Crunchy Stewardship

The Personal Care Audit: Fragrance, Parabens, and Products We Actually Use

• Katie Jones • Season 2 • Episode 34

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Welcome back to Crunchy Stewardship! In this episode, Chrissy and Katie dive into the often overwhelming world of personal care products. Before they get into the suds and scrubs, Chrissy shares a "Random Revelation" about "Movement Snacks"—a simple way to combat the dangers of sitting all day (even if it means doing pushups in your office cubicle!).

Then, the ladies head to the bathroom cabinet to discuss what we are actually putting on our skin. They break down the specific ingredients you should avoid, why "silky smooth" textures and bubbles might actually be harmful, and share the specific brands they use—from shampoo bars to beef tallow moisturizers.

In this episode, you'll learn:

  • Movement Snacks: Why 30 seconds of activity is better than a food snack for your energy levels.
  • The "Big 3" Ingredients to Avoid: Understanding Dyes, Parabens/Phthalates, and "Fragrance."
  • The "Bath & Body Works" Effect: Why synthetic chemicals are used to make scents last longer and textures feel smoother.
  • Navigating the Aisles: How to use apps like Switch Natural and EWG to scan your products.
  • Product Reviews: Honest thoughts on HiBar, Attitude, Dr. Bronner’s, and Tallow-based skincare.
  • The Sasquatch Confession: Why clean beauty routines sometimes mean shaving less often!

Resources mentioned:


Chapters: 

00:00 Introduction to Crunchy Stewardship
01:27 Random Revelation: Movement Snacks
09:07 Personal Care Products Overview
12:20 Guidelines for Choosing Personal Care Products
16:30 Why Harmful Ingredients Are Used
23:15 How to Find Non Toxic Products
31:34 Shampoo Recommendations
33:29 Ever-Changing Product Formulas
37:07 Exploring Shampoo Options
39:18 Conditioner Challenges
41:49 Body Wash Preferences
45:04 Lotion and Moisturizer Choices
53:44 Face Wash
58:25 Lip Care and Final Thoughts

Connect With Us: 

Join Our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/crunchychristianmama

Follow us on Instagram @crunchystewardship 

FREE How to Afford Non-Toxic Living Workbook: https://crunchystewardship.com/how-to-afford-non-toxic-living

Chrissy

Welcome to Crunchy Stewardship. I'm Chrissy Rombach. And I'm Katie Fiola Jones. We are cousins on a mission to honor God by stewarding our health spiritually, mentally, and physically. From ancestral nutrition and natural remedies to biblical finance and holistic health, we are digging deep into how God intended us to live.

Katie

So grab yourself a raw milk latte and join us as we unpack the ins and outs of crunchy stewardship. Hello there. Our wonderful, crunchy family. Uh, I didn't really think about what I was gonna say, but welcome. We're back with, um, our third episode of the year. That feels significant. I think. Um, we, Christy and I have been yeah, just having fun doing these first few episodes of the year, and I hope you have been. Having fun with them as well. We would love to hear from you on any of our episodes. If you're listening to them on Spotify, you can leave us a comment on the episodes and if you're listening to us on Apple Podcasts, you can leave us a rating and review and we really would appreciate if you took the time to do that. Um, yeah, it, it helps us. It gives us encouragement totally. But it also helps others find us, uh, better. So that would be awesome if you could go and do that for us. It's a quick little shout out. But yeah, we're here with another episode and we start off our episodes with a random revelation of the week, and I shared last time. So Chrissy, that means you are up to bat.

Chrissy

Yes, my random revelation, you could actually. Bat with it, kind of sorta. Um, I wanted to talk about micro movement snacks, essentially, the idea is when you're sitting for long periods of time, you know, sitting for more than an hour out of time is so bad for your health. It, um, decreases your metabolism, it decreases your abdominal strength, your back strength, your leg strength, things like that. And so it's really important to be getting up and moving around frequently throughout the day, even if you have a desk job. And I found myself, now that I work in home health, I go to the office in the afternoons to chart after seeing all my patients. And sometimes I'll end up sitting for four hours just charting. And by the end of it, I actually feel like I got hit by a train my body's just so tired of sitting. And so that is where these movements, snacks come in. Essentially, it is 30 seconds to five minutes of just movement, whatever it is. You get up, you can do a lap around the office, or you could do 10 squats, three pushups, um, jumping jacks. You could do shadow boxing. Sometimes a little bit of, uh, mountain climbers, um, some situps, anything like that. You literally just get up outta your desk and you go into the middle of the office and you do it. And I do it. has actually looked at me weird yet. Which I'm kind of happy about and also quite surprised 'cause I mean, it's not like our office is very busy. There's not a ton of people around, so maybe no one has seen me do pushups, just randomly in the middle of my work. But I will literally be sitting or standing at my desk. I actually find it easier to do these micro snacks or movement snacks when I'm at a standing desk rather than a sitting desk. But when my page is loading and it's just being annoying, I'll just turn around and do a pushup and come back and boom, the page is loaded and it's kind of great. It keeps me motivated. To get my work done and keeps my heart pumping a little bit faster, keeps me warmer. 'cause let me tell you, when I'm sitting in the office and I'm not doing these, I get so incredibly cold just 'cause like the air is blowing on me the whole time. And so like just doing a random pushup every few minutes or so actually keeps me warmer. So my, uh, random revelation of the day is the benefit of movement snacks, dur when you're working throughout the day, instead of food snacks, you do movement snacks.

