By SHEILA HURST
To add some green to your spring cleaning this year, you might want to consider going all natural by making your own detergents or trying a few plant-based cleaning products.
Natural products are not only cost-effective, they’re better for the environment and your health. Knowing all the ingredients means you don’t have to worry about harmful chemicals in your clothes, on your skin, or in your home.
Bob Vander Pyl – Vital Nutrition
Vital Nutrition on Gifford Street in Falmouth offers an array of natural cleaning products for anything from stain removal to degreasing, as well as homeopathic remedies and vitamins. Co-owner Bob Vander Pyl has used the cleaning products at home and at work for decades.
“We’re finding more and more that the things that are used for cleaning commercially are really quite toxic,” he said. “If you can smell it in the air when your neighbors do their laundry, that’s not a good thing. Natural products are much better for the water supply. Plus, why clean with something that’s toxic?”
Biodegradable products like Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds can be used for laundry or general household cleaning. Customers have used it to clean dishes, windows, floors, cars, basically anything that needs it. A drop can even be mixed with a bowl of water to clean chemicals and wax from vegetables before rinsing them off. Also available at Vital Nutrition, Biokleen products combine plant-based surfactants with extracts of citrus and grapefruit seed for a natural-smelling clean.
Mr. Vander Pyl uses Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds for laundry and Castile Soap for handwashing and dishes. The castile soap is made from a blend of coconut, olive, palm, jojoba and hemp oils that are designed to nourish the skin.
“I tend to have skin issues. I have a laceration on my right hand and two fingers dry out easily,” Mr. Vander Pyl said. “That’s been my primary hand soap here and at home for a while, even before COVID. We’re all washing our hands a lot now, and it’s oil based so it doesn’t dry your hands out.”
Sugar scrubs are another oil-based option for dry hands and skin. Pamela Oldham has been making natural lemon or coconut lime sugar scrubs for the past few years. She also sells them in the Woods Hole area as holiday gifts. Her sugar scrubs are made from olive oil, sugar and freshly squeezed juices so they smell good and leave the skin feeling soft and rejuvenated.
“I wanted something nice for my skin and I read about sugar scrubs,” Ms. Oldham said. “I tried it out, and gave them away and people really liked them. Then I started selling them like crazy in Woods Hole.”
Ms. Oldham uses her sugar scrubs on her face, elbows and feet, as well as on her hands. She’s also been experimenting with an exfoliant that she makes from poppy seeds.
“You can feel the scrubs slough off all your dry skin and it feels good,” she said. “Hand sanitizers and winter can really dry out the skin. I use the scrubs practically every day and I love them.”
Sugar scrubs don’t need to be refrigerated and the shelf life is at least a year. They can be kept by the kitchen or bathroom sink for easy moisturizing.
“I’ve tried all kinds of different things like beeswax and paraffin, and I keep going back to the sugar scrubs,” Ms. Oldham said. “They’re all natural and easy to make.”
Natural soaps, vitamins, homeopathic remedies and herbal teas are also available at Vital Nutrition.
“The overall principle for me is protection and keeping my immune system pumped up these days,” Mr. Vander Pyl said. “COVID is a virus, and if your immune system stays healthy, you can fight it off.”
Because of COVID, Vital Nutrition has been offering porch pickup for about a year. Customers can visit the Vital Nutrition website to virtually browse the shelves and phone in or email an order to be picked up.
Back in the days before so many different cleaning products were commercially available, combinations of hydrogen peroxide, white vinegar and baking soda were used for household cleaning and have recently become popular again.
Super Cleaning, Inc., in Falmouth offers an organic home cleaning option. Owner Adria Pepinelli said 80 percent of her clients prefer the organic option over the use of regular household cleaners. MrsGreenCleans in Mashpee specializes in environmentally friendly cleaning. Owner Donna Fitz-Gerald recognized the need for an environmentally safe cleaning service while working in hospice and started the business about 13 years ago.
Before organic cleaning products were widely available, in the 1500s people in Tudor England used salt and sunlight to sanitize kitchen items. They’d also make laundry detergent by creating lye from wood ash.
These days, it’s a little easier to make your own laundry detergent. According to a website called diynatural.com, first grate a bar of natural soap with a cheese grater to create flakes, then add 14 ounces of borax and 14 ounces of washing soda. The result can be stored in an airtight glass container. Only one tablespoon is needed for small loads or two tablespoons for larger loads. Although borax is natural and safe as long as it isn’t ingested, a borax-free laundry detergent can be made by dissolving baking soda and salt in hot water while adding a bit of liquid castile soap.
Homemade fabric softeners can be created by combining white vinegar with your favorite essential oils. Essential oils like lavender, sweet orange, lemon and peppermint are antibacterial and will help to disinfect laundry. Lemon and sweet orange can also brighten laundry and fight stains.
Whether you decide to make your own cleaning solution recipes or give natural, biodegradable products a try, this spring season could be the perfect time to go green.