When buying household chemicals, as in the case of laundry detergents, we have a huge selection of products. Preparations for dust, furniture polishing, for wooden floors, tiles, toilets, shower cabins, refrigerator, dishwasher, oven, for kitchen, bathroom … could be replaced endlessly and if you bought them all, first of all, our budget would be severely affected, second – who has so much storage space. Many of them contain a number of dangerous substances. It is worth knowing that most detergents can be replaced with… soap.
- If you want to reduce the amount of chemical cleaning agents, go for ecological solutions such as soda, citric acid or vinegar.
- Natural soap will also be useful for cleaning, which can replace washing powder, floor liquid or cleaning agent
- We advise you on how to make natural cleaning products without chemicals – they are cheap and effective
- You can find more such stories on the TvoiLokony home page
Excerpt from the book “Live without toxins” by Aleksandra Olsson and Aleksandra Rutkowska, published by Chilli Books.
Detergents and health
Surfactants, chlorine-based agents, synthetic fragrances, preservatives can cause headaches, allergies, and irritation of the respiratory tract. Some studies show that inhalation of volatile substances during conventional cleaning is just as damaging to cigarette smoke, which is known to be a carcinogen.
As always, it is worth reading the ingredients of the products carefully and choosing those that have a short and natural composition. Watch out for the so-called greenwashingor “eco-friendly” in Polish, a deception of producers who give the impression that their product is in harmony with nature and ecology. There are green motifs on the packaging, the description that the product is eco (meanwhile it is often just a reference to the use of recycled PET bottles to make the packaging), that the packaging contains less plastic (but still contains), and that we still have traditional chemicals inside with lots of harmful substances. Ecological cleaning products have the Ecolabel on their packaging with the symbol of a green plant with a flower with the motif of the European Union stars and a certified natural composition.
In fact, you only need a few ingredients, readily available at any grocery store to clean the entire home: baking soda, citric acid, lemons, vinegar, optionally sodium percarbonate, 96% alcohol and your favorite fragrance oils (orange, mint, pine or eucalyptus). The cost is not more than PLN 20 (plus the possible price for spirit). It really is a huge relief for the budget and the environment.
- See more: Three ingredients are enough to clean an entire house in a flash!
The premiere of the book “Live without toxins” on April 14, 2021.
Soap – an ecological cleaning agent
It is also worth getting a good-quality bar of soap, based on natural oils, e.g. laurel, olive oil or coconut oil. A short natural composition and a low pH of about 4,5 (similar to our skin’s reaction) are important, if we intend to use them for our own hygiene. Such soaps, often with the addition of natural essential oils, oatmeal or dried flower petals, are perfect for washing the face and body.
In stores, we can find many different types of soaps, the health-promoting properties of which have been described for years, and which do not contain harmful dyes, fragrances, hydroxide residues (disturbing the natural balance of the skin and reducing its defenses).
Well-known natural soaps from around the world (fortunately today widely available in many stores):
Marseille soap – contains a minimum of 72 percent vegetable oils, incl. olive oil, rapeseed oil, argan oil, almond oil. It does not contain preservatives, parabens, and artificial colors. Sometimes it has the addition of dried lavender flowers. It works great not only in the care of the whole body and hair, but also as a washing and cleaning agent for floors.
Aleppo soap – Syrian soap made from a combination of olive oil, laurel oil and sodium hydroxide. It works very well as a cleaning agent and for washing delicate fabrics.
Mud soap – soap based on vegetable oils (coconut, castor, safflower), shea butter, cocoa butter and peloid (simply speaking, naturally processed peat). It shows great antibacterial and anti-acne properties.
Gallic soap – thanks to the presence of emulsifiers, it works great as a stain remover, also in the case of the so-called difficult stains.
Moroccan black soap – paste of olive oil and black olives. Despite the seemingly unpleasant consistency, it is perfect for washing the face. It has a peeling (enzymatic) and skin smoothing effect.
If you want to prepare products for washing and cleaning, it is worth stocking up on “gray soap”, i.e. potassium soap (a mixture of, among others, potassium salts, glycerin, carboxylic acids, citric acid and sodium chloride). Contrary to sodium soaps, very popular in the form of white hard bars for washing hands, they do not contain dyes or artificial fragrances. In addition, it dissolves very well in water, forming an emulsion, which facilitates its use in the preparation of cleaning agents.
How to use cleaning soap?
On the Internet you will find a lot of recipes for making cleaning preparations based on these products. Below we have collected some inspirations on how to make simple measures so that you can reach for them at any time. Their preparation takes literally a moment, and the effectiveness is comparable or better than traditional chemistry.
Soap-based cleaner
- 2 tablespoons of grated gray soap (or Marseille, without lavender!),
- 2 glasses of warm water,
- a few drops of your favorite fragrance oil.
Mix the ingredients, pour into an atomizer bottle or jar. It can be used to clean surfaces, countertops, and even floors after dilution (especially with the addition of Marseille soap).
Detergent
- 1 cup of grated gray soap,
- 1 glass of soda ash,
- 1 cup of citric acid,
- about 20 drops of essential oil.
Mix the ingredients thoroughly and add a measure of powder to the washing machine dispenser.
Washing paste (toilets, bathtubs)
- ½ cup of grated soap,
- 1 cup of warm water,
- ½ a glass of baking soda,
- a few drops of fragrance oil.
Mix the soap with warm water until it is creamy. Add baking soda in portions until you get a pasty consistency.
We encourage you to listen to the latest episode of the RESET podcast. This time we devote it to the problems of the perineum – a part of the body just like any other. And although it concerns all of us, it is still a taboo subject that we are often ashamed to talk about. What do hormonal changes and natural births change? How not to harm the pelvic floor muscles and how to care for them? How do we talk about perineal problems with our daughters? About this and many other aspects of the problem in a new episode of the podcast.
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