Is the “Clean Living” Space Too Judgy? with Woo Woo Bestie, Suzy Dean ✨Ep. 116

Episode 116 • 27th May 2025 • Toxin Free (ish) • Wendy Kathryn

📍 📍 📍 Hello everyone. Welcome to the Toxin Freeish podcast with Wendy Catherine. She's an Environmental toxins attorney turned clean living coach. My name is Susie. I am the woo woo bestie. I mean your, I mean woo woo bestie under Susie on social media. And this is our third time recording. And I told Wendy, you know what?

I'm starting this round of the podcast because I need to set the tone. And the tone for this podcast is no plan, no pressure, no script, just friendship talking,

Friend, friendship and non-toxic living.

right? Because we have to keep with the theme of the of of court. You guys, we're still gonna talk about toxins. Don't get your panties in a wad. But we're also gonna talk about how someone who can spray hairspray on her face, a setting spray, can be friends with somebody who. God, what do you, what is the most

die inside every time

What is the most, what is the most non-toxic thing that you do that like I could never comprehend? Do you have a whole water purification system in

Of course,

so that,

yes.

how on earth can we be friends? That's what we're gonna talk about, and we're gonna have a conversation about the elitism that exists in the toxin-free world, and.

world. Yeah.

How we need to stop that and also give some explanation of the people on social media who see me do toxic stuff and see you do non-toxic stuff and ask you, Wendy, how can you be friends with this crazy 📍 girl?

Hey, friend. Real quick before we dive into this episode, there's something you need to know. This entire podcast is funded by you. You will never hear paid ads or sponsorships on this podcast, like not ever. Why? Because I believe in full transparency, and that means only sharing the things that I.

Actually love myself when you do hear me talking about something that I love and you use my affiliate links, you get a small discount and I earn a small commission that helps keep all of my content completely ad free, and that means that anything I talk about or share is aligned with you and me and not sponsors.

So to be clear. No weird promos, no brand deals, no paid ads, just the real stuff that I use, brands I love, and literally what I probably used this morning. So if something that I mentioned feels like a fit for you, click the links in the show notes. It's a win-win and it helps keep this space truly 📍 ours.

Ladies, we need to talk about clean perfume. And I don't mean the fake clean perfume. I mean like the real clean 100% botanical, no toxins, nothing messing with your hormones, and no migraines happening. I know you know how hard that is to find, and when you do find it, you feel like you're just wearing a bunch of essential oils and they don't even last very long.

Anyway, so when I had the opportunity to work on a 100% botanical perfume line, that actually smelled like perfume. Oh my gosh. Literal dream come true. And it's officially here. Wild Notes Discovery sets are available right now. Head on over to link in the show notes and get your discovery set today. Use code Wendy 10.

You're gonna get 10% off. And here's the best part, when you get a discovery set, you're also gonna get a $20 coupon. So when you wear all of those sets and you find the one that's your favorite, you can use that $20 coupon code towards your first purchase. And in case you're curious, my two favorites, I'm currently wearing sweet decadence, layered with fireside citrus.

It's like sweet and smoky and sexy, and sophisticated, and completely clean. I cannot wait for you to get your hands on these, and when you get them, hop on over to my dms and tell me which one is your 📍 favorite.

And I defend you so much. You've come so far.

I'm so sorry that you have to defend me because in all honesty, you don't have to defend me as much as like probably the average person thinks because I do a lot of clean stuff.

You do, but I, I think that you represent so many people out there and this, this is like, I get so sick and tired of the shame and the. The BS and the way that people are treated when they're not like a hundred percent toxin-free, like in the toxin-free, I'm talking specifically in the toxin-free space, like if you spend any amount of time on Instagram, it's like I I, my eyes, I don't know how they're still in my head.

I roll them so much. Like I, I can't stand the way this entire industry is going. And I'm over it. And this is like, I wanted, we were in the middle of a conversation on the phone and I started to kind of go off and you started to kind of go off and we started to have a conversation about it. I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Stop.

Mm-hmm.

Let's, let's get on a podcast and record this because I, I think that you do represent most people.

Mm-hmm.

I really think you do. And I, my goal is to reach. People like you. And I think being friends with you has helped me do that.

Oh, good.

because we all live in these echo chambers, and so most people in my world, in my sphere, they're, they're like me.

They, they, of course, they have whole house water filters. They're definitely not spraying hairspray on their face to set their makeup. I can tell you that. We'll talk

guys, it works better than anything on the market. We'll talk about it. We'll talk

We'll talk about it. We'll get there, but I just think this is so important because most people not, I'm gonna say not even like 96% of people in the United States are like you, and the 4%. That are following me and listening to this podcast all the time and shopping from my toxin-free shopping guide and that care about a lot of this and are even like, know about a lot of this.

