The Cost of Store-Bought Was More Than Just in My Wallet

How I reclaimed my health, my energy, and my sanity — one product at a time.

Jul 12, 2025

I didn’t start this to be crunchy, or hippie, or any other label people like to throw around, but it’s certainly on the spectrum I landed.

It didn’t start with a detox tea or a juice cleanse.

It started with rage.

With exhaustion.

With a nervous system so fried, I couldn’t tell if I was having a breakdown or a breakthrough. (This was in 2021. It’s been a four-year journey so far.)

That’s when I realized: If I wanted to control my energy, I had to control what I put in and on my body. Not just the energetic stuff. Not just the spiritual rituals. But the physical, mundane, everyday things, too.

We call them products. But most of them are poison.

The Haircare I Had to Unlearn

The first thing I threw away was my store-bought shampoo and conditioner. My hair stopped growing past a certain length just above my shoulder. It would just fall out once it reached that point. And my scalp felt like it was screaming at me.

It took me two full years to find a shampoo and conditioner I could actually trust. I tried everything — eggs, apple cider vinegar, even the no-shampoo method. None of it worked. My hair was either greasy, brittle, or falling out like it was trying to escape my body.

The truth is, most commercial hair products are loaded with hormone disruptors, synthetic fragrances, and harsh detergents that strip the scalp, inflame hair follicles, and send your nervous system into chaos. Our skin absorbs those chemicals within seconds. And your scalp? It’s one of the most absorbent areas of your body.

Last year, I finally found JR Liggett’s shampoo and conditioner bars. No plastic. No toxins. Just simple, clean ingredients.

And finally, my scalp calmed down. My hair stopped falling out.

Cleaning the House Without Killing Myself

Next, I tackled the cleaning spray. Because I was spraying literal carcinogens into the air I breathed. I switched to white vinegar infused with pine needles and lemon peel. That’s it.

I literally fill a large jar with lemon peels or pine needles (or both) and then top it all with white vinegar. Let it sit for 6 weeks and bam! A homemade house cleaner that isn’t trying to kill you along with everything else in the house.

Vinegar is acidic enough to cut through grease, soap scum, and some bacteria. Pine and lemon add antimicrobial benefits… and honestly, they just smell like real clean.

TBH: My family hates the vinegar smell, so I let mine soak extra long in lemon peels to get the real lemony scent.

Laundry: Where Disruption Lurks

Laundry detergents are some of the worst offenders. Endocrine disruptors. Skin irritants. Plus, the single-use plastic jugs? No, thank you.

Here’s what I use now:

1:1 ratio of borax and laundry booster (found in your laundry aisle)
A few drops of essential oil (lavender, lemon, or tea tree are my favorites — but I use a cheap brand here. I leave all the medicinal, pure grade essential oils for my body.)
White vinegar in the rinse compartment as a fabric softener and odor remover

It works. It’s cheap. It’s clean.

Makeup: The Mask I No Longer Wear

I stopped wearing makeup.

Not because I don’t want to be “beautiful.” But because:

I’m tired of performing beauty rituals for men.
It clogs my pores and messes with my skin.
Most of it is laced with hormone disruptors, carcinogens, and toxins.

The real kicker? Every time I put on makeup, I felt like I was lying to myself. Hiding from my own skin. From aging. From truth.

Now, I look in the mirror and I see me. Every line. Every freckle. Every truth.

Skincare, Reimagined

I threw out every face wash, serum, and moisturizer. Even the fancy ones. Especially the fancy ones.

I make my own skin serum. I use grass-fed tallow. I blend cucumbers and freeze them into cubes for a gentle, refreshing face wash. That’s it.

I went to a facialist this week. She couldn’t find a single clogged pore. My skin was glowing. And no, my wrinkles aren’t vanishing, but they aren’t deepening either.

I’m not aging in fear anymore. I’m aging in alignment.

Why I Did All This

Because I was a trainwreck.

Because I didn’t want to be sedated. I wanted to be free.

When you’re on a mission to get better, not just to seem better, not just to cope, but to actually feel better — you start realizing that every little thing matters. Your food. Your products. Your thoughts. Your environment. All of it.

And slowly… the inflammation dies down. The brain fog lifts. The panic starts to fade. The healing begins to feel real.

*It takes a while for your body to regulate. Do not give up after a few weeks. You’ve spent your whole life using toxic products. You have to go through a period of detox and normalization.

This is how I started calming my nervous system. This is how I reclaimed my power.

You don’t have to do it all at once. But maybe today, you swap one thing.

Maybe today, you question what you’ve been told is “normal.”

And maybe — just maybe — you’ll start to feel something new.

Better.