Katie

Yes. Well, when you originally said snacks, I got excited because I thought we would talk about food and then it wasn't about food, but still, I really like that. I think that's a really fun. Little tidbit. And you know, back in Colorado, Wes actually had this whole routine of basically exactly what you're saying, but I don't think he would've called them movement snacks. That just doesn't sound like something Wes would use. But he actually had like a checklist of getting, I think his goal was like so many pushups in the day done, or so many pull-ups, he had a pull up bar in his office at the time. But he would, his goal was to get so many done in a day. And so he divided it out of like how many pushups or pull-ups or sit-ups or whatever he was trying to do, how many he had to do every hour. And so I think he had like an alarm set to remind him on the hour or something along those lines. And he was doing it pretty frequently for a while. So, and it, it worked out really well and it was a great way. Actually he did. So he started it when we became foster parents because as many parents will know, and if you're not a parent yet, you will soon find out that you no longer have free time. You no longer have time to yourself when you are a parent. And so going to the gym is extremely difficult. And we found that out the hard way when we became foster parents and we just couldn't go to the gym really like at all. And so he was using that as his workouts throughout the day. And yeah, he had like a checklist. And so if you work well with checklist, that's my additional tip on top of Chrissy's movement snacks, is to plan out your snacks with a little schedule. And if you're a checkbox kind of person, which I am, I, I love check boxes, that could be a good way to get you going. But I really like that idea, Chrissy. Thanks. Thanks for sharing that little tidbit for the day.

Chrissy

I am. I am just waiting for my coworker, Tom, to walk by and look at me and be like, what are you doing? Or my manager. That would be even better if my manager walked by and I'm doing pushups. She'd be like, please explain.

Katie

I am taking care of my health. We're in a place where we're talking where, where we are trying to keep people healthy.

Chrissy

Exactly. I think everybody should get down and gimme 10.

Katie

Yes.

Chrissy

You know what's actually wild is I saw a 95-year-old patient today and he told me, I don't know if this is true, his son told me he's kind of bluffing a little bit, but he told me he could still do 10 pushups at 95 years old.

Katie

Wow.

Chrissy

And part of me Loki believes him because he does have a pull up bar in his bathroom, like at his

Katie

Wow.

Chrissy

I say, Hmm, I wonder if he legitimately could still do this.

Katie

That's like RFK. Have you seen his like pull up challenges and stuff? He,

Chrissy

wild.

Katie

know how old he is, but it's like really impressive for anybody at any age, but he's much older and yeah, it's really impressive.

Chrissy

RFK is 71 years old.

Katie

Wow.

Chrissy

And he can still do pull-ups. I need to get on that.

Katie

Yeah.

Chrissy

to do a pull-up,

Katie

I've been able to do like one in my life and that was maybe, I think that was like in high school. That's it.

Chrissy

like peak exercise

Katie

Yeah.

Chrissy

I.

Katie

Yeah. That's crazy. Pull-ups are not something that I strive to be able to do. I feel like that's definitely like a, I'm, it's definitely, it should be probably something that I strive to do, but I feel like. It's one of those goals that a lot of men typically have of like, yeah, I wanna be able to do a, a really good pull up. Because Wes definitely was that way for a while where he was like really trying to get solid pull-ups in when he had his pull-up bar. But yeah, it's not something that I, I'll do pushups and I love sit-ups and, but yeah, not really wanting to do pull-ups. I don't know.

Chrissy

The only thing I would like them for is like grip strength, you know,

Katie

Yeah.

Chrissy

open a pickle jar after my husband closes the pickle jar. Wild.

Katie

Wild. Chrissy. So wild.

Chrissy

Can't do it. It's impossible.

Katie

That's why you have husbands in the first place, is to open the pickle jars and to close them and then you just don't need to do pull-ups. There you go.

Chrissy

Or I could be self-sufficient.

Katie

Who needs husbands?

Chrissy

No, that's not worth it. I like my husband doing things for me.

Katie

It is quite nice. Uh. Well anyway, we are not here to talk about pickle jars this entire episode, nor are we going to talk about pull-ups and your, uh, what are movement snacks? I was like, what kind of snacks are they? Snacks, movement snacks. We are here to talk about personal care products and I'm excited that we're doing this episode and I feel like it's kind of surprising that it's taken us this long to get to doing like an episode along these lines because I often find that behind food, this is an area of. Wellness that people tend to ask me recommendations on that and cleaning products. We did do an episode a while ago on cleaning products, so if you are curious to know some of our recommendations and tips on cleaning products, you can go check out that episode. They're always evolving. So even at that, like I, I would even venture to guess that some of those recommendations we made have already changed for me because I love trying new products all the time. But in this episode, we are going to talk through personal care products, and we're going to kind of break it down as to what are some guidelines. For what to look out for in your personal care products, why we recommend some of those guidelines, why the things that we're mentioning might be harmful to your health. And then from there we'll talk about some of the products that Chrisy and I actually use or maybe have used in the past and would recommend or maybe we don't recommend. We'll let you know. And then at the end, we're actually gonna share a few, um, apps for your phone that you can use to help you on your own journey to finding any personal care products that were are best suited for you that will help you find out if there's any of these kind of toxins in the product. So yeah, that way you don't have to remember all of it, but at least you kind of get a breakdown as to what is bad and why, and then you can use those apps to help you find the products. Yeah. Okay. Chrissy, why don't you. Get us going. Why don't you get up to bat again using my baseball references. Look at me sports guys. I'm awesome. I don't know. I'm tired. I've been, okay. Sorry. I have to just say this because then everyone will understand. Maybe. Maybe you'll understand. At least I feel like it's a little bit of an excuse. I started potty training Malachi this week, and it is just one of those things that I didn't expect to be as exhausting as it is, but it is. I feel so tired. It's kind of like after a day of traveling where you're just sitting on an airplane all day, but you feel so tired at the end of it. That's how I feel because we're not doing anything. We're literally not leaving the house, but I feel so tired and I just don't have all of my like wires firing properly in my brain. So if I say something that is just ridiculous, that is why. Okay, Chrissy, you need to start talking now.

