The New Year is a good time for a clean start for our homes, and author, journalist and editor Wendyl Nissen says you can do so without overloading your household with dangerous chemicals.
Photo: JESHOOTS.COM/Unsplash
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Nissen has spent the past two decades promoting sustainable cleaning options. She tells Jesse Mulligan everyday ingredients can be just as good as chemical options.
Nissen, who is based in the Far North’s beautiful Hokianga, says when she started her business she did so in an effort to get chemicals out of her house and away from her family.
She defines organic cleaning as ‘clean living and having a clean environment'.
“I had asthmatic children and all the things people have to deal with these days." she says. "I’m a journalist, so I started reading, reading, reading. You don’t know, you start to come down with an illness and you start researching and then say ‘oh, if only I hadn’t smoked’ or ‘if only I hadn’t used that chemical in my house’. You don’t know what your body’s coping with until it gives up.”
One tell-tale sign of chemical irritants is if there is fragrance in cleaning, she says. Not all that smells good is wholesome.
“Fragrances are a great example in cleaning products and fragrances, no one knows, there could be chemicals and we don’t know what’s in them because they’re trademarked.”
She says the issue here is what your body is designed to cope with. A food comparison would be artificial sweeteners, she says, which confuse the gut. She says the body still believes its sugar and doesn’t really know how to process it. Many people believe that they have good gut health because of what they eat, but that’s not the full story, she adds.
What’s absorbed through the skin is also important. “Something like 80 percent of what you put on your skin goes into your bloodstream, which is why nicotine patches work. So, don’t just think about your stomach, think about what you’re washing in, what your rubbing against, what you’re breathing into your lungs.
“So, it’s not just ‘I have a really good stomach and I’m looking after it. My gut is healthy’. Well, it’s not healthy if you’re still piling on the chemicals every day with your sprays and your washers and your cleaners.”
She also recommends using simple water to wash your face and to avoid using make-up wipes too.
“The stuff for the face often just dries your skin. Just get a bottle of almond oil, go to your health shop. You just put a little bit of that on, a little bit of tissue and wipe it off. It all comes off and you’re moisturising at the same time," she says.
Not all natural products are equal though. She stopped using natural toothpaste, because she believes we probably should have some fluoride in the product to avoid cavities.
Nissen isn't a purist or zealot and her cleaning routines are tempered by pragmatism, something she encourages others to be open to. It's about finding a compromise you are happy with.
“This is a warning from me to everyone who wants to go chemical free to start doing their own stuff. You can’t go completely natural and not have some repercussions, like my teeth rotting, because I was using baking soda to clean my teeth. It’s kind of a weighing up the situation.”
Nissen says there are a lot more products to choose from now than in the past, which is good, but there remains a lot of ‘green-washing’ going on. Choosing the right product is difficult because manufacturers aren't obliged to give tell you how exactly the product is made, she says.
“I look at all those supermarket products and I couldn’t tell you whether they’re good or not. I can’t tell you if they’re lying, because there’s no legislation around it at all. So, you could basically set up your Green Goddess like I did. Make all these products, make all these claims, oh it’s just baking soda and a little bit of essential oil, works great’, and then throw a whole lot of other stuff into it to make it cheaper so you can get into the supermarket, and no one would know.”
Nissen used to make her own sunblock, although she says it’s a quite involved process. She recommends avoiding doing so as it’s a tricky area.
“I’m on the board of Consumer and Consumer has recently been looking at sun blocks and in the last study only found six that work. My advice is go for the ones that Consumer recommends… and cover up. I would never go in the sun without a long sleeve cotton shirt on and a hat.”
Obvious chemicals to stay away from in supermarkets she says are chlorine, which irritates the skin and phosphorus, which is particularly bad for waterways, she says.
“Usually you can tell the product is good by the really disgusting smell. If someone has washed their clothes in Persil, or one of those highly-fragranced, I can smell it when I walk past them, and it makes me sick.”
Nissen makes her own washing powder, using baking soda and washing soda and an array of natural ingredients and essential oils, mixed in a blender.
“There are products like Earthwise, which are cheap, they list their things on the back. They don’t use phosphates and they don’t use fragrance. So, can use those, it’s better than some of the more commercial,” she says.
Nissen says hot water by itself kills many germs, enough of them to count and suggested we reframe our notion of super-clean to clean-enough.
“I think what we’re learning is not all household germs are bad. It’s like everyone gets rid of their slugs and snails but there are some slugs in the garden that actually do a lot of good. So, I guess it’s about having a more relaxed attitude.
Gentle products with few chemicals are great for those with septic tanks too.
“I have a septic tank and that’s a really good encouragement not to be throwing big chunks of chemicals down there, because your septic tank is a microbiome as well," Nissen says. "It’s got its own germs in there. Mine is one of the ones that rolls over. So, it churns it all, cleans it and spits it out in my orchard. You have to be really careful, so the vinegar, the baking powder are great for your septic tank.”
She uses a little vinegar and dishwashing liquid to spray on the shower for 10 minutes before wiping it off. For tough stains a very mild rub with steel wool and vinegar does the trick too, she says.
As regards cleaning products, nothing disposable for her, including mop head and clothes. Her preference is natural cotton materials that can be washed and reused.
Nissen's ultimate measure of organic cleaning can be found in the past. She says we have a lot to learn from our forebears.
“The thing to think about, and this is what I’ve been saying right from the beginning when I wrote my first book in 2009 is, if your nana did it, or someone living in the early 1900s, if she did it, then it’s right… Because in the early 1900s was the last time we lived without all these chemicals, without all these new things in the environment. They were very simple times and it wasn’t that long ago.”