Hey, Green Junkie!

Today’s episode is featuring my friend Loni Brown and we are talking all about how to reduce the toxins in your home.

You might have heard about the traditional places that toxins hide out in your home but in today’s episode you’re going to learn about all the other sneaky places toxins are lingering and why it’s so important to try to replace these items as soon as possible.

Loni is sharing her expertise and spilling the tea on all the things we need to be looking out for, in this episode.

In this episode we will discuss,

• Reduce toxins at home without sacrificing design and style
• Where sneaky toxins are hiding out in your home
• The most important thing to switch out in your home to reduce chemical exposure
• How to decipher certifications when purchasing products and what to look out for
• What names toxic chemicals are hiding under

You’ll discover that and so much more in this episode.

If you love this podcast be sure to leave a review and share a screenshot of this episode to your IG stories. Tag @greenjunkiepodcast so I can shout you out and publicly say thanks. 

Thanks for listening and being here.

Your green bestie,

Xoxo Stephanie

Hang With Loni:

https://entirelyeco.com/

https://wholesomenest.co/

https://www.instagram.com/entirelyeco/

https://www.instagram.com/wholesomenestco/

https://facebook.com/groups/entirelyeco

Previous Episodes Mentioned:

Episode #9: How to Reuse What You Already Have 

Episode #20: 6 Ways to Detox Your Home

Episode #27: Eco-Guilt – Just Drop it

Snag 1 on 1 Green and Sustainable Coaching with me 

https://www.goodgirlgonegreen.com/green-sustainable-coaching-calendar

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Produced by: Alecia Harris

Music By: Liz Fohle

LISTEN BELOW

TRANSCRIPT FOR EPISODE 31

Stephanie Moram 0:07
Hey Green Junkie. I'm your host Stephanie Moram and today I have the pleasure of speaking with Loni Brown about reducing toxins at home without sacrificing design and style. Loni is a healthy home expert and founder and CEO of Entirely Eco which helps parents design and create beautiful, eco friendly, non toxic homes for their families. Loni specializes in home design, which blends toxin free living with interior design for a healthier and more comfortable home. Her certified organic eco home shop has beautiful, eco friendly home decor for the whole family. If you love learning new ways to reduce your impact on the environment and non toxic living, please subscribe to the Green Junkie Podcast on whatever platform you get your podcasts. That way you'll never miss another green living episode. Hi, Lonnie, thank you so much for being here. I'm so excited to have this conversation with you today.

Loni Brown 1:09
Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to chat with you today.

Stephanie Moram 1:13
So let's just dive right in to non toxic living. So my first question for you is I'd love for you to tell the listeners about yourself and about your family and kind of how you got started on becoming more concerned with toxins in your home.

Loni Brown 1:33
Okay, so I live in Denver, Colorado, and we've been here for almost four years. But before that I was in California and I have two small girls, I have a four year old and a one year old. And I first got into green living, non toxic living for the home when I was pregnant with my first daughter, I lived a pretty sustainable and green life prior to I mean, I was really focused on food, and what I was actually consuming. And then I moved into personal care products. And so I was obsessive about reading labels. And so for like 20 years or so I pretty much lived there was really just personal care products like makeup and shampoo and that kind of thing. And food, and anything that I consumed, I didn't really start to look at the rest of my home until I was pregnant with my first daughter. And I think at that point, I was shocked. But I also wasn't. It was one of those things where I was mad at myself for not looking into other areas of my home, like, you know, the flooring and the paint on the walls and the furniture and you know, all the all the decor like elements that you have in your home and the building materials and everything I didn't really I never thought about that. And after like, you know, speaking with a lot of people who like live in this role, they don't think about it either. Because you're not, it's not like you're like putting your carpet on your skin everyday, right? Or you're not eating it, right. So I think when we whenever we're like rubbing something into our skin, or when we're putting something into our mouths, we're a lot more conscious about it. But we kind of forget the rest of our home.