Chrissy

Okay, I'm gonna start talking now and I'm going to tell us about general guidelines and things to look out for. When you are determining what personal care products to use, so when you look at the back of any personal care product, whether it's all natural or all horrible, is you're not gonna understand a single word that's on the back of it. Because first off, for most things, half of it's in French, which I don't really understand why, because French is not the secondary language. In America, it's Spanish, but half of it's in French, and the other half of it has a lot of words that end with OL, like glycol and glycerol and something all, all the alls. But anyways, so with that, it's hard to understand the back of a shampoo bottle or a lotion bottle in general. But there are a few words that you can highlight and be able to pick out from these. Really long list of a lot of words that you can't read in order to determine if this product has not great things in it or if it has mostly pretty decent things in it. So, um, three of the things that are very specific that you can easily look out for. The first one is dyes. Any kind of dye, red, red dye, 40 blue three, yellow four, something like that. Um, all of these are listed on the back of shampoo bottles and other personal care products. And just like they're not good for your body if you are eating them, it's the same if you're putting them on your skin. 'cause our skin is super porous. It's not like a, you know, your hands get wrinkly when they get wet. Your hands absorb lotion. So whatever you put on your skin is going to get in your body and into your bloodstream for the vast majority of things, unless. It specifically is designed to not do that, which most personal care products are not designed that way. So in the mindset of personal care products, assume it's going to seep through your skin and into your bloodstream. And so you definitely don't want any sort of dyes in your personal care products because those easily seep through your skin into your bloodstream and can cause toxicities within your body. one that is a big concern is parabens and phthalates. Um, it will literally, if you look on the ingredients list, it literally says paraben, and it literally says phthalate. That is P-H-T-H-A-L-A-T-E. Phthalate. Hard to say, but fun to say once you learn how to say it. Those two are endocrine disruptors and so can mimic estrogens in our body and then therefore decrease natural estrogen in mess up progesterone. And for men, increased estrogen will decrease testosterone and decrease sperm production and effectiveness. Um, so definitely important to avoid those ones. And then the third one that's really important to watch out for is fragrance, or any other word that sounds like fragrance, like perfume or perfume or fragrant or natural fragrance. Even if it says natural, as we have learned from natural flavors, it's not always natural because the natural part of it could be like derived from natural gas, which you don't want in your body, but most of us have in our bodies anyways because of the world we live in. So anyways, those are the three biggest things that you can easily look at the back of a shampoo bottle or lotion bottle or whatever. see. Okay. Does it have any dyes? No. Does it have any parabens or phthalates? No. Does it have any fragrance? No. Okay. Boom. Already on a great trajectory here. Um, yeah, that's what the, the, the three biggest that I would say are important to look out for. Can you think of any others, Katie, or anything you wanted to add onto that?

Katie

Well, I wanted to talk about like why some of these things were even put into. Our personal care products in the first place. Because I had a discussion with a friend recently who asked a really good question after I mentioned about parabens and the Tth Thalates and stuff, and she was like, well, if these are so harmful, why are they putting them in our shampoos and lotions and all these things? And they have served a purpose along the lines for the manufacturers specifically. And I guess you could kind of say for the customers, because, so there are synthetic chemicals that. Basically do things like enhance the texture of the product. So like when you have lotion that's like really silky smooth, oftentimes it will have some of these chemicals in it versus something that is more natural might go on and kind of go away really quickly and almost get like absorbed into your skin pretty quickly. Whereas like, if you've ever had or tried a, uh, bed Bath and Beyond, or not Bed Bath and Beyond, gosh, a bo uh, bath and Body Works product, you know, that feeling of putting on one of their lotions and it kind of leaves like this. It's, it's a really satisfying feeling that it leaves on your skin. It feels moisturized, but oftentimes that those are like the chemicals that are still like staying there on your skin. And so it, it enhances the product and it preserves the shelf life and all that kind of stuff. So.

Chrissy

That's so funny that you say it makes your skin feel good. I always think my skin feels super slimy after I use like Bath and Body

Katie

now I feel that way, but that is the lotion I grew up on. I mean, we pretty much only had that lotion in our house, so I grew up feeling like that was what lotion was supposed to feel like. But now that I use a lot more natural skincare products, including, including like tallow based products, it leaves a more satisfying nourishment to my skin. Like it, it literally feels like more hydrated longer. I feel like with the bath and body work stuff, I would put it on, it would feel really good for a while, but I would need to put it on again later because it would almost like dehydrate my skin over time, which is, it makes sense because it's. They're literally a synthetic chemical that you're putting onto your skin. So it would probably harm your skin over time. But they would put these in the products to preserve the shelf life because even though they're skincare products and they're not technically food, they still have a shelf life because they are made with products that will go bad eventually. Everything kind of goes bad eventually, so you have to be careful about that. But yeah, you'll find it in, or another good, uh, way to tell if you have some of these, I think it's maybe the tth specifically, I, I can't remember which product or which chemical it is, but one of them is the one that. Makes things more bubbly. Do you know what I'm talking about? Like, so when you're using a shampoo or like a body soap or even bubble bath, if you think about bubble bath and you get all those suds and it, it feels really satisfying because it's sud sing up so much, but when it's sud sing up so much, it's due to whatever that chemical is that is not good. And I don't remember what it is exactly, but do you know what I mean?

Chrissy

Mm-hmm. And I've also heard that like, when it bubbles that much, it's also kind of like stripping your hair of its own natural oils that God put there to protect your hair. You know, like your own personal natural oils are really important to keep your hair moisturized, to keep it, um, healthy and to protect it from damage and things like that. Um, but if you're stripping your hair from all of its natural oils by using these synthetic things, then your hair's just going to be brittle and dry and not shiny at all. And then they create additional products to add the shine back, you know, part. Of me thinks that a lot of it is kind of a marketing scheme.

Katie

Yeah.

Chrissy

it's like, well, if we create a scenario where they're gonna need another product and another product, then we can just make all the products and then they'll buy all the products.

Katie

Mm-hmm.

Chrissy

And so

Katie

So I, I also

Chrissy

my

Katie

learned that with phthalates, they are the chemical that enhances. Fragrance to last longer. So again, since we're picking on Bath and Body Works here, I always think about whenever I would put that lotion on and I would smell like Sweet Pea for so long, and I would, I would, you could still smell it throughout the day where I'd be like, mm, yeah, I can still smell this beautiful, you know, peachy lotion and I would love it. But the T Thalates specifically are the reason that those chemicals end up sticking around, or like the fragrances specifically. And that's oftentimes, Chrissy mentioned this, but the fragrances are made up of a lot of different chemicals and oftentimes if something does have the word fragrance or perfume in it, it will have a Olly in it because that's what creates the longevity of that fragrance. Whereas when you use something more natural, like an essential oil, or even just the scent of like a lemon, it doesn't last as long. Because again, it's, it's just a, it's like a food product or just something like natural from the earth and it just kind of dissipates eventually. And so when you wonder why your laundry doesn't smell as good long term when you're using just essential oils to help make the scents, you know, make it smell good, that's why, it's because it doesn't have the bad chemicals that make the scent last longer. So when you have something that has a really long lasting scent, you can pretty much guarantee that it has athol in it. And that is not good for your endocrine system. And it will be sad.

