Small changes, big difference.
We get it — once you discover the hidden toxins, hormone disruptors, and chemicals in everyday products, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Where do you even begin?
First of all, you don’t need to do it all overnight.
Small, sustainable swaps create powerful long-term change — and you’re already ahead just by being curious. Let’s take it one step at a time.
These five friendly swaps are where we started ourselves. They're simple, effective, and make a real difference in your daily exposure.
1. 🚰 Drinking Tap Water → A Quality Filter
Our bodies are made up of 60–80% water and it is something that we consume daily. While it may look clean, Australian tap water contains a cocktail of chemicals such as heavy metals, microplastics, and other nasties you wouldn’t knowingly consume. What’s in Australian tap water supplies?
🧠 If you don’t have a filter... your body becomes the filter.
Swap to:
✅ Under or over counter Reverse Osmosis (RO)
- Removes up to 99% of contaminants
- Best for drinking water
- Tip: Remineralise afterward to maintain essential minerals
✅ Gravity Filters
- Great for renters or benchtop use
- No plumbing required
👉 Want to go deeper? Click here for our full blog on water filtration
2. 🍳 Non-Stick Cookware → Cast Iron, Stainless Steel, or Pure Ceramic
Teflon and other non-stick pans may make cooking easy, but they come at a cost. When scratched or overheated, they can release millions of micro- and nano-plastics, including 9,000 PFAS (“forever chemicals”) that build up in your body and disrupt hormones.
📄 A 2022 study published in Science of The Total Environment found that a single scratch on a Teflon-coated pan can release up to 2 million plastic particles into your food.
📰 And a Daily Mail article highlighted how scratched pans may be exposing families to millions of microplastics daily.
Swap to:
✅ Cast Iron — Naturally non-stick when seasoned and adds a touch of iron to your food.
✅ Stainless Steel — Durable and non-reactive. Use the “water test” to prevent sticking. Try to get 18/0 (0% nickel) over 18/10 (10% nickel)
✅ Pure Ceramic — Not ceramic-coated. Non-toxic for gentle cooking.
⚠️ Caution with ceramic coatings: They may contain lead or degrade at high heat. Better than Teflon, but not our first choice.
3. 🧺 Conventional Laundry Detergent → Natural Ingredients
These detergents are loaded with chemicals that linger on your clothes and absorb into your skin.
What's hiding in there?
- Optical Brighteners – Synthetic chemicals that make clothes look clean, but doesn’t actually clean them. These chemicals don’t easily biodegrade and are toxic to aquatic life.
- Fragrance (often with phthalates) – Endocrine disruptors linked to allergies, asthma, and headaches especially in children.
- Surfactants like SLS/SLES – Can irritate skin and are often contaminated with 1,4-dioxane, a carcinogen
- Preservatives like MIT/BIT – Common allergens that can trigger dermatitis.
🔗 More on 1,4-dioxane from the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics
🔗 Study on optical brighteners
🔗 Fragrance & hormone disruption
Swap to:
✅ Natural laundry powder or liquid (with short, readable ingredient lists)
✅ Soap berries — compostable, plant-based, and antimicrobial
✅ DIY blend:
- 1.5 cups washing soda
- 1.5 cups baking soda
- ½ cup salt
- ½ cup Epsom salt
- 10–25 drops essential oil (e.g. lemongrass)
🧴 Use 1 tablespoon for small loads, 2–3 for large loads
💡 White vinegar makes a great fabric softener!
4. 🚿 Body Wash → Natural Soap Bar
Your skin (your largest organ), absorbs what you put on it — yet most commercial body washes are packed with ingredients that dry it out, disrupt your hormones and damaging the environment.
Common concerns:
- SLS/SLES – Harsh surfactants that strip your natural oils, irritate the skin and contain carcinogens.
- Synthetic Fragrance – Hidden phthalates which are known endocrine disruptors.
- Preservatives (parabens, MI/MCI) – Can cause allergic reactions and mimic estrogen in the body.
Swap to:
✅Cold-processed soap bars with nourishing oils like olive, coconut, or shea
✅ Fragrance-free, scented with essential oil (or unscented for sensitive skin)
✅ Ingredients you can pronounce, no SLS, no “fragrance,” no parabens or PEGs
5. 💧 Conventional Moisturiser → Natural Moisturiser (Beef Tallow or Coconut Oil)
Most store-bought moisturisers are filled with synthetic ingredients that block your skin’s natural functions.
What’s in the bottle?
- Petroleum by-products & PEGs (mineral oil, paraffin) – Trap moisture but don’t nourish and packed with carcinogens
- Silicones – Interferes with the skins natural repair and detox process and carry 1,4-dioxane.
- Parabens – Synthetic preservatives mimic estrogen in the body, disrupting hormones and interfering with fertility. They’ve been linked to breast cancer.
- Synthetic fragrance – Again, a major red flag for endocrine and allergy issues
🔗 Parabens & breast tissue study
🔗 Phthalates & endocrine disruption
Swap to:
✅ Beef Tallow (our favorite)
- Rich in vitamins A, D, E & K
- Closely mimics human sebum
- Naturally antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory
✅ Coconut Oil
- Deeply hydrating
- Contains lauric acid (antibacterial and antifungal)
- Best for body — not always ideal for daily facial use
💡 Final Thought
This journey isn’t about doing it all at once — it’s about progress, not perfection. The small swaps you make today become the healthy habits of tomorrow. Trust yourself, go at your own pace, and remember: every change you make adds up.
You’re not behind — you’re right on time.🌱
