Chemical fragrance products such as air fresheners, scented candles, perfumes, and colognes, are popular in most households today. Who doesn’t want everything around them (including themselves) to smell good? I know I do.
However, what started as an easy way to add a fresh and clean feel to your home has become an almost constant exposure to toxic chemicals. Many of these scented products contain highly toxic compounds that have the potential to negatively affect your lungs, liver, immune and nervous system.
These chemicals are actually disabling your ability to smell and release vaporized toxins into the air you breathe. These toxins then burden the lungs, building up a waxy, oily, chemical residue in your lung sacs – potentially reducing oxygen capacity.
When you’re burning a scented candle, and breathe in the vaporized toxins, those toxins also make their way out into your bloodstream and into your liver. This impacts their vital functions and slows them down. Furthermore, this oily residue also feeds the viruses already present in your body, making your overall health decline further.
These toxins also affects your immune system by coating your immune cells, making them slow down and become weak.
This means that your first line of defence are not working at their best doing their job to fight viruses you’re exposed to.
When you are exposed to toxic chemical fragrances, like plug-in air fresheners or scented candles, those toxins go up through your sinuses and into the brain, reaching your nerves. Chemical fragrances have a burning effect on the nerves and this burning effect makes the nerves extra sensitive, triggering symptoms such as migraines, burning skin, tightness in the chest, and anxiety.
I’m sure you all agree with me that these are some serious side effects that not should be taken lightly.
I stopped using chemical perfumes years ago after noticing that I was sneezing every time I put them on.
After realizing this, I removed all other fake scented things from my home too; scented candles, air fresheners, incense, aftershave, colognes, perfumes, household cleaners and fabric softeners.
But hey, this doesn’t mean that it smells bad chez Kajsa! There are plenty of options you can use to get the nice smelling vibes going.
I recommend picking up an air purifier for your home and replacing your chemical-treated candles with natural, unscented ones. Or, choose ones that are naturally scented with real essential oil.
There’s also several plants you can adopt into your family that will help you clean the air. The most common ones being: English Ivy, Bamboo Palm, Mother-in-Law’s Tongue, Dragon Tree, Peace Lily, Spider Plant and Pothos.
I also use bundles of dried sage to smudge myself and my home. For personal use, I use natural oil perfumes like these ones. When it comes to cleaning and laundry, I can recommend Branch Basic.
It’s tricky, cause there’s no law around the label “natural fragrances”, so just because a product states this it doesn’t mean that it’s natural, non-toxic, and safe. As with everything else, the best is always to do some background check on the companies you are choosing. There’s a lot of greenwashing going on these days.
The health-conscious crowd have been talking about the quality and importance of diet and hydration for so long now, it’s time we start incorporating the quality of the air we breathe.