9 Steps Toward
Nontoxic Health and Beauty

9 Steps Toward Nontoxic Health and Beauty
by Wambui Bahati

Nontoxic health and beauty

1. Make your own deodorant.

You can make your own deodorant by adding together equal parts of baking soda and cornstarch. This is a wonderful recipe for deodorant, and it works. The baking soda absorbs the odor. The cornstarch absorbs the wetness.

2. Perfumes are not necessarily your friend.

Perfumes can be costly and may contain toxins. Pure essential oils can keep you smelling heavenly. Essential oils have also been proven to have many healing benefits.

3. Read the label.

Sometimes it is as simple as reading the label. Though many labels are purposely misleading, reading the label will help us know whether a product is one that we want to put in or on our bodies. If you see a long list of ingredients, and you don't know what most of them are or what they do, you probably want to avoid that product.

4. Check your kitchen.

The best products for our beauty and health are often in our kitchens. Nature provides wonderful fruits, vegetables, seeds and berries, any of which make the best cosmetics and body-care products. Somehow or other, we have learned to doubt Nature. We feel that we know best. We have gone against the laws of Nature in favor of commercialism.

5. Wash new clothes before you wear them.

The clothes you buy go through many processes and many hands before you buy them yourself. If the garment is washable, please be sure to wash it before you wear it for the first time. This will ensure that excess chemicals, pesticides, dyes and bleaches are removed before it meets your body.

6. Our body is one unit.

We often forget that our body is one unit. Many of us have the idea that it is all right to use toxic products on our hair, for instance. We believe that a product used outside our body will not affect the inside of our body. This is not true. Therefore, if you would not put a product in your body (eat it), please do not put it on your body. The reverse holds true.

7. Less is more.

Many of us have cabinets full of cosmetics and so-called health products. We are bombarded constantly with products that promise to make us healthy, youthful and beautiful. However, the truth is, less is more. Find products with the least amount of ingredients. Single-ingredient products, such as coconut oil, Shea butter or various clays, are superb products. Likewise, an occasional meal that consists only of one nutritious food will give your digestive system a rest.

8. Research.

We spend a great deal of time in researching vacation spots we want to travel to. We will ask in-depth questions about whether the car we're thinking of buying gets good mileage and drives well. However, we spend little time researching the products that we put in and on our bodies. Our bodies are our temples. Learn about your body and the food and products you consume.

9. Talk to your elders.

Many of our ancestors knew the health and beauty secrets of the plants and the earth. Over the years, however, we have been taught to discount their knowledge of health and beauty as old-fashioned. The beauty and health industry would love you to believe this. Do not let our elders take these secrets with them to the grave.