When you think of candles or air fresheners, how do they make you feel?
Snuggly? Warm? Cosy? Which memories are coming up?
Often, WHAT you feel when burning candles is linked to your memories and how they smell. The limbic system - that is the center of your brain - which connects emotions and memory - is strongly linked to scent.
Scents are connected to memories, whether good or bad. Smelling them can bring back those same feelings that are imprinted on your limbic system.
We are all familiar with certain things that we smell that trigger a memory.
Coming back to CANDLES, for me that means, I am brought back to the colder seasons in Germany, especially during fall and winter, drinking tea or mulled wine with friends, having some pastries, christmas cookies … the dark and cold season! when you stay inside and stay warm.
I had candles in every room and used them daily …
Unfortunately, the reality is that the air fresheners and candles people buy that are pumpkin, vanilla, or white linnen-scented are full of toxins. Toxins that are as harmful or even more harmful than smoking a cigarette.
They are just full of chemicals that are often not labelled, because they dont HAVE to due to regulations.
- I used to buy scented candles.
- I used to have a bottle of scented toxins that I sprayed to clean our furniture with. .... Ok.. thats many years ago.
- But we also used to have a can of scented toxins that we used as air freshener in the bath room …
- dryer sheets and much more, ….
- Scented laundry detergent - you know the kind that would keep our clothes scented for weeks--I thought that was a GOOD thing. I just didn't know better! 🤷🏼♀️ So, believe me when I say that I've got ZERO judgement here.
NOW!!! that we've gotten rid of as many of the chemical-filled products in our home - (we switched out our household cleaner, dish soap, hand soap, hand purifier, laundry detergent, shampoo/conditioner, body soap, toothpaste, lotion, makeup, skin care, & deodorant), to all-natural essential oil infused products,
I now get an instant headache whenever I walk through the grocery store past the cleaning supply and laundry section OR even worse is the candle section in shops like ikea. My nose and brain used to deal with that every single day so my body was used to it.
Now it tells me what to avoid.
Even the cleaning products we use are full of chemicals that might not be ON
the label but end up off-gassing into the air or onto our skin. Think about how exposing our bodies to those chemicals every day affects us long Term!!!
3 FACTS here for you - which are disturbing!
- FACT: The Environmental Protection Agency says the air inside our homes and businesses is up to five times more polluted than that of the outdoors.
- FACT: Half of deaths among children under 5 years old related to lower respiratory infections can be directly linked to “particulate matter” present in indoor air pollution (primarily from household solid fuels).
- FACT: Two of the biggest contributors to indoor air pollution are the burning of fossil fuels (like stoves, fireplaces, and candles) and the off-gassing of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs - chemicals released into the air when we bring products into our home that contain them).
What to do?
✔Check your labels on your air freshener, laundry detergent, household cleaner, etc. for the word "fragrance".
The FDA doesn’t require manufacturers to list the chemicals included in fragrance additives, MEANING … if you see the label on a product, it probably contains VOCs that can produce formaldehyde in your home.
✔ Check the labels of your shampoos, conditioners, perfumes, and similar products for phthalates.
These are hormone-like chemicals linked to reproductive and developmental problems in animals and humans.
These are hormone-like chemicals linked to reproductive and developmental problems in animals and humans.
✔ Then, switch out those products with healthier versions of them.
Avoid being fooled by greenwashing marketing that market the labels and branding of products look like they're more natural than they actually are.
Avoid being fooled by greenwashing marketing that market the labels and branding of products look like they're more natural than they actually are.
The products we use Young Living products and save 25% every time we order. And...my critical German brain … can feel secure knowing that Young Living has the same Seed to Seal guarantee they have for their oils as they do for every single product they sell … with THAT I'm limiting the amount of exposure we and our cat tribe have from toxic ingredients.
✔ Get yo'self a diffuser and essential oils. Not only will you be scenting the air with something that is actually healthy for you, but you'll also be purifying the air vs covering it up with synthetic fragrance.
Once you have your starter bundle, you can slowly start switching out all of the products in your house, and get rid of ALL the yuk!
Know better. Do better. Feel better.
Let's do this together. I'm here to help walk you through it every step of the way.
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Karen Harway