil, Beeswax
Drugstore Lotion: PEGs, Dimethicone, Parfum

It's natural and won't annoy your skin.

16. Organic Spices — Instead of Discount Grocery Brands

Clean Brands: Simply Organic, Burlap & Barrel, Diaspora Co.

Most commercial spices are irradiated and cut with fillers, so it's 100% worth the upgrade.