"Your council uses tons and tons of chemicals and pesticides to keep nature at bay. You're tracking it in when you wear your shoes."
When we think about clean living, one of the first changes we need to make is our cleaning products. All of those bleaching agents, the disinfectants, the mould killers. They make everything look nice and clean in the beginning, but what are they really doing to our health long term and the environment?
Nicole Bijlsma is one of Australia's most well-known building biologists. She's also the best-selling author of Healthy Home, Healthy Family. Nicole is an absolute expert on how to create a toxin-free home, and I learned so much when she was on my Talking Clean With Irene podcast.
I discovered Nicole about 10 years ago reading Sarah Wilson's blog. Nicole told me "I assessed her home that she was in, and we found some significant issues going on with the house, electromagnetic fields and mould, which I believe contributed significantly to her health effects."
I read that blog and I threw out all my frying pans, and I'm really careful now where the beds are placed. I turn my internet and everything off at night, and that all came from that blog.
Nicole said her book was in its third edition. "It's really looking at the impact of environmental chemicals on human health and, more importantly, how in the house you can reduce your toxicity by being mindful about what you're buying."
Here are the 3 things I learned from my chat with Nicole
1. Take your shoes off at the door
The first thing I asked Nicole was, what is the number one thing people should do to help minimise the toxins in their home?
Nicole said "take your shoes off before you come into the house. Don't wear your shoes in the house. You've got to think about your council uses tons and tons of chemicals and pesticides to keep nature at bay. You're tracking it in when you wear your shoes. So, take your shoes off before you come in. That's the number one."
"Most of the toxicity is happening in the household dust, often in the carpets and on the floor. That's where most of your flame retardants, chemicals, pesticides, lead dust, asbestos is going to be."
That's why she recommends "a good vacuum cleaner fitted with a HEPA filter and a motorised head if you have carpets. The HEPA filter means when you pull all that dirt from the floor into the vacuum cleaner, the air that comes out at the back is much cleaner than the one in. So, when you vacuum, you're actually cleaning the air at the same time."
2. Green doesn't always mean good
I told Nicole I've seen my husband go out and buy laundry products or household cleaners that say that they're kind to the environment. And then I look at the ingredients and they're still looking pretty harsh to me.
Nicole said "people assume that if it's safe for the environment... and even the names of the brands imply that it's good for the earth. When, in fact, when you look at the ingredients, they're often not."
"We're being hoodwinked into thinking green is healthy when, in fact, the opposite is true, because no one's really defined what green cleaning is. They say it's good for the octopus, but you look at it and you've got all these ingredients, very harsh surfactants, many of them are hormone disruptive chemicals, fragrances that are known to be endocrine disrupting."
It's the same with our homes. "When you build a green home that's eco-friendly, they are associated with far more health effects because they're so tight. The condensation and mould is just skyrocketing in these homes because the house can't breathe."
"When it comes to products, people market it in any way they can get away with." So when you're choosing natural cleaning products, always read the ingredients.
3. Mould is a moisture problem
I asked her, how do we tackle mould in the bathroom?
Nicole said "there's so much more to mould than people realise. And the key to mould is moisture. The fungi is not the problem. Fungi is everywhere, from the Arctic to Antarctica. It's on all of your surfaces."
"As soon as you have moisture sitting on a surface for more than two days, 48 hours, the bacteria and the fungi will start producing chemicals to kill each other off. Once you understand that, then you understand how to prevent mould."
"The key in a bathroom is to use a microfibre cloth after you shower to quickly wipe down that moisture. Once it gets into the silicone, you've got to replace the silicone."
"You can use bleach. I don't use it because it's toxic. All the bleach is doing is bleaching the colour of the mould, it's not removing it. The bleach can provide a food source for mould, so within days it's coming back."
Nicole created a great mould spray for her Abode range.
"If your shower is more than seven years old, the waterproof membrane may be compromised. If you're getting symptoms like asthma, colds and flus that keep coming back, that is worse when you're in your house and better when you're away from the home, that's when you want to get a building biologist to assess the house to see if mould is a problem."
Food grade makes a difference
I first stocked Nicole's cleaning range, Abode, back in 2013, and I just remember buying every single bottle and selling it out.
Nicole said "a lot of people don't realise when it comes to products, they go, it has to be organic. Well, that's not the case with cleaning products. Most of the ingredients are not plant-based, so the word organic is irrelevant."
"Food grade means they get rid of all those impurities, which are often the contributing factor to allergies and skin itching from laundry products."
One of my biggest clients for Abode is the Home and Away wardrobe department, because some of their actors can't wear the clothes because of how they were washed.
What a building biologist does
Nicole told me "the building biologist walks into a home and identifies health hazards in the built environment. We use the latest state-of-the-art technology. From thermal cameras, moisture meters to high-frequency meters to measure wireless technology and gauss meters. And then we take a proper exposure history with our client and the family."
"We go through: okay, tell me about your symptoms. When did you experience it? How do you deal with pests in the house? Do you use chemicals like pesticides? And when did you move in? And when did you renovate?"
Where to start
Nicole said "the first thing is get knowledgeable, start reading. Almost everything on the supermarket shelf has never been tested for its impact on human health. Just because it's there doesn't mean it's been tested."
"So use less. Get rid of most of the stuff. If you don't need it, don't use it. Microfibre cloths is one of the most effective ways to clean a home because you're physically removing stuff off the surface."
"In your bedroom, don't have things close to your head. Your digital clock radio should be at least a metre away from your head. Don't have any wireless routers, cordless phones in your bedroom."
"In terms of the house, open your windows, get fresh air in as much as possible, unless, of course, you live near heavy traffic."
You'll find lots of tips and videos on Nicole's website, buildingbiology.com.au.
About the Author
Irene Falcone is the founder of Clean Nectarine and co-host of The Lee & Irene Show. She started her first clean beauty business in 2011 with $100 in her garage and grew it to $20m in four years. She has spent over 15 years reading the backs of beauty and wellness labels, is a Telstra Business Women's Awards winner and an EY Entrepreneur of the Year finalist, and has been featured on A Current Affair, The Project, Sunrise, Channel Nine Mornings and Sky News.
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