The PEG Purge

By my logic, there was no better time to purge the house than my COVID quarantine. I couldn’t leave the house anyway. The main things required to do this were my glasses (that fine print is FINE), a device with internet to google ingredients, and time. All of which I had.

Knowing that personal care products were a likely culprit, I started with the bathrooms. Which led to the cleaning supplies in the bathrooms and beyond. Which led to under the kitchen sink. Which led to laundry supplies. It was EVERYWHERE.

Shampoo. Conditioner. Body wash. Cleaning wipes. Face wash. Hand soap. Deodorant. Toothpaste. Mouthwash. The denture cleaner I use to clean my retainers (hey – after 2 rounds of braces, you wear those retainers no matter how lame they are!).

Sprays. All-purpose. Glass cleaner. Shower cleaner. Toilet bowl cleaner (spray and drop-ins). Wood cleaner. Oven cleaner. Grill cleaner. Odor eliminator. Wrinkle releaser (for fabrics). An entire line of cleaners that do a great job of eliminating pet messes and their odors.

Face and body lotions. Sunscreen. Serums. Creams. Make-up. Primer. Nail polish. Mascara. Lip color and balms. Hair spray. Hair styling creams and mousse. Body scrub. Face masks. Make-up remover. Fragrance sprays for body, pillows, etc. Hair dye. Developer for hair dye &/or bleach (this one hurt, I have to admit).

Medications, both OTC and Rx, including the allergy medication I’ve been taking daily since my first anaphylactic event. Ointments. Balms.

Dish soap (even the blue one that saves wildlife from oil spills; safe for ducks, not for me). Dishwasher detergent. Rinse aid for dishwashers. Garbage disposal cleaner. Stainless steel spray cleaner. Glass cooktop cleaner.

Laundry detergent. Spot cleaner for laundry.

Hand sanitizer. Yup. HAND SANITIZER.

DISINFECTANT CLEANING WIPES – every brand I have checked. During a pandemic against which I can’t be vaccinated? The indignity of this one hit HARD.

The words ‘clean’, ‘natural’, and ‘vegan’ have no meaning for me now. I’ve learned that the regulation around these terms is very, well, un-regulated. I ignore them and go straight for the ingredients list. The FDA doesn’t require cleaning products to disclose their ingredients, so that meant more googling and often dead ends for “proprietary surfactant” or “proprietary non-ionic detergent” or, or, or… Not worth dying over a cleaning spray. Into the pile it went.

All this isn’t to say that EVERY one of these products under the sun have PEG in them. But this is an off-the-top of my head list of the things we had in our house that had to be removed from circulation. As we were pulling things out, I remembered things like ‘oh yeah X gave me a headache when I used it, but I thought it was just the fragrance’ or ‘sometimes X made my skin/eyes/lips/face tingle, but not always so I wasn’t sure if this was the culprit’. I could never find a common thread. Once I had a thread, I pulled. And pulled. And pulled.

Horrifying realization: How long have I been dosing myself unknowingly?

Irritating realization: How much have I been paying to poison myself? How much will I have to pay to replace all this stuff?

Upside: I have a lot less clutter in my cabinets now.

Downside: I had to find clean replacement products to fulfill all these functions to use for at least the next 4-6 weeks.

My challenges became ‘just how many things CAN I use Dr. Bronner’s castile soap for?’ and ‘how many cleaners can I make (on the cheap) myself and therefore 100% know and control the ingredients?’. And one by one, replacements were found or made (usually recipes were found, then made).

At the end of the day, most of these things were replaceable. And with fewer engineered ingredients. And a whole lot of Dr. Bronner’s.

Click here to continue reading the PEG series.

Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional and nothing in this post is meant, or should be interpreted, as medical advice. If you have questions about your health, speak to a medical professional who is familiar with your health situation and medical history.