Methodical Millennial

Bringing order to the chaos of life with analysis, research, and logic-driven improvements

Clean Products Upgrade

As part of preparing our bodies and environment for our #TTC journey, we opted to improve our chances by investing in pregnancy-safe products made with good ingredients.

What resources did I use?

  • 15 Minute Beauty: great website by a doctor who reviews products/brands based on what is pregnancy-safe based on the ingredient list. I like that she calls out which ingredients in the products are unsafe so you can start scanning ingredient lists for yourself. She also teaches you which ingredients to remove from your life. She isn’t as strict on certain ingredients (like parabens or SLS), so also use her references with a grain of salt.
  • EWG: This might be over-kill, but I wanted to cross-reference our products on a safe ingredient list. I thought this website had a decent database of products/brands for Household Products and Personal Products. Of course, take everything with a grain of salt – who knows how donations influence these lists. I saw a few brands I had researched as top brands on this database, so I felt comfortable using this as another sense check.
  • Product/Brand Reviews & Pregnancy Blogs: Every time I found a new brand, I Googled it. I know there are plenty of healthy, clean pregnancy/mom blogs out there. Why reinvent the wheel? There’s a community already ou there. (Such as this succinct list of ingredients to avoid during pregnancy.)

What ingredients have I decided to cut out of my product list moving forward?

Your level of caution and discipline is always a personal decision. For me, it felt like a no-brainer to go as clean as possible given my personal preferences and our ability to invest in products (especially since we spend a lot less money eating out or drinking than we did 3-5 years ago). This seemed like a great time to invest in less toxic (though pricier) products.

  • Vitamin A: Too much Vit A can lead to birth defects. This means all retinoid/anti-aging products had to go, including my beloved IT Cosmetics CC+ Cream. I had to say good bye to my unopened bottle as this was a big one to cut out of my ingredient list.
  • Hydroxy Acids: If ther’es not enough information out there, avoid. This meant a lot of my facial products (containing AHAs or BHA like Salicylic Acid) had to go, just to be on the safe side. This means no to my The Ordinary – Salicylic Acid 2% Masque, Dr. Dennis Gross – Alpha Beta Extra Strength Daily Peel, and Alpha H Liquid Gold.
  • Chemical Sunscreens: The jury is mixed on this, as the NSW Health MotherSafe guidance suggests chemical sunscreen is minimally absorbed through the skin and using sunscreen trumps not using any sunscreen at all. I really enjoyed the 15 Minute Beauty summary on sunscreen, and have opted to invest in physical (mineral) sunscreens for this time.
  • Parabens & Sulfates (SLS/SCS): While there is mixed research on these products widely used in both cosmetics and household products (as a preservative and surfactant respectively). Both have been mentioned as endocrine disruptors, so I am opting to use products that exclude these. 15 Minute Beauty doesn’t have issues with Parabens and also endorses products with SLS, so I had to use the EWG website to screen for products without Parabens/Sulfates. Again, this comes down to personal preference and your comfort level on what products you use.

What products had we already phased out at this point?

Since moving to Australia, we actually made a lot of conscious decisions to reduce paraben and sulfate from some of our household products. We also had started to opt for a more healthy overall lifestyle in terms of what and how we consume food.

  • Deodorant (with Parabens, Aluminum): We stopped purchasing anti-perspirent with aluminum and parabens. We opted for safer products such as Native and Arm & Hammer. Honestly, I don’t use deodorant daily, only when it’s hot out.
  • Shampoo/Conditioner (with Parabens, Sulfates): I actually phased out hair products with parabens and sulfates to protect my colored hair from fading. Most recently, I invested in Olaplex Shampoo & Conditioner (pricey but worth it). May decide to swap out after these bottles are done for.
  • Processed Foods: A big one since moving to Australia where we don’t have the luxury of quick and easy fast-foods from Trader Joe’s. The processed foods we have here now includes canned legumes (beans, lentils, chickpeas), pasta sauces (tomato and pesto), pasta noodles, and cereal. We don’t buy microwavable or oven-ready meals anymore.
  • Microwave: We don’t own a microwave, so we don’t run the risk of heating up food in plastic tupperwear in a microwave. We heat up food through our oven and stove top.
  • Nail polish: I stopped getting my nails done when we moved here, so I wasn’t worried about the toxins related to nail polish.

What products have we swapped out to prepare for our TTC journey?

Now that I had a baseline of education on what ingredients to screen out from our household and personal products, which products did we invest in? We had to optimise on a few parameters, including feedback from 15 Minute Beauty’s Brand List, EWG’s Product List, general brand reviews, and what was shippable to or already available in Australia.

  • Cleaning Products: As much as possible, I want to use natural, plant-based products that limit the number of toxic ingredients (potential endocrine disruptors) around us.
    • We opted for Koala Eco for laundry detergent, kitchen and bathroom cleaning products, hand soap, and fruit and veg wash. There wasn’t a lot of research available for this product given it’s an Australian brand, but I opted for this given their commitment to clean, non-toxic ingredients. ($10 off here!)
    • If we do need to clean with harsher products (we still have a ton of cleaning wipes and we are still living in a pandemic), we will be using these in a safe manner – with gloves on (to limit absorption through skin), N95 mask on (to avoid inhaling fumes), ventilated room with an air purifier on full blast.
  • Body Wash: A clean-conscious friend recommended The Honest Company. I found Pursely Sensitive Shampoo/Body Wash (Fragrance Free) worth giving a go. Ideally, we limit fragrances as well in our products (see EWG & 15 Minute Beauty references).
  • Physical Sunscreen: We ideally wanted something with >SPF 30 (ideally closer to 45-50), but not many products in my research were available in Australia. After a lot of research, we decided to try the following products:
  • Filtered Water: While the water in Sydney is very clean, we decided to invest into Brita filters. We do recognise that Brita filters keeps water in plastic, so our plan is to filter water through the filter and pour it immediately into glass wine bottles for storing in our fridge.
  • Foundation: I don’t really wear a lot of makeup generally, but given my current CC+ cream has Vitamin A, I need to find a substitute. The brand I will invest in is bareMinerals Complexion Rescue Tinted Hydrating Gel Cream which provides SPF 30+ protection, was found on a lot of pregnancy-safe blogs/lists, and passed the 15 Minute Beauty but not in the top tier view by EWG (average at a score of 4, while I normaly aim for sub-2 score products).

Some other brands which stood out for me that are worth trying should they be available: Beauty Counter (for beauty), The Honest Company (body care), EltaMD (for sun protection), Earth Mama Organics (for sunscreen/body care). We’ll see how this current list of products go!

— peace & love —

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