Chrissy

Yes. I feel like I can always tell when somebody uses Pantene shampoo and conditioner.

Katie

Yes.

Chrissy

give them a hug, I'm like, oh, you use Pantene?

Katie

Mm-hmm.

Chrissy

tell, like brings me back to college when I used Pantene

Katie

Yeah.

Chrissy

as one would.

Katie

Yep. Yep.

Chrissy

anyways.

Katie

all, we've all been there.

Chrissy

Oh yeah. What are some things that you're using now or where are you going to figure out which products don't have all these chemicals in them? And then also what products are you using?

Katie

Yeah, so some of the, well, first off actually, where do I go to find out some of my product recommendations? I actually love going to Facebook groups and asking people what products do you use if they're specifically like a crunchy Facebook group. And then you get all the people who all tell you their products. And oftentimes, yes, you will find that these products come with a pricier tag on them. They're, they're much higher than the cheapy fragrance laden personal care products, so you just kinda have to keep that in mind. But. It's good to know that there's things, there's products that are better for you, but also not extremely expensive. And you can find ones that are somewhere middle of the line when using an app like EWG, it's one of Chrissy's favorite apps. Um, she can kind of talk a little bit more about that 'cause I know that you use that a lot. Um, but I also use Bobby approved, but then the one app that I've been using primarily for personal care products is one called Switch Natural. It is a paid app, so you do have to pay, I wanna say it's like $19 and you get access to it for life. And I wanted to test it out a while ago and I've been using it and I actually really like it. So that's one that I've been using. They only do like personal care products or cleaning products. They don't do any food type items. So just in case you're looking for that because EWG and Bobby do kind of all of that, but you use EWG more than Me. Do you use that for your products?

Chrissy

I do and I have found that EWG on my phone is just kind of clunky and has

Katie

Yeah.

Chrissy

to use user interface. So I definitely use it on the computer more so, but I love it. You could just type in even just the brand of whatever product you're using and they rate things on, I think with personal care products is like A to F, A-B-C-D-F, um, and you can essentially see like how well your product fares, uh, in relationship to other products. And they even will look at different scents because different scents and different fragrances affect our bodies differently. And so, um. And each product has different ingredients in it. Whether you're getting the um, cherry blossom conditioner or the lavender conditioner, you know, those are two completely different smells, which means they're two completely different ingredients, so your body's going to react to them completely differently. And so, yeah, EWGI really do love, the one thing I really love about EWG is you can go in and click on your product and it highlights exactly ingredients are in the product, which is really beneficial for seeing, oh, ingredient has this rating, and here's why. And here's the research that has been done to inform their decision on. Giving each product that rating. so I personally really love it because it's not just looking at a rating and taking it for what it is. It's, I'm able to look at the rating and I'm able to go in and understand the why behind it, and then make an informed decision as a consumer of, okay, is this a risk that I'm willing to take? Or is this a risk I don't wanna take, depending on how many ingredients in the product are bad or good, and how bad or good the ingredients are. You know, if you're going through, and most of the ingredients in the product are A's and B's, and there's one ingredient that's rated a D, well then overall the product gets a C rating. you can make the decision. Is that d just like pulling down the overall rating or is it, and is it something that I would actually really want to try because it got mostly A's and B's? Or is it that d is so strong that I just want to avoid it completely and so I, I feel better about that, that I'm able to make a more informed decision about the products that I'm buying.

Katie

Yeah, makes sense. I often use all three of them too.

Chrissy

does the Switch natural app have a description of all the ingredients?

Katie

Yeah. So when I go into it. What I actually really like about this because with Bobby approved and I think EWG, what you have to do is like scan the barcode of products. Do you have to do that with EWG?

Chrissy

No, I usually just type things in, but if I get it wrong, then I get really annoyed with myself 'cause I can't figure it out.

Katie

Yeah,

Chrissy

I've never actually scanned anything with EWG.

Katie

so I always, like you said, the app for EWG is not great. The name of it isn't even like EWG, it's something like Health healthy Living. So that's also first off confusing. Um, 'cause I always type in EWG into my phone 'cause I don't keep apps on my screen. I just like look for them. So that's first off, annoying. Second, it's hard to use and I've o often feel like I can't find the products that I'm looking for, but. The Bobby approved app, you do need to scan an item or you have to type it in. And if they don't, if somebody hasn't input that item into the database, then they don't have the information about it. What I like about the Switch Natural app is you actually take a picture of the ingredients and then they have like an AI system that can read the ingredients and then tell you what is good or bad about all of those. So it's kind of nice because you don't need to scan the barcode. You can scan things online. I often do that if I'm looking up a new product on Amazon or just on their website, and you can just take a picture of the ingredients and then it will tell you and give you a rating. On each of them, or not necessarily rating, but it'll highlight the pro, the ingredients that are bad and then it will say why they often flag things that are, um, carcinogenic. So if they, they cause cancer or if they're known to cause cancer, that's one of their big things on that app. So yeah, I have really enjoyed it. But it's interesting between the three of them, they're usually not all on the same page. Oftentimes they'll slightly be on the same page, but then they'll flag different ingredients and chemicals differently. So EWG sometimes flags certain things that Bobby doesn't and that switch natural doesn't and vice versa. And I just find that interesting. So oftentimes I do check all three just to see what they say. Yeah.

Chrissy

That honestly just sounds like a lot of work.

Katie

It is. I, I honestly have a problem and I mean, Wes will tell you I get into like analysis paralysis when it comes to buying new stuff and if I'm not satisfied, like, we'll, we bought toothpaste a while ago and I literally researched the heck out of toothpaste and at the end of it I was like, no toothpaste is safe. And also was just really bummed out about the one toothpaste that I'm like, I feel like this one's good, but then it costs like $40 per tube or something. That's a little outrageous. But anyway, you get my point. It's, uh, I, I get into it and I have a whole spreadsheet that I have, all of the different things that I've looked up and put in, like their prices and their ratings from different apps and all the things. It's obnoxious and it's my Enneagram three that comes out where I just need to like look at all the data and. Check it all off and analyze it. And it's just kind of obnoxious that I do it. I, I'm annoyed with myself.

