I haven’t always been on the non-toxic train. It wasn’t as mainstream and accessible as it is today (although society still has a long way to go), and really, I didn’t know why I needed to opt for a fragrance-free, non-toxic shampoo over the two-dollar bottle of suds I’d been using for years.

As a man, I don’t often hear other men talking about the importance of carefully selecting non-toxic alternatives for everything from beard oils to cleaning products to how you freshen up your bachelor pad for date nights. (For the love of God, I hope after reading this, you get rid of candles.)

But as with so many things in consumer culture, we believe the ads, buy into the hype, and swipe our cards without asking questions like, “What am I actually putting on my body?” or “How does this product potentially impact my health?”

A few years into marriage, we wanted to start our family. Trying to conceive resulted in a six-plus-year infertility journey in which we attempted everything possible to get pregnant. And once you start down the infertility rabbit hole, it’s hard to stop. It’s not something I’d wish on my worst enemy (which, let’s be honest, I don’t have), and although it’s a painful and devastating story that didn’t end the way I wanted, it’s the one I lived.

One of the many changes we made was swapping out chemical and fragrance-heavy, toxin-filled products for natural alternatives.

Why We Made the Switch To Non-Toxic Alternatives

Listen, you don’t know what you don’t know. Most families aren’t aware that everyday household items, from cleaning supplies to new furniture, candles to body wash, and plastic food storage to colognes and perfumes, may contain harmful chemicals. If you start to research the effects of many of these items, it inevitably links back to infertility — and many other conditions.

Certain chemicals and toxins can disrupt the human endocrine system and cause hormonal imbalances. (But that’s just one of the many issues you’ll uncover from chemical and toxin exposure.) Because I’m not a doctor or scientist, nor do I pretend to be an expert on the specifics, I’ll let you do your research and come to your conclusions.

In our desperation to start a family and willingness to attempt anything that may take us closer to having a baby, we researched and determined that we wanted to shift away from toxic products and packaging and find more natural items.

So, what exactly did we replace?

Our shift towards a non-toxic household has taken a few years. It didn’t happen immediately because that would have been unrealistic, overwhelming, and wildly expensive. If you’re considering switching to non-toxic products, give yourself time and space to research, experiment, and evaluate. Determine which switches are low-hanging fruit and which ones feel the most impactful to you. The list of what we swapped is lengthy, but just know it’s been a multi-year journey.

Here’s what we’ve removed completely or replaced with a toxic-free alternative:

• We swapped household cleaning supplies, especially items with fragrances, with natural alternatives. Branch Basics has quickly become my favorite non-toxic cleaning essentials. They have one concentrate that can be used for everything, so you get to replace dozens of cleaners with one. Plus, with their refillable bottles, you aren’t creating unnecessary waste! I got the Premium Starter Kit and haven’t looked back.
• We swapped laundry detergent with Branch Basics and single-use dryer sheets for wool balls with essential oils. Trust me, geranium essential oil makes your clothes smell great!
• We swapped plastic food storage containers for glass containers like these.
• We swapped single-use plastic food baggies for reusable silicon bags. Stasher is our favorite!
• We swapped plastic water bottles for Yetis. (This is my everyday Yeti, my travel Yeti, and my coffee Yeti.)
• We swapped non-stick cookware for cast iron and stainless steel. This is our everyday go-to pan.
• We swapped candles and air fresheners for essential oil diffusers. I’ve got this one in my office and like the look of it. We make our room freshener sprays with Vodka and essential oils. You’d be surprised at how great it works. These continuous spray bottles are rockstars.
• We swapped 99% of our grooming products for all-natural products. The Primally Pure brand has taken the place of many toiletries including: face oil (I use this one), natural deodorant (here’s my go-to), beard oil, face moisturizers, and face sprays. We put their Everything Spray on, well, everything. We also use Pompeii Street products, including shampoo and conditioner bars (no more bottles!), body soap, scrubs, and even our dog’s shampoo! My wife swapped out all of her makeup as well. She likes Ilia Makeup.
• We found a local lawn care company that uses mostly chemical-free treatments outside the home. We only use fertilizers in the gardens that are organic and don’t interrupt the biodiversity of our yard. And this year, I’m trying out a mosquito repellent that doesn’t use chemicals, which is always a challenge to find one that works. So far, it’s been great.
• I stopped wearing cologne because it’s one of the biggest offenders of the endocrine system, and this has been one of the hardest replacements to find. Essential oils help, but it’s not a total substitute, no matter what anyone says.