They're the 4%, and my entire goal in life is to find a way to reach the 96% and to make them a little bit less toxic.

Yeah. Let's not forget your whole brand is toxin free ish. What's your itch? What, whatever your ish is. That's your, sorry. That's your ish. That you can have your ish And something that I always tell myself when I might be like pushed into a corner where I wanna buy something clean, but I don't have the option to buy something clean.

But it's better than what I was doing. You, the first time I met you, you were like, better is better. Like it's progress and that's important. And you've taught me how to read labels. I have come a long way. I was at my mom's house taking a shower. She had two body wash options. Both from Bath? No, not ne. No they weren't.

But I read the backs knowing it was gonna be awful. One had Oxil ethanol, the other one had BHT. And I remember a story that you made where you said. The only thing, the only time I will encourage you or be okay with you using Oxil ethanol is if the only other option is BHT, because it's that bad. And even though it did kill me a little bit inside, I used to never care about that cell, that stuff.

I, even though it did hurt a little bit, knowing what I know about Phyl ethanol to put it on my body, I still knew it was better than BHT. And so I was like, you know what? This is my option. Better is better.

that was a proud moment for me. When you told me that, you said, I read the label and I was like, oh my gosh. You listen.

Yeah, I do. I've been learning so much. Did you? And you were so impressed that I could pronounce it,

I was, you said, you said Oxil, ethanol. You did not see, say phenoxy. Yeah. People usually don't say it right, but.

I listened to you. And then when we were in Bali and I was getting gifts for my team, I was reading the ingredients. I was like, oh no, Wendy, I didn't read the ingredients before I bought this.

And it was all clean. It was all clean. And then I said, oh. Sodium benzoate, and you were like, it's okay if it's on your face. It's totally fine. But I knew it. I knew it was one of those preservatives that you didn't like. So, uh, anyway, we're getting ahead of ourselves. I am. And hopefully the people that are listening are like, wow, Susie actually knows a lot more than she lets on, on the internet.

I do you actually know a lot and of one of my favorite conversations that, or I we're gonna call it an incident. We had an incident, there was an incident in Bali. It was, it was recorded.

an important part of our friendship

It was an important moment and we were on 📍 a bus headed. We were going to a bunch of different 📍 temples in, Bali and I, we were all miserable because we were hot as you know what?

📍 Sweating, it's so humid and hot in Bali and I just wanted to go to the monkeys. All I wanted was the monkeys, and we saw just stop at another temple and we were stuck, crammed on this bus full of ps. Not just Wendy, who is very toxin free, but a bus full of people who are super into non-toxic living, as well as all of our corporate staff, like the COO of Young Living.

Like these are people who are very non-toxic. And soon Susie turns around, she's sitting right in front of me 'cause we were talking the whole trip, and she wanted to spray her very toxic synthetic perfume in a hot bus full of people.

Very toxic, and I knew it was, and for the third time, since this is the third time we're recording this, so

take.

you guys, it was, so talk wendy says, when she does her label reading lives, she says, the first thing I look for is 📍 📍 do they even have an ingredient list? Okay. That's the first step. Then. I 📍 📍 think you look into the ingredients and then like we look into fragrance and then we look into 📍 📍 what kind of fragrance is it?

Like essential oils, what is it? This one has an ingredient list, but it doesn't even have ingredients, and by that I mean it says like the ingredients are lightning and the smoke that comes from when it. Touches cement. That's what it says is the ingredients of this perfume. So it is very, very awful. I know that.

Okay, I'm making informed decisions, but this is a perfume that just makes me feel very confident. I love the smell. It's like bold, but grounding and musky and powerful and confident. And I was in Bali and I was so looking forward to this trip 'cause I was gonna be in Bali. I'm the wbu bestie. This is like one of the most spiritual places on Earth.

I was gonna be. I was gonna be ovulating. I was gonna be feeling beautiful and confident. And it's really hard to feel beautiful and confident when you're sweating through your linen and your cute little curls that you put on the end of your hair have turned into frizz. And your body odor smells like Bo mixed with tea tree oil because you're trying to be clean around all of these clean people and your CVS makeup is melting off of your face.

So I knew what I was risking. Which was a big fat No, from Wendy. I knew what I was risking when I turned around because I just wanted one thing to make me feel a little bit more confident. And I turned, and I, I packed this toxic perfume and a couple of toxic CVS makeup items and I said, 📍 "Wendy, can, can I please spray this toxic perfume?"

I was upfront, I didn't even try to pull a fast one on her, not that I could, anyway, I said, can I spray this toxic perfume on me? And she said. Absolutely not. And it was the part of Wendy, like you guys only know the podcast Wendy, and like the lawyer, Wendy and the like, really, really smart Wendy. And, and she has another part of her that is still very, very smart but is very like loosey goosey and fun and silly.