Chrissy

I have to say though, being somebody who benefits. From your in-depth research, I do appreciate it.

Katie

Oh, well thank you.

Chrissy

to do it myself.

Katie

Yep. And that's why people come to me all the time where they're like, well, what shampoo would you recommend? And I'm like, well, this is what I'm using right now, but what I recommend it, I don't know. So if you're what curious what shampoo I use. I actually, I switched back to a shampoo that I used to use for so long and I actually switched to it, first off, because it is a shampoo bar and it has no plastic involved with it. So it comes in a box and you recycle the box, and then you have an actual bar of shampoo and you use it and rub it on your head just like a. Bar of soap, a regular bar of soap. It doesn't, it's shaped differently. But I started using that probably back in 2019, and I primarily switched to this brand, it's called Hi Bar, H-I-B-A-R, all one word. I switched to it because I was just trying to eliminate plastic from my life, but more on like an eco-friendly side of things, not necessarily like a health side of things. I was like, I'm gonna do no plastics in my life because it'll save the planet. So I switched to this shampoo bar then, and I switched away from it for a while after I started getting crunchy and I looked it up and it was not Bobby approved and it was not EWG approved. And then just for giggles, one day I went and looked it up again, and now it's Bobby approved and actually on Switch Natural, they have no reservations about. The both the shampoo and conditioner bar. But Chrissy, you mentioned the other day when we were talking about it that EWG has like a B rating or C rating for it, which I was kind of surprised about because I'm like, that's interesting that Bobby has switched its rating and so has, well, I guess I didn't have switch natural originally, but Switch Natural doesn't have any reservations about it, so I don't know.

Chrissy

My thought is that maybe EWG is still looking at their old, old formulation

Katie

Hmm.

Chrissy

of looking at their new formulation. Um, because usually EWG will say like in parentheses, the 2019 formulation of whatever product, which is helpful to know if the data is slightly outdated or if it's newer. Um. But the, then the problem is you have to go and research. Well, did they change the formulation between now and then? And I don't know.

Katie

Yeah.

Chrissy

a lot of work, worth it. Worth it. And once you find a brand or a product that you like, it's really easy to just stick with it.

Katie

Yeah.

Chrissy

You find one that's good that you like and works well, is healthy for you, stick with it. And you're done with the research. You just don't really have to do it anymore 'cause you found something that's good. So

Katie

The only, the only warning I would give on that specifically is trying, I mean, again, this is a lot of work too, just like you said, trying to be aware if a. Product or company has been bought by someone like Johnson and Johnson for example, because at that point then the product is kind of more in their hands. And I have heard of sad stories of, you know, such and such product was good, but then they were bought out by some big corporation and then they altered things slightly just so that they could make more money because then they could keep charging the extremely high prices of these luxury brands, healthy luxury brands, and then change the formula to be cheaper so that they're making more money. And so I've heard that, but I have not personally seen it happen to anything that I have. Uh, but I've heard that it's happened to other people where, yeah. Anyway,

Chrissy

That honestly makes me so mad. that they do that.

Katie

actually, this is another really random tip slash thing that I learned recently. There are different. Recipes. So this is a food thing more so. But there are different recipes for food items that are sold at somewhere like Costco versus if you buy it at like a Kroger store because of bulk packaging and stuff. I don't really understand how it is, but I have learned, I don't remember what food it is. I think it's something under the STE brand, so maybe a chip or a tortilla or something like that. But the STE chips, someone posted this on Facebook that they're, and again, I don't actually know if it's Ste, I'm just using this as an example, but the recipe is different for their Costco one versus like just buying a small bag of it at like a Kroger or something like that. So that was a weird thing that I noticed as well. I don't know if that happens with personal care. I think the one not at Costco was better.

Chrissy

Oh,

Katie

So that's why it was like, oh wow, it's exciting that you can now get it in in bulk at Costco or something like that. And then it's kind of like, oh, gotcha. Because it's a different recipe. And so that's kind of crazy. But it's

Chrissy

irritating

Katie

the way that they do distribution and all this stuff, it has a longer shelf life maybe. And they had to put in some sort of something into it anyway. I don't know, even if it was ste, it was just a brand that happens to be healthier in general, but it was a food thing. So it's not personal care guys, but just be aware of weird things like that. It happens. It's crazy.

Chrissy

and it's annoying.

Katie

Yeah. So I used to use the brand, um, Acura, I think is what it's called, A-C-U-R-E. You and I were talking about shampoo the other day and you mentioned your brand of shampoo and I think, I thought it was the same one, but I was looking it up again and it was. Acura, A-C-U-R-E. I don't even know if that's how you pronounce it, but they sell it at, uh, what's it called? Whole Foods and also on Amazon. But I tried it because they were on super sale one time at Whole Foods, and one of my girlfriends bought it for me to try and I liked it. And I used it for, uh, at least six months to a year. And then I switched back to my shampoo bar recently.

Chrissy

Nice. actually been using attitude for my shampoo.

Katie

That's what it was.

Chrissy

Attitude is honest. It's EWG verified across the board. I haven't found a single attitude product yet that is not EWG verified. Um, so that's one of the brands that I have kind of in my mind of, okay, whatever scent I decide I want, still gonna be pretty good for me. Um, and I really like it. It does still bubble quite a bit, which is one thing that I like. You know, I don't really want a non bubbly shampoo just because I, I like it, it feels good. It makes me feel cleaner when my shampoo gets all bubbly. Um, so I've been using that one and I really love it actually to the point where I am thinking of throwing away my old bottle of shampoo that probably has maybe two inches of shampoo left at the bottom of it. Because I've been using that thing for, I'm not even kidding you, I think two years and I'm so tired of it and I want it gone and I want to use the natural stuff, but the old bottle of shampoo is just taking way too long to use. So I caved and bought natural shampoo before my old one was out, which is very much not me. Usually I wait until my old product is done before I buy the natural one. But shampoo, I just wasn't, wasn't patient enough and that is okay. In terms of conditioner though, I haven't actually found one that I love. Again, with conditioner, I have like three bottles in my shower, um, two of which are Aveda, which say they use natural ingredients, but they also have parfum in their product, in their ingredients list. And unfortunately, Aveda is not one that. EWG or Bobby have like analyzed, I guess I could use the switch naturals if you just take pictures

Katie

Yeah.