This list isn’t exhaustive, and as we continue to find new alternatives that are healthier for our bodies and the environment, we make the swap. It’s taken time, commitment, and some trial and error to land on our favorite non-toxic and effective brands.

It can feel overwhelming when you commit to making a significant lifestyle change like this, but let me share three things I learned from going non-toxic that might encourage you to do the same. And as a man, I hope that this encourages other men to see the importance of taking care of themselves and to stop using the same blue body wash that they did in high school. Not only does it smell like you just stepped into a school locker room, but it’s also filled with harmful chemicals and fragrances. Those fragrances can imitate and increase estrogen in the body, which means you’ve got a direct competitor to you tryin’ to get swole.

It’s complicated at first, but you can figure it out.

Complicated might be an understatement. Overwhelming is more accurate. Where do you start? What products do you try and replace first? Which makes the most significant difference in health overall? What’s better for the environment? You’ll wind up with more questions, not less, as you begin the journey. You’ll learn about toxins and chemicals you didn’t even know existed, which will lead to more questions, and then you’ll think you’re switching to free and clear products only to realize it’s a marketing campaign and not toxic-free as you hoped.

But like anything new, you must take the time to educate, inform, and equip yourself with information. Chances are you have a life circumstance, like an infertility journey or trying to conceive, causing you to change your lifestyle. Usually, that life circumstance is overwhelming to begin with, so anything else on top of it can feel like too much to bear. I get it. My wife gets it. We’ve been there.

If you’re serious about going non-toxic, start with one product and then expand out. We started by tossing out plastic food storage containers. Then we removed anything with fragrance: first candles, then cleaning products, grooming products, and so on. One of the early changes was switching out all the cleaning sprays and solutions for cleaning supplies from Branch Basics that you can use for multiple purposes.

Early on, we relied heavily on the app Think Dirty, which allows you to enter most consumer products and get a score on how healthy and toxic/chemical-free it is. This was how we started – standing side-by-side in grocery store aisles with the app open on our phones, a blank stare across our faces as we looked endlessly at the products we used and possible alternatives.

But over time, we got a good handle on what’s within our toxic-free boundaries and what isn’t. You can learn, too. Give yourself time. Download the app. And start simply by finding one product you want to remove or swap out.

Non-toxic replacements are just as effective.

Many people have a preconceived idea that using non-toxic products means sacrificing quality. This isn’t true. So many companies are creating non-toxic products that are rocking it in every genre! They’ve developed formulas and combined ingredients in new ways that make their products just as good, and sometimes better, than the toxic versions.

But know this: not all products are created equal. You must find the brands and companies that make products that work for you. This is especially true with grooming and beauty products. My wife and I have had different reactions to shampoo (of all things) because we have very different hair.

The only caveat to this that comes to mind is for cleaning products. Non-toxic products work well, but they do require a bit more elbow grease from time to time. You can’t spray something out of an aerosol can, watch it foam, and then wipe away the soap scum and grime. And occasionally, I’ll need something with a little more antibacterial action. But overall, I’m happy with our cleaning solutions.

Going non-toxic is more of a long-term lifestyle choice than a short-term fix.

This might be the most important lesson learned. We went non-toxic to help aid our bodies in the infertility journey. We hoped that by eliminating this or that, our bodies would heal something broken in us, and my wife would get pregnant. As of 2023, that hasn’t happened. We were hoping for a short-term fix.

What’s happened instead is that we’ve created a long-term lifestyle for us and our future family by choosing products that are overall better for our health, well-being, and environment. It seems simple to say, but we learned that what’s better for our bottles is also inevitably better for our earth, too. We’ve become more aware and conscious of what goes in and on our bodies, house, and environment. In a lot of ways, it’s simplified our buying decisions. And we feel like we’re doing our small part to protect the earth — and someday, the little babies we get to raise.

Non-Toxic for Life

If you are considering going non-toxic, do it for your long-term health. Do it for the environment. Do it to create spaces where your kids and family aren’t constantly ingesting toxins. Don’t do it for a short-term fix. However, if it helps you meet a short-term goal, fantastic! But stay focused on the bigger picture.

If you need recommendations from my wife or me on specific companies, brands, or products, let me know in the comments. We’d love to share what we’ve found works and what doesn’t.

(By the way, this post contains affiliate links, which simply means I might receive a commission if you click them. Learn more here.)