And it was not that part that she gave me that day. It was the Environmental Toxins Attorney turned clean living coach Wendy, and she put me in my place. And you know what I said, I will sacrifice my confidence for your comfort. welcome.

So.

that was our incident.

I think this is so illustrative though, of like we say things like, oh, I walked past Bath and Body Works and it gave me a migraine. Or, oh my God, I stay, I talk about how I stay. I bring my own sheets. I 📍 brought my own sheets to Bali.

yes. That is the most, that is the most crazy thing that you do. That's what I should have said. She brings her own sheets to Bali 📍 where you had to weigh your backpack also 📍 like you had.

15 pounds.

You chose, you chose sheets.

I did. I chose sheets because. This just kind of goes to the fragrance thing. Like I, you know, this for, you know, 20 years I had migraines and figured out that synthetic fragrance 📍 triggers my migraines. 📍 And so since I am completely synthetic, fragrance free, I don't have migraines anymore.

And. When I stay in hotels or I stay in Airbnbs and they wash their stuff in detergents and fabric softeners and probably those disgusting downy beads that like melt into your sheets and when you lay your head down at night and you're literally inhaling a toxic cocktail and yeah, I'm looking at you 'cause I know

you guys gimme five minutes. I'll explain all of that in a second. Just don't hate me just yet. About the scent. The scent beads.

The scent beads, the downy beads. I travel with my sheets because I don't wanna be on vacation and be down with a migraine like that. I can't think of anything worse. So like I have two choices. I either am like, oh, I really hope that this isn't like as bad as it usually is, or I just bring my own sheets and then I know that I'll be totally fine.

But you, you used to like kind of roll your eyes at people like me.

Okay. Wow, you're really painting me as the, as the enemy. Um, I did Okay. Sure. I, there was a time when I. Went on my social media after I was in Young Living. 'cause you guys, I use the, 📍 I use essential oils 📍 for spirituality. That's how I started. Okay. That's, that's years and years and years ago. Five, five years ago.

And there was a time when I went on my social media and my stories and I said, I know that I've been talking about like clean ingredients and the purity of essential oils and 📍 the plants that are in them and using 📍 more plants in your life. But mark my words, I will not be one of those people that. In this process of cleaning up my life will release my scented scent beads and detergent because there's nothing I love more than crawling into bed and just being in a cloud of lavender and I would put

Fake lavender.

Yeah, well now I know it was not, it was not delightful. There was, I was missing out on a lot, but I was putting like, when it was like I would put in a normal.

vibes. Susie.

When I was putting in a nor a normal load, like I would put in a normal amount of detergent, but when it was Bedsheet day, I would put in more and then I would put in scent beads, and then I would put in also like a little scent sheet, like I went off, it was bad.

No, it was, I went off.

All right, so I have a question.

Yeah.

When you started hearing things like, because you have a young son, um, and you are in your childbearing years, you're very young and fertile. When you started hearing things about synthetic fragrance causing 📍 reproductive toxicity, mis 📍 increasing miscarriage 📍 rates, increasing breast cancer rates, 📍 being really connected to major fertility issues.

What, what was your reaction to all of that?

I didn't start. You know, our lives are like consumed by the algorithm unfortunately. So I wasn't really even exposed to that languaging until after I had my son, and I wish, I wish it was before, but luckily I had been. Exposed lightly in conversations. 'cause I was starting to pay more attention to the products that Young Living was using.

So when I did hear it, it connected immediately. And so then I started taking appropriate steps, , and throwing out all my candles. Like it used to be really bad. We used to go to Aldi for groceries and come back with these like $2 each candles, like six. And we would open them up and it would be a surprise.

Like he would come, my husband would come home and we would smell them and, and then every day we would light. Every single candle in the house, there was at least one in every room. And so that's when I started throwing out my candles and doing only diffusers. And that's when I started. That's when I started trying to at least like pick the greenwashed things, which I didn't even really know were greenwashed.

But I recall a time specifically when I was about to give birth and I was like. I know some of these things are bad. I hadn't heard too much about the details yet, but I was like, I know some of these things are bad, so let's get drift for my baby. 'cause it says safe for babies. Right? And that's what I was using for my baby.

And then it wasn't until he was like six months old, I watched a story of someone who. Was looking

It was probably me.

no, it was Maddie Bain's actually.

Okay. Okay.

And, and she, then she had gone on, I, I don't know, she, and that's when I, that's when the rug was, or the veil was lifted or whatever. And so then I started taking active steps to address any toxins that were in his life first, and then started slowly and still am slowly incorporating cleaner things into my practices.

interesting you say that because I find this to be so true. So many of the people who find me and start following me, it's because they got pregnant. And, and or they just had a kid and they are more concerned about the health of their baby than they are and had been really their whole life, their, their own health.