Chrissy

list.

Katie

me a picture of it. I can actually, if you send a picture too, I can just upload it into the app, which is also kind of a cool feature of that app. So send it to me. I'll check it out for you.

Chrissy

I will definitely have to do that. So I love Veda. I think it works really nicely. It smells really nice. Um, but I know for a fact it's not best thing in the world. so I have tried Avalon Organics for my sham or for my conditioner, which fine. I feel like my hair is a little bit more frizzy after I use it and it. Takes so long to rinse out. Like I usually am not one that accidentally leaves product in my hair and then I get outta the shower and I'm like, ah, there's still a conditioner in here. But with this Avalon Organics, I'm not even kidding you. That has happened to me five or six

Katie

I.

Chrissy

since I got this bottle. And it's just one of those, I just have to like it harder,

Katie

Have you looked up the ingredients of that one?

Chrissy

No, but I do know it's EWG verified.

Katie

Oh. 'cause I feel like the, that stickiness to it, that if it's sticking in your hair more is typically a sign of like a paraben or something. But don't ask me, I'm obviously not any kind of expert, but

Chrissy

have, the only reason I got it was because it was EWG

Katie

yeah.

Chrissy

was like, oh, it's good for me. And it, it smells really nice. I like it. It also like. I put it in my hair, it doesn't have that like silky smooth feel that conditioner usually has, which sense because it's all natural, but at the same time, I'm like, I kind of want my hair to be really silky smooth when I'm in the shower and then not greasy when I get outta the shower.

Katie

Yeah.

Chrissy

a complicated ask truly. But anyways, I have yet to find good conditioner.

Katie

Hmm.

Chrissy

What do you use for body wash,

Katie

We use, uh, what's the brand called? We just use bar soap also. It's What's that brand we were talking about recently of

Chrissy

high bar

Katie

No, no. It's, yes, Dr. Bronner's. Thank you. They make all the other cleaning stuff too.

Chrissy

I was just going through all of the clean brains that I know.

Katie

Yes, Dr. Bronner's. So we use the Dr. Bronner's Peppermint. We actually talked about this, remember? Because you were like, don't use the peppermint. And I was like, what? Why I use the peppermint? So we primarily use peppermint. We have though, been trying some of the other since, uh, I don't even remember which ones recently, but. We still always come back to the peppermint because I really like that one. We both really like it, so that's a win because we're both using the same one and it's easy. So what about you guys?

Chrissy

nice. Max and I both use the same one. Also. We use Dr. Bronner's and we are in the middle of going through every single scent. Um, we've gone through peppermint and almond, Max has refused lavender because he says it's too girly. Um, we are currently using tea tree, which is fine. It's, I think almond is my favorite, but I think also the almond scent is. Like a, a natural fragrance rather than actual almond extract or something like that.

Katie

Interesting. Yeah, we, that's when you were saying all those, we, we've tried the tea tree and I did kind of like that one, but then we had another bar of the peppermint and we, I started it and I was like, oh my gosh, I just like this so much better. So I didn't hate the tea tree. I just definitely love the peppermint one. So

Chrissy

it's just the only thing I don't like about the peppermint is it makes my skin feel prickly.

Katie

it's like waking everything up. That's how I feel.

Chrissy

before I go to bed.

Katie

Okay. Well see, here's the difference. I typically shower in the morning.

Chrissy

Yeah. No, I almost never shower in the morning. Showers are a bedtime thing.

Katie

It makes sense. Honestly, I feel like in the summer I take a lot more showers before bed, especially if I've been outside and sweaty all day. But in the winter I just, I like waking up and warming up and getting my hair all nice and stuff for the day. And that's typically how I do my routines.

Chrissy

Yeah, see, I just blow dry my hair at night before bed, and then it's still good in the morning.

Katie

Mine doesn't do that. My, I think my hair is really, really thin. I mean, you could tell this is literally one day of not showering at Chrissy. Nobody else can see this, but you and I. But it gets all like flat and sticky together. And my friend today, she was so, she's so cute. She came over and she's like, oh, did you get a haircut? And I was like, no, my hair's just greasy. 'cause I didn't shower this morning. And she was like, oh. And I'm like, yeah, it really looks so much different when I just don't shower. It's so stupid.

Chrissy

Oops. when that happens.

Katie

I know. Okay. What about,

Chrissy

you using for lotion?

Katie

yeah, that's what I was just about to ask you that too. Lotions. I actually have. Typically been using. I have a, a couple things 'cause I actually, lotions is the one thing I really love and I have a bunch of different kinds, so I have like a tallow based kind of body cream. It smells really good. I actually had a friend in Colorado who was making homemade whipped tallow cream stuff, and it's all with organic essential oils and whatever. Her combination of oils, it smells to me like cake batter and it just smells so delicious. Like I want to eat it. And so I use that a lot. I've also been using just like an almond oil. Plain or like organic almond oil. And I just, I love that, especially after I've shaved, it just feels very hydrating to my legs. And then for like actual lotion. Lotion, I've been using a bottle from just ingredients. And I believe that one is like across the board, pretty clean from like Bobby and EWG. But I've had it for a while. It's, it's a pretty big bottle and I use just a little bit at a time. And so I've had it for a bit and I don't remember what the research was, but a lot of the stuff from that, just ingredients brand is, is typically pretty good. So yeah, I tried it out. It's their vanilla scent. I really like it.

Chrissy

I have not switched my lotions yet because I keep getting lotions as gifts, and unless it's like. I'll re-gift it or just throw it away if it is, um, and Body Works. But if it's something that's actually really expensive or really nice, you know, like Aveda lotion is what I've been using recently and I love it. It's their rosemary scent. It smells so yummy and it feels really good on my skin, especially after I shave. But my problem is I only put lotion on right after I shave, and I don't shave that much, maybe like once every other week, to be honest.

