First, don’t touch his soap.   I already knew this was coming, so I did what any smart woman would do…I kept his shit next to my shit and made it HIS idea to switch.  My hubby LOVED a certain green soap he’d been using since long before we met.  My friend and I were talking about this and she told me her hubby was also a fan, must be a dude thing.  So I put my soap next to his (imagine a Prius parked next to a Hummer and sure enough, when his soap was running low he picked up my organic, locally made soap (not by me – I just don’t have that kind of time and I’ve never seen Fight Club) and LOVED it.  Goodbye red-headed kilt-wearing whistling green soap and hello deep sea mud.  A disclaimer about my hand-crafted-a-few-towns-away-from-me soap:  it’s not cheaper than what you find on the shelves, but I care what goes on that man’s body.  I found the soap I use at a local farmer’s market and contacted the woman who actually made it.  We agreed that if I bought it in bulk, she would sell it to me for almost half the price.  Now, every few months we meet in parking lots around our town for a “soap drop” (Mark, please…that’s too easy).  If you can’t find your own “soap dealer” there are some awesome companies that make soap without all the chemicals and fragrances.  I started my switch with Dr. Bronner’s Castile Soap but you can check the Environmental Working Group’s Safe Cosmetics Database (www.ewg.org) to see all the toxin free alternatives.

Wife 1 – Hubby 0

Second, don’t touch his toothpaste.  OK, here’s what is actually printed on his tube of toothpaste and probably on some of yours:  “Keep out of reach of children under 6 years of age.  If you accidentally swallow more than used for brushing, get medical help or contact a Poison Control Center right away.”

You’re fucking kidding me right?  Who the hell hasn’t accidentally swallowed some of this crap?  Before I switched my kids over to my toothpaste they probably swallowed so much of it over the years they could refill an entire tube.  Why would I let his mouth that I love so much purposely put something so foul in it? (come on, the site is called clean and DIRTY…sorry mom).  The only time we should be looking up the number for poison control is around the holidays when somebody brings a fruit cake over.  Poison toothpaste…awesome.

Let’s move past the whole poison aspect because fluoride was the rabbit hole that sent me down the internet for weeks. I’m not a scientist or a doctor, so do your own research, but after reading everything I could get my hands on, I decided fluoride-free toothpaste was the right choice for me and my family. So that’s the first thing I look for when I’m standing in the toothpaste aisle. I must have tried 5 different ones until I found one I thought didn’t taste like shit, not that I’ve ever eaten shit but you get the idea.  When I found the brand I liked, my hubby didn’t and stuck with his triple-protection poison paste.  Like Noah’s bathroom vanity for a while there were two different bars of soap and two different tubes of toothpaste and life went on.  The next time he started running low I bought a new flavor and switched it on him one morning when he was running late for work…and then I hid downstairs away from his cries of confusion.  Fast forward a week or so and we’re both brushing healthier and sharing my toothpaste (but not toothbrushes because that’s just gross).

Wife 2 – Hubby 0

Third, don’t touch his deodorant.  I’m always talking about baby steps, and I completely agree that change sucks.  I got him to change soap and toothpaste in the same month, that’s a pretty big accomplishment in my book and my tactics never required any couples therapy which is always a plus.  I make my own deodorant and that just weirds him out.  He thinks you shouldn’t be able to eat your deodorant and loves his traditional, aluminum filled stick.  What can you do, we’re all a work in progress.  We’re exposed to so many toxins daily that if you just switch a few things, it helps.  You can think I’m a foul-mouthed whack job (not completely untrue) and that’s ok, but when you’re looking to buy your next product because you ran out, try something new, read the list of ingredients, GET EDUCATED.

Like Meatloaf sang “Two out of three ain’t bad” (Meatloaf was in Fight Club, there’s your Six Degrees of Getting Green right there)

Final Score: Wife 2 – Hubby 1    –   Happy Marriage

The post Greening up his cleaning habits appeared first on Living Clean and Dirty.

By far, the most questions I get is about Mama Ellen’s recipe for homemade deodorant.  It never fails…when I tell someone I make my own deodorant they wrinkle their face, say something like, “Ew gross” and by the end of our conversation they ask me for the recipe.  Now it’s quite possible they are putting it in their back pocket for the next time their husband bitches about dinner not being ready, but I like to think they have their “pits” in mind and not their “putz”.

Unfortunately my journey into the green is still a sweaty one and with all of the crappy toxic chemicals in deodorant, I took baby steps and bought different brands of “organic”, “non-toxic” and “more natural” deodorants.  They were all great in their own way except for the only one that mattered…I still stunk.  I smelled so bad by the end of the day that I had to shower before bed.  If I didn’t my hubby would mumble something about a locker room and gym socks as he grabbed his pillow and made his way onto the couch.  I couldn’t blame him, I hadn’t been out hiking or running or bike riding, but I smelled like I was in terrific shape.  I smelled just going to drop the kids off at school and buying groceries.  Now that I CrossFit it is totally unacceptable to smell like a young boy in the midst of puberty.  I wasn’t going back to off-the-shelf deodorant, no matter how many pink flowers and pretty names it had on it.  They might as well have given it a name like “Toxica:  Because Aluminum isn’t just for the foil in your kitchen, NOW IN LILAC!”

So I tried making my own deodorant, and let me just tell you that Rome wasn’t the only thing not built in a day.  I suffered more than a couple of setbacks, but with every failed attempt and itchy rash I knew that I was on the healthy road to the dryville.  My kids thought I was crazy, my husband would just shake his head and walk away and I’m not sure but I think someone mistakenly ate an early batch (but no one fessed up).  Then one day, the skies parted and the angels sang…I wanted to scream like Dr. Frankenstein “It’s Alive!”  I’ll be honest, I had my doubts for a while, but it really paid off in the end.  After some fine tuning I am happy to report that I’m rash-free and no longer smell like I should be standing in line for bread.   I’ve been little-miss-clean-pits for 2 years now and I still don’t smell.  Trust me, there would be a husband-shaped dent in the couch if I did.

So here’s my recipe:

• 1 Tablespoon Organic Coconut Oil
• 1 Tablespoon Organic Shea Butter
• 1 Teaspoon GMO-free Cornstarch
• 2 Teaspoon Aluminum-Free Baking Soda (if needed)

You can add Tea Tree Oil or other essential oils but I haven’t yet.

Mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl.  I usually leave out the coconut oil in the window until it starts to turn liquidy (makes it easier to stir).  You can either put it in an old deodorant stick holder or a small glass container and use it like a crème.  The first few months, I poured it into an old deodorant container but it wouldn’t stay hard (ladies, you know what I’m talking about).  At one point I started keeping it in the fridge but to be honest I like a hot cup of coffee to wake me up in the morning, not jamming what feels like a cold stick of butter in my armpit.  These days I prefer the cream approach, it’s in a glass jar in my bathroom and the chances of my husband accidentally spreading it on a bagel have been drastically reduced.   Bonus: reusing glass jars.

**Also a note on baking soda – originally I broke out in a terrible rash so I used less in mine.  After a few batches I took it out all together because one armpit kept getting a rash (I did a lot of research and this is common so I just removed it).  My older daughter, who is new to the deodorant world, has her own batch.  She has no problems with the baking soda, so for hers I leave it in.

The post Smell Ya Later! appeared first on Living Clean and Dirty.