Because we just freaking right? That's, I feel like that's very biological and evolutionary. Like our kids are everything. We'll do anything for them. They come first. We'll feed them first. We'll take care of them first. Like if, we'll starve before we'll let our kids starve. And I think that's a natural instinct, but it is interesting to me.

To hear you say, oh, I wanted clean things for him, that that was kind of like a first, first step for you.

Yeah. Well, I mean, he's so, 📍 babies are so 📍 fragile too. Like I've made it 30 years or 28 years at the time with all these toxic things and hey, I made a whole ass baby that's healthy. So that's so I'm okay for now, but he's fragile and sensitive and just coming into this world and they'll kind of like. Yeah.

The last thing I wanna do is throw these chemical manmade things at him when he's just been developed in this very mostly sterile environment. You know,

absolutely.

I wish we did. I, I do wish we did treat ourselves also like babies.

Yeah. No,

fragile too.

but I think it's human nature. I do. So you, you were in Virginia recently. You did not come visit me.

I couldn't You live in North Virginia? I was. I was. I was literally driving in North Carolina every day. We asked, we tried. Okay.

So, so, , you stayed in an Airbnb and, you actually called me afterwards and you were like, I kind of get you now. Like I kind, and I was like, just now you kind of get me just now, but you kind of had, an epiphany. Of some kind. Because your dog pooped all over the Airbnb, right?

Don't tell Jane. Don't tell Jane. The Airbnb owner, luckily she already gave us a good Airbnb review, so we're fine. But we weren't supposed to leave the dogs unattended, but we did and one had diarrhea and it was, we came home to it and it was just. A shit show literally. So we, I have one of the first clean switches I made other than the candles was also my cleaning products.

And I switched every I, I switched slowly to thieves. I used thieves, all purpose cleaner, and that got rid of like a lot of things off the

use it to pretty much clean your whole house.

Yeah. so I've been using thieves for years and I have, as a result not been exposed to the Bleachy, chlor, oxy wind, indexy bar keeper's friend, whatever, since in years and,

So proud.

yeah, see I, you guys, I'm not that bad.

I'm better than you think. And we had to clean this up because. We broke, we broke the rules. We didn't want her to know, so we pulled out everything from under her sink in 📍 her cleaning cabinet. And it was all 📍 just bad stuff, like so bad. Like not even like things that you would find at Dollar General that were like off brand at dollar, like very bad.

And so we're spraying all these spots and layering things on and doing the best we can and it was suffocating. Truly suffocating. Like I had to hold my breath when I walked down the hall. We opened up all the windows I put on my diffuser, but that wasn't doing anything because these chemicals just like stick to everything forever.

And I was like. I understand what these people mean when they say that they can't walk down like the laundry aisle anymore because it's so suffocating, or it gives them a headache or they just can't stand it anymore, or, I understand what people mean when they say that they just get a headache when they leave an Uber because the driver was wearing such.

Potent fragrance because I actually did feel like I could not take a deep breath. And also I kind of had a little bit of guilt 'cause I'm like, if I do take a deep breath, all these little particles are gonna like seep into my lungs and start slowly killing me. And so I called you and I was like, I understand now.

I was there, I experienced it. And beforehand I was like, these people are being so overdramatic, like chill out, just walk through the freaking aisle. It's gonna take seven seconds. But I get it. It's uncomfortable.

it is uncomfortable. And I, I love you called me and you were like, so something happened.

Did I do that? It was a big moment.

a big moment. 'cause I, you know, on the bus when I was like, yeah, no. You kind of had the whole like, like, right, like the, God, you're so dramatic, Wendy. , But I do, I just wanna touch on that because people don't realize, like, becoming your nose can make you blind, like nose, we call it being nose blind when you're exposed to chemicals all the time.

And it overwhelms your, the, the little receptors in your nose that are like your scent receptors, your olfactory system, your body adjusts, and so you start to get used to it. And so even like when you're wearing perfume, like the, or like using synthetic, synthetic actual fragrances. Companies know this, which is why they put so much in there, and they fill it full of plasticizers to keep it, because the more you're around it, the more you need to smell it.

And so people who detox from being around all of those synthetic chemicals, chemicals in that, your cleaners as well as your synthetic fragrances, your nose adjusts back to its natural state. And so when you're exposed to it again. It's overwhelming. So people who don't use chemicals and don't use these synthetic fragrances like it is so like I have a gag reflex associated with it now.

It's so bad.

And just so people know, I didn't roll my eyes and think that Wendy was being so dramatic. I mean, maybe I did. I do have an involuntary eye roll, so I'll

We have a video. We have a video. I'll just, we'll just find the video. I feel like the video is on your face. We, we, we will see.