Katie

Really?

Chrissy

yeah. Usually when Max looks at me, he is like, Chrissy,

Katie

You're a Sasquatch.

Chrissy

He's like, you're poking me. And I'm like, okay, sorry, I, I'll fix it tomorrow.

Katie

That's so funny.

Chrissy

I

Katie

Yeah.

Chrissy

like it. I just, the whole process is such a long process that I just don't do it very often. And then it takes me that much longer to go through my lotion and I just can't throw it away. And I have a brand new Moroccan Oil lotion in my drawer that's like the big size that I haven't started yet because it's taking me a year and a half to go through a regular size of this Aveda lotion. I think I'm just gonna be using the lotion that I have forever and ever because unless somebody comes and raids my drawer and steals it and then gives me an excuse to buy attitude or something else. I have actually at um, Abigail's wedding, our cousin, so our cousin got married

Katie

Mm-hmm.

Chrissy

in October. And at her wedding. Her mom, aunt Cindy, um, had some attitude, hand lotion, and

Katie

Oh,

Chrissy

let me try it. It was really great. I loved it. It smells really nice. It absorbed really nicely into my skin. It was phenomenal. Um, my

Katie

nice.

Chrissy

I, I bought her a, like tallow face moisturizer, like under eye cream thing.

Katie

Mm.

Chrissy

And then I stole it for a few days so I could use it I gave it to her. And I like that one too. But I did give it back because did indeed actually give it to her, so I should keep it to in her hands, you know, 'cause it was a gift. But, um, I do like that one. But then when I went back on Amazon to try and buy it again, it was no longer being sold on Amazon. So I don't know where to find it anymore.

Katie

That's weird.

Chrissy

I know it was like, this product does not exist. And I was like, what? I bought it so. I

Katie

So

Chrissy

maybe I have to find, go to the original sellers of it.

Katie

that one is like just an under eye moisturizer. Do you use like other moisturizers or stuff like that?

Chrissy

Negative. My face is just my face and this is why I'm so bad at this conversation. 'cause I'm like, I use shampoo and conditioner and body wash and that's it.

Katie

I am, I am pretty basic too, but I was thinking like, well, okay, I do, I use some moisturizers. Um, I actually just bought a new one recently and I'm trying to remember the brand of it. Oh, no, no. I was thinking it was going to be the Earthly Wellness brand, but that's actually, I have a magnesium cream that I use like every night before bed. I wouldn't necessarily call that a personal care product. I guess you could call it a personal care product. It's more so for me it's more so to help me sleep versus like, I guess that's personal care to sleeping. I'm like, I don't know why I don't think it's like a personal care product, but I, I love this

Chrissy

not

Katie

like.

Chrissy

medicine.

Katie

Yeah, it's, it's just a magnesium kind of like body cream kind of stuff. And I originally bought it for Malachi to help him poop. So, 'cause magnesium's also really good in helping you like go poop when you're constipated. So we originally got it for that, but it's also really good in helping you just relax and fall asleep. And so I tried it out a couple times and I love it and I basically started using it every night. And I, I, I wouldn't say I need it to go to sleep, but I love it for like, I love the, the way, I love the sleep that I actually get at night when I'm using this magnesium cream. So that's from Earthly Wellness, but. In all of that, I actually remember the name of the brand of the moisturizer I just bought is from Ro Casa Organics. And they're a really awesome clean brand. Some of their products tend to be more expensive. Um, I'm trying out their, it's like their face cream that has frankincense oil in it. And so I wanted to try that and I actually really like it. And fascinatingly enough, Malachi sometimes gets this red rash like thing, it's just like dryness around his mouth, especially in the winter 'cause he gets really drooly and all this stuff and he just is always wet around his face so it gets kind of chapped. And I started using that kind of a little bit right around his mouth and it's been helping heal up his like rash flakiness right there. So yeah, it's been working on him as well. But that one's from Ro Casa Organics. They have a lot of other personal care products there as well.

Chrissy

You said frankincense. It reminded me, um, my mom's friend uses, uh, jojoba oil with a little bit of frankincense oil in it, and she loves it. She uses that as her nighttime cream thing that works really well for her,

Katie

I've heard those are good together.

Chrissy

are gone on.

Katie

Yeah. Yeah. I've been pleasantly surprised. I actually, I've tried a handful of different moisturizers. I pretty much, whenever I've finished a moisturizer, I have tried a new one because I've tried a lot of different healthy, natural stuff and I have never been super satisfied with any of them. But then like you, I'm like, okay, I just spent a bunch of money on this moisturizer and I wanna use it up. So I'll use it up. And it's not like harming my skin. It just doesn't leave. A satisfying feeling on it, if that makes sense. And so I'm, I'm trying this one and I'm, I'm like, this might be it. This might be like my moisturizer now and I really like it. And yeah, I've used a handful of other ones that other people say are really good and, and all of our skin, different skin type is so different. So it makes sense that not everybody responds the same. So I recommend that, but who knows if it would work for everybody else's skin.

Chrissy

Yep. That makes sense now to wash my face. I don't do this every day because I'm horrible about it, but days I do. Um, I will use really just garnet mis cell cleansing water. Um, I feel like that's really clean even though it is Garnet, which isn't known for being a clean brand. Um, my cellar cleansing water is kind of just a simple little water cleanse essentially. Um, that I think it does a really good job at getting the dirt out of my face, especially like around my nose where I have a little bit of blackhead. If I rub a little bit harder with that, they'll, take care of those pretty well. So that's what I use and it doesn't dry out my skin super a ton. granted there is a lot of humidity in North Carolina, not as much as Houston, but there's a decent amount here and so. It makes my skin less dry. But yeah. So

Katie

Hmm.

Chrissy

like that.

Katie

Is that like,

Chrissy

I just don't use lotion.

Katie

is that like witch's Hazel? Do you know what that stuff is? Where it's like a natural cleansing agent?

Chrissy

it looks similar to witch hazel. Um, it's probably like right next to it at CVS

Katie

Mm-hmm.

Chrissy

I were to remember correctly. But, um, no, it's my cellar cleansing water.