It is mostly on my face.

We'll see what everyone

I just want everyone to know I did have Advil in my backpack because I know that when Wendy doesn't have her hot water and she doesn't have a red light on her, she does resort to Advil for her headaches.

Okay. And when we were on the bus, on our way back, on our way to the airport, there was this awful, and I recognized it too. Awful air freshener right above us. And before Wendy even said anything, we were in the car for minutes. I said, do you want an Advil for this? And she said. Oh my God, yes. Thank God. So I, I am sensitive to Wendy's needs.

She is one of the loves of my life, so I'm not, I'm not a complete bitch. Am I not allowed to curse on here?

It's fine. I'll put like a disclaimer or something. I say bad words sometimes you just say them a lot in real life. I say them even more than you, but I try to tame it down for the podcast. I wanna talk about Advil because,

don't know anything about Advil.

you,

So.

so, because it's funny, I actually talked about this on the internet the other day actually.

I have an entire podcast where I got a migraine. I haven't had a migraine in years and I, all the holistic things that I did for it, and I specifically said, had I not had the time, had I had to be somewhere, had I been on vacation, had I had to go to work? I for sure would've taken an Advil, but I spent 20 years on Excedrin and messed up my gut health, my liver, kidney, I'm sure.

I'm sure there's so much damage from, I mean, I, I popped Excedrin. Multiple days a week for decades. And so I really try to avoid it. But if I'm on vacation in Bali and I'm about to have a migraine, get, like, you better believe I'm gonna take an Advil. , And I did not have my red light with me because it didn't, because I, my sheets were taking up

you chose the sheets

I chose the sheets over the red light.

, Okay. I wanna talk about elitism. Can we talk about elitism?

yeah.

And money and budget, because let's just be real for a second. Like I might love all of my like super regenerative, organic, like I love my young living, I love Primely Pure, I love Evan Healy. I love, like all of these products are flipping amazing and in a perfect world everyone would go, this is what they would use.

But I have people in my dms that are like. I need a $4 face cleanser for my daughter, or I need a $5 option. Americans are on a budget, and I do think there is this assumption in this space that people have more money than they actually have. And this shaming of people who use budget brands, and I'm just gonna give an example because I love attitude, 📍 📍 the brand

I use it because of you.

Yeah, so I, one of the first fights on the internet I ever, and I use fight, like, I mean, I'll argue with people or I'll debate people. I'm generally a nice person, but. This girl who shall not be named, that's what I'm calling her now, she kind of went on a rampage about how awful attitude is and how they're lying and they're toxic.

And this is, this is what influencers do. They go on and they're like, this ingredient right here is super toxic and this whole brand is terrible. And number one, they have no idea what they're talking about. Number two, what they said wasn't even true to begin with. And number three, that is probably. Like the most cost effective way for somebody to actually bring clean products into their home.

So I got a little irate and I might have gone onto her Instagram and said some. Strong worded things, but it sparked a debate in her community and my community. And I said, listen, attitude, you can get unscented products, you can get essential oil scented products, or you can get what I call these nature identical synthetic molecules that they fully disclose.

Um. I went through and I walked through like every single ingredient that they use and I was like, this is clean. And I think that's the whole thing that, that, sparked one of the conversations that we had. There is a difference between telling somebody that is going to be a reproductive toxin that you're putting on your body versus, well, that's not perfect, and that might irritate your skin.

So it's toxic. I'm sorry. That's bullshit. Like if somebody is on a budget and they care about not using the most toxic, you know, ingredients and products, I think this whole idea that we're bashing all of these brands for not being perfect is actually pushing people back to using CVS makeup. Like I, the more that we. Push ourselves into like this perfection space and we make people feel bad. And when people come into my dms and say, this influencer says, you know, attitude is terrible and toxic and all this thing, I get angry because they're one of the most accessible brands available. Their laundry detergent works phenomenally.

They're. Dish detergent is better than others as far as like working their dish soap. Like if somebody is on a budget and they sell their stuff at Target, like we have to make this accessible to people. And I know one of the things you and I talk a lot about is budget. Like people can't afford all of these like crazy clean products.

This is so multi-layered and it touches on something that I'm really passionate about, which is underserved, communities and families. I used to work at a Title one school, and so I'll get to that in a minute, but I mean, like you said, to start off this conversation. Even me who sprays hairspray on her face, if I could switch out, now that I know a lot, I don't even know everything, but I know enough people that know everything that I trust them.

If I could in my budget have only clean makeup, have only clean haircare and skincare and clothes and just like things in my home, I would do that. But. I can't, and I'm already in a place of privilege more so than than a lot of people in America, which I think people often forget that there is a whole world of people in America that are like living in 📍 food deserts who have to rely 📍 on CVS or sometimes even worse.

Like 📍 seven 11 because it's gonna take a multiple stop bus ride to get to the closest supermarket, and that's still a supermarket. But I digress. Like for many of us, we have to pick and choose in stages what changes we're gonna make. And something that I started saying when I started learning about this stuff and talking to, people who wanted to buy a young living from me and buy thieves from me, I was like, you know what?

Small changes make big differences when you switch out this for that, it might just be one thing, but your body will respond to that and that's gonna be like, it's gonna be, it's a small thing for you, but like it's a big adjustment and less of a toxic burden on your body and it's step by step.

And you know, for me, like. With my budget and with my needs and my priorities. Before I had a child, the first thing that I did was I got rid of all of my candles and then I switched out all of my cleaning products and now I have a son. And no, I can't buy like the cleanest diapers for him, but I can buy attitude, body wash for him.

Instead of Johnson and Johnson. I can use what's, what toothpaste do I use for him? Baby leaves. Maybe that is

Yeah, it is

use both. I use both for his toothpaste and I like, I can't afford right now to have clean raah shampoo and conditioner, but so like, I know I'm sad for me too, so I have to, I'm still buying head and shoulders, but like.

And I can't buy completely clean body wash, but I'm buying native and you know that's better than the bath and body works that I was using all throughout my pregnancy. So first of all, there's people that just like don't realize one, even the average person like me who can afford a lot of stuff, who's like not really like super stressed about money in the grand scheme of things, comparatively, I still have to,

make decisions in phases and pick and choose based on priorities and based on budget. And also there was a time when I mentioned this to you in the conversation, like I had to get body wash or some kind of bubble bath for my baby when I was in Chicago visiting family and. The, I was, I happened to be going to CVS to get other stuff because my husband was sick, so I was giving him a whole bunch of toxic shit in addition to apple cider vinegar and RC and eucalyptus and the all, I was doing it all, and the only baby wash they had was Johnson and Johnson.

They didn't even have a greenwashed option that I could try to buy instead, so I just washed my baby with water and I'm, I was standing there in front of this baby section. Feeling so sad because of what I knew about these options and feeling so sad because there are people who rely on this and might follow someone like Wendy and know that this is bad and like this is the only option they have.

And then potentially be like continuously shamed for it on social media or read comments about how awful that is when that's all they can afford, that's all they can have access to. And. Like I was saying before, I used to work in a Title one school as a teacher in Liberty City, Miami, and I would drive to school and I would watch my students get their breakfast from seven 11, which was like the only really store or like local, local convenience stores, which was like the only store within walking distance to their homes and.

Like you have to take, okay, maybe some of them have cars. You have to factor in gas, you have to factor in, are parents' home? Are they working multiple jobs? Are they single parents? Is one, are kids like taking their siblings to school and they like don't have that? Is there a multiple buses that they would have to take, that they would have to pay for?

Like there are so many factors that play into simple accessibility. And then accessibility to these stores, and then accessibility of stores, and then accessibility of brands, and then financial accessibility. Like if someone is trying to do better, and that still might be on the toxic end of things, but it's a little bit better.

It's the bh, it's the, it's the Phyl ethanol instead of the BHT. Then that that is something that should be celebrated and that's something that we need to remember.

Yeah, and I think about what makes the biggest difference. And I think people, the, this perspective is so important to me and maybe because I'm a lobbyist and en I'm an environmental attorney, and, I kind of like went on a rant on the internet the other day about how. Oh my God. Who cares about lead and heavy metals in real food?

Like I'm so over it. I can't even, do you know how many millions of families their drinking water coming outta their tap is coming out of lead service lines? Like if you want to make a true difference in lead poisoning for kids, like you're missing the whole big picture. You're missing the lead based paint.

You're missing the people buying everything from Sheen and Timo, and that's legal. Like you're missing the actual thing and you're busy talking about something that doesn't even matter and doesn't even. Scratch the surface. So if I'm somebody who's like, I want products on shelves that 96% of Americans are buying to be cleaner, how do we make that happen?

And you know how we make that happen? I don't make that happen by people buying every single thing in primarily Pure. And I'm not saying like I buy a lot of things in primarily Pure that's buying. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the people who do that. I talk about it all the time. I work with these brands, I'm all about elevating those brands.

But if the 96% of people out there that can't afford products like that walked into CVS or walked into Target and chose the better option, then those really toxic options would have to reformulate because they would be losing money.

Right,

And so now we would have more products on store shelves that don't have parabens.

Like somebody sent me a screenshot the other day of like Maybelline or L'Oreal or I don't remember, foundation, like literally full of parabens. I'm like that, that is gross. That is what needs to change. That is the thing that is gonna make a huge difference in the overall health of all Americans. And that's what I wanna see.