Katie

Yeah, because witch hazel's basically water, and I remember I had to buy it before a surgery to clean my leg. This was my first like knee surgery years ago, and they wanted me to,

Chrissy

witch hazel.

Katie

yeah, it was so weird. So that's what I used to clean, like, because I wasn't supposed to use. Body soap or anything. So they said to use that the night before my surgery, but then they did like a whole clean down of me anyway, so I don't really understand it. But the only reason I have it again now in my medicine cabinet is because I made a homemade hand sanitizer and one of the ingredients was witch hazel. And so, but it looks like water and it smells like water. So I'm like, I don't really know what this stuff is. So when you said water in your product, I was like, maybe it's a similar thing. I don't know.

Chrissy

I know. Okay, so my cellar cleansing water. It looks like water. It does have a little bit of a smell to it.

Katie

Hmm.

Chrissy

a lot, but have noticed, you know, Garnet has multiple different kinds. It's like plumping and then normal, and then for waterproof makeup, and then. For all skin types. They do all make my skin feel different, so there is a difference to them, but I don't really know what it is. All I know is I like the yellow bottle. That's all I got.

Katie

Yes. Chrissy says, buy the yellow one.

Chrissy

Get the yellow one. I think it's the plumping one.

Katie

Yeah. Well, I'm pretty basic when it comes to face wash. I, I actually don't wash my face every night. I never really have gotten into that habit, but I typically wash my face in the shower in the morning, and I typically just use my bar of soap. I just put a little bit on my hands and just rub it around. And it's probably harsher than like a traditional face wash maybe. I'm sure some skincare professional out there is like, don't do that. But, uh, it works for me and I don't really get a lot of.

Chrissy

is screaming at me more so than you probably.

Katie

I don't know. I guess I do use moisturizer. There you go. Skincare professional bonus for me.

Chrissy

Now the question is, does your moisturizer have SPF in it?

Katie

So that's, I do have one that has SPF, but I am not currently using that one at the very moment because, uh, it is so cloudy here in Michigan and there's like no sunshine or no anything right now that I just don't use it. But I use one in the summer and I could not tell you what brand it is because it was just a random cleanish one that I found on Amazon. And again, it's one that I, it's fine, it gets the job done enough. I don't know that I would be like, this is it, this is awesome and everybody should get it. Um, yeah, but, and then the last thing that I had on my mind was just like. Uh, chapsticks or like lip stuff. Do you use anything on your lips?

Chrissy

I do, I actually use Dr. Bronner's ever, so ever since I was on Accutane in high school, my lips have just been dry.

Katie

Oh,

Chrissy

I think that's just one of the side effects of it. It, they were incredibly dry while I was on the medication, but now it's just like a low level dryness kind of all the time. So I am religious about wearing chopstick and hand lotion to bed and the chopstick, I, I actually just switched to Dr. Bronner's Chopstick, which I think has a beeswax base with essential oils in it, and I love it. It's great. It comes in four different scents. There's unscented, peppermint, orange, ginger, and lemon lime.

Katie

hmm.

Chrissy

I'm currently working through the orange ginger, and I'm not even it. It's very gingery, which is kind of weird for chapstick, but

Katie

Yeah.

Chrissy

I think my favorite is the peppermint, honestly. For the Chapstick. It doesn't tingle like the

Katie

I was gonna say it's not too spicy for your lips.

Chrissy

No, it's not too spicy. but if I don't have that one, then I will use, um, Berts Bees because that one is also beeswax based instead of petroleum based. But it does have fragrance

Katie

Mm-hmm.

Chrissy

um, flavors in it. So that's the downside of Burt's Be's. But if I were to choose like Burt's Be's versus Chapstick, if I was traveling and had to grab something from the grocery store, I would go Burt's Bees all the way.

Katie

Yeah.

Chrissy

What about you?

Katie

Well. That area of my personal care is probably the least crunchy of all. And it was funny, as I was thinking about this episode, I'm like, oh my gosh, my, all of the stuff I use on my lips is so bad, and I use so much of it. Especially when we were in Colorado, I was notorious for always having some kind of chapstick thing in a pocket of my coat, or in my purse and in my desk. And

Chrissy

coat has a chapstick in it.

Katie

Yes, exactly.

Chrissy

Yes.

Katie

And I didn't really ever care what brand it was. And in fact, I always felt like I ended up with tons of free chapstick from something, you know, like the little like branded ones that people hand out to you. And I would always take 'em because I would lose them all the time, and I just use them all the time. And I have like never, ever finished a tube of chapstick. I just have always had so many. In fact, in our bathroom. Little drawer thing that I have them in. I probably have six of them. They're all different. And then in my desk drawer, I probably have at least three. And then I have one in like every coat pocket. And then I have one in my, I have two in my purse, actually three. 'cause this other one that my friend gave me, it's like this, it's apparently you can use it all over your body. I don't even know what it is. I haven't looked at it since she gave it to me. But it's also like a chapstick thing. Anyway, I have so much of it and so I just never buy it. And I'm like, why would I spend money when I have like 18 of them everywhere? So

Chrissy

That's

Katie

yeah, I have all sorts of, I do have burs bees and that typically tends to be my favorite. But I do have the Chapstick brand as well. I also have that one. Uh, what's that one that used to come in an egg form, but they also make them now. And yeah. That, that stuff I just, I'm pretty sure is so bad, but I have that and I use that. Yeah. So that area of my health and wellness is probably killing me, and it's probably the reason I'm gonna die one day is from my chapstick, so. Oh, well, at least I saved money.

Chrissy

die one day.

Katie

Yeah.

Chrissy

We're all gonna die one way or another, so

Katie

Yep.

Chrissy

might as well have a story with it.

Katie

Exactly. It was the Chapstick.

Chrissy

I love it. That's so funny.

Katie

Oh, well, okay.

Chrissy

Well anyways, as we are closing out this episode, we just want you guys to remember, um, the wise words of Paul the Apostle when he said, whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, do it all for the glory of God. So as you are implementing these changes into your life, make sure you are doing it all for the glory of God, that it is not in vain, and that, um, your health and wellness is truly glorifying the Lord. See you next time.