And so that's why I always tell people like, celebrate better when people send me screenshots from Target or from CVS. With a ingredient list on the back, and let's say there's like maybe one or two oxalated ingredients, so that means, you know, maybe it has someone for dioxide, which is like a carcinogen, but the preservatives are clean.

It doesn't have parabens, it doesn't have BHT, and, I just, I, I over the top celebrate those moments with my audience because people need to know that better is better. And going into debt and spending money on things you don't have is not serving your health. And I'm really tired of people making people feel bad for buying brands like Attitude.

Mm-hmm.

I'm over it. I'm so over it.

Speaking of, people going into debt, I wanna transition this conversation, if I may, a little bit to not just from, not just toxic products, but like toxic habits as well, are also important to look at that I wanna talk about, because those were a lot of the changes that I make. That people don't see, but I think do make an impact because how can we support our bodies if we're running high on cortisol all the time?

So a lot of the changes I made are like. I stopped watching tv. Two hours. I stopped watching TV be before bed. I get off my phone two hours before bed. I, I take hot baths before bed to, to relax my body. I, I have the red light option on my phone, on i've been waking up and grounding in the grass for years and getting my eyes in the red, natural red light as well.

Like there's also things that we can be doing to support our bodies and aligning them with nature that also are just. , Incredibly accessible, and can help lower our cortisol levels and our overall stress that we can at least feel good about. Because the last thing we wanna do is, one, have people feel stressed, , either financially or just because there's so much stuff to consider.

And then. Further feel shamed for the choices that they can only make, because of the situation that they're in or the place that they're in, or the place that they were born or the financial status that they're in. And there are still things that we can do, like, yeah, maybe, maybe your body is exposed to a lot of toxins on a day-to-day basis, but there are still things that you can do that, that can support it.

Yeah, and I actually, I even wanna go even further. So, Dr. Abby Kramer, who I love, she's one of the, doctors that founded Fringe Heals and I love her electrolytes. They also have red light, red light options, and her and I were talking about how. So, and I listen, I love red light. I, I, this is not a knock on red light therapy.

The science is incredible. I use it on my thyroid every day. It's helped me heal my Hashimoto's. Like this is not me being like, there's no point to all of that. There, there is. I'm not saying that, but the morning sun has red light. So instead of telling people you have to spend $350 on a red light device, if you wanna be healthy, which is what a lot of the marketing sounds like.

You could tell people, go outside and watch the sunrise. Go outside, go watch the sunset. Like there is a big ball of flaming light, natural light in the sky that can provide us. And the reason why red light therapy is so good for our health is because we have become a species that lives inside. And rather than spend our life outside like we're supposed to, it's more convenient to just buy an artificial red light device.

Right.

And this is where our friendship comes full circle because you said, instead of being outside as nature intended, we become inside being. So we have to buy this artificial stuff. I'm all about living in alignment with nature, believing that all of these plant oils, have constituents in them that were literally designed and left on this earth as plants that grow from the ground.

To support us. We're all, we're, this is where we come full

We so aligned. You and I are so aligned on

we don't think like, it doesn't look like it on the surface, but you know, the end goal is the same, which is supporting our bodies in the way that they were meant to be and designed to be supported regardless of the way that our society has.

Trained us to be inside all day consumers under fluorescent lights, trying to spend more and more and more money and get more and more and more stuff that ends up in more and more and more landfills. Just to try to bring back some of these things that are literally right outside of our door.

Yep. Totally agree. So let's wrap this up. I'm curious, you actually have made even some more changes recently and Liz, , I've, no, I've noticed a couple transitions. So skincare, what are you doing for

Okay. So, okay, listen, I'm still using, I a Neutrogena cleanser, but I'm waiting to finish it up and then I'm gonna buy a cleanser from, Evan Healy.

Yep.

I do have a couple of makeup products from, with Simplicity, a couple. I'm still using CVS Foundation, but I have the lady Gaga Foundation, which she said is cleaner

It is. Yes.

know that.

And the only reason I'm not using that

the ha Haas Labs is her pro. Yeah. It's cleaner. It doesn't have some of the worst, worst ingredients in it.

It's not L'Oreal true match. So that's better. Is

there's no parabens.

Okay. The only reason I'm not using that only right now is because it's too dark for my skin. So I have to tan outside, which I am still using Tropicana, tanning oil

Okay.

outside at it's okay. It's my ish. It's one of my ish. It's fine. What else am I doing?

I, I got, this is a cleaner option instead of getting Starbucks. I am using Nespresso, so I know we're still melting plastic into my coffee. I don't know, maybe it's not better. It's better on my wallet. Wait, what

I just love how you, I love how you're like, I don't use plastic lined PFAS lined coffee like that, that the, disposable coffee cups anymore. Instead, I bar. Through plastic pods.

Okay. So that's not a cleaner change that I've made.

No, it's fine. I just, I I love you. That's all. It's fine.

That's not a cleaner change that I've made,

And meanwhile, this week I literally invested in an espresso machine that like doesn't have plastic tubing in it.

I just, but you know what? , You are like in a place in your journey. And I'm like so far down the road and so many people are where you are. So many people are where you are, and I think that your journey right now is beautiful and should be encouraged and should be celebrated. Just like everybody who's sitting here listening to this.

I just think that people get really well wrapped up in their self-importance online and think that it's their responsibility to tell other people how to live and what's good for them. And. You're just never gonna find that here. I'm like, that's just never gonna happen. I'm gonna celebrate every single baby step that people make along the way.

Because those baby steps make a huge difference.

Also, I'm using Boca toothpaste.

Yes. And you're leaving and you're leaving it on your teeth. So for those of you who don't know, if you're using hydroxy appetite, whether it's nano or mineral, it's a debate for another time. Leave it on your teeth. Don't rinse it off. Leave it. I know it's gonna feel weird, I promise. Leave it on your teeth.

It's not something you're supposed to rinse off. So you've been doing that. And then we're gonna have a meeting with your husband who's also a friend of mine. By the way, Susie's husband is one of my favorite people on earth about getting you guys a water filter.

Oh yeah, that's a bad one. See if I can, if like we can afford it and push it in our budget, like I wanna do it. It's so disgusting. I put my little Q-tip into the refrigerator. Filter. Oh no. It was not a good, he's been buying Mountain Valley water packs. That's good. Right? No, what? Come on. That's better than my fridge.

It's better. Is better. It's better than my fridge.

I, you know, I don't know how I feel about that. If you asked me if, if tap, I'd have to see your tap water. I'd have to see what's in your tap water. Versus bottled water, which is

in glass.

it's class.

Yes.

Oh, it's glass. Oh, oh, yes. Much

I mean, it's not sustainable to keep buying those cases, but we're trying.

Yeah.

He is still on Crest though, so you should bring that up in your meeting.

I this in my meeting, I like, I have an appointment. I do kind of, I'm like, can we talk to Robbie about this? I have a

would really like it. Yeah.

What do you hope people get out of this conversation?

Well first I hope that people know that even though I spray hairspray on my face sometimes, which I learned when I was a sorority girl, that I do have a lot of healthy things that I'm doing in my life. I use all thieves cleaner when I can, which is most of the time I diffuse. I don't use candles. I don't use Bath and Body Works. I am slowly transitioning my, I'm slowly transitioning. My skincare now is the big focus that I'm, I'm putting on. I have clean blush, I have clean mascara, I have, I have clean, other stuff going on. Okay? So I

are working on it.

I hope people get out of this, that. I'm not as toxic as they think.

Also, better is better, and you don't have to feel shame for having to prioritize different sections of your life. And if it takes multiple months. For

Over years. Over years.

clean out just like one section of your life, like your laundry, and integrate that into your budget, then that's better.

And that's be, and your body is gonna thank you. And that is progress. And, and people should not be shamed about, about this because, because if, if we think too long, this is what I'm gonna close with there was a time when I was thinking about the education system, the public education system, and accessibility and everything that I was so passionate about and how so many of the problems were just so entrenched in the foundations of education.

If I thought too much about it, I'd just be like, I'm gonna give up. I've, I'm powerless against this, so why should I even care? There's nothing I can do. But I knew that in my classroom with the kids that I interacted with every day, I could make a difference with the relationships I had with them. And just like with you, if you spend too much time, the average person.

Thinking about all of the toxins in your home, all of the toxins outside of your home that you're fo, that you're forced to experience just because of your life. If you spend too much time thinking about how you're gonna budget all this stuff and all of the things you can buy and should be buying, you're gonna be frozen and you're gonna be overwhelmed.

And then no change is gonna happen. But the changes you have control over are your Boca toothpaste is phyl, ethanol over BHT is using a different, is using, , with 📍 simplicity blush instead of your CVS L'Oreal blush. Okay. And that is important and that is progress. And that is something to be proud of.

Okay. I'm off my, I'm

What she said. I don't even need to close this.

Amazing.

Amazing. Thanks for coming, Susie.

I love you, Wendy. You're the love

Maybe people won't pick on you on the internet and come roll into my dms and be like, oh my God. Did you see what Susie was using today?

Well, they will be coming into your dms today because I did post about spraying hairspray on my face. So sorry, ahead of time. It's for the bit. I'm working on it

working on it.

and I don't do it every day. I do it for special occasions only.

All right friends, we'll see you next week.

bye.

Share Episode

Shownotes

Transcripts

Follow

Links

Chapters

Video

More from YouTube