Loni Brown 3:23
And so I started when I was pregnant, I started researching, like baby mattresses and pillows and just blankets and, you know, clothing and all those things. And I was just completely shocked at what I learned was in some of these products. And not only are they bad for the environment, but they're also bad for us as human beings. There's a lot of ingredients and materials that are you know, endocrine disruptors, they affect your hormones, they affect just your sleep in general, they affect your respiratory systems. And it's all living in like everyday household decor items like that you would never think about you know, like flooring and paint and finishes and furniture, and blankets and bedding like all the things that you would never think about.

Stephanie Moram 4:08
This is going to be such a great conversation. I think a lot of soon to be moms or you know, maybe they're having a second kid is when they start looking more into these things. That's how I got started. That's exactly how I got started was I was pregnant with my daughter and I went down a rabbit hole. And I just feel like sometimes we become more aware we're like, Okay, why are we buying this? Why are we being marketed to buy this this and this? Is it healthy? Is it not healthy? Are there toxins in it or not toxins in it. So I love your story and I just love how you came to the kind of the same realization as me just I'm gonna start looking at like, mattresses and stuff because like what's in it? So let's just like have a full on conversation. Like I have so many questions for you. So you mentioned mattresses verses you mentioned, you know, kind of bedding and pillow. So why is it so important that people switch out their mattresses for better ones? And what do we need to look for?

Loni Brown 5:14
Yes, I feel like there's so many things in your home that you can focus on. And a lot of people they have the moment that I had, when I learned about all of this, I was literally sobbing, crying, because all I was trying to do was build a baby registry and just figure out what I was going to buy for my baby. And I didn't want to buy like all the stuff that you don't need. Because I'm not I don't like excess waste, I really was. I just want to buy just the, you know, the essential things that I really use. But even those things you research and I was just like, This is impossible. Like I was literally sitting on the floor like sobbing and my husband's like, what is happening? Is this like pregnancy hormones. And I'm like, I'm like, No, everything is toxic, like everything is toxic. And I'm like, and the hard thing about these items, like you mentioned, like bedding and mattresses and pillows is that there is no nutritional label for these things, right? There's not like when you go and buy like lotion, there are ingredients that you can look that they have to like put the ingredients there. Now some of the some of the things are masked, right, like if there's like fragrance, for example, that's just could be like, hundreds of ingredients in that one ingredient. But for the most part, if you're buying a personal care product, and if you're buying like a food item, usually there's like a label of such that you can quickly see what's in there. But when it comes to like your, your bedding and things like that, there is no label. So you're really, it's like, you have to go down this rabbit hole of really trying to understand everything that's in this product, like a piece of furniture or a mattress, because they'll say, you know, when you buy a mattress, it'll say like maybe the main material like oh, it's made of this, it's made out of the TempurPedic foam or whatever, right, but then you're like, what is all in TempurPedic foam, like, that's just one that's just one material, but like it could be it's all these other things. And so with mattresses in particular, the one It's usually made out of a synthetic foam, which is like usually typically like a polyurethane foam, which is petrochemical based. But not only is the foam bad, it's also it's treated with like flame retardants. And these flame retardants, you know, have been shown to be to cause cancer. So there's like they've been treated with these finishes and things like that, that are that are regulated, because in order to sell a mattress, especially in the United States, and in other countries like you, it has to have some type of flame resistance. And the easy way to do it is just just apply a chemical to it to make it you know, flame retardant. And so there's these all of these chemicals that have been added to your mattresses and blankets and bedding. But there are natural alternatives.

Loni Brown 7:55
And so what I learned was that, you know, you can find these items that use like natural things, for example, wool is naturally flame retardants, so a lot of those organic natural mattresses out there, they'll be wrapped in wool, and that actually makes them compliant for flame retardant, but they don't have this chemical, you know, finish on them. So the materials themselves you need to look at. So are these synthetic materials, which are like petroleum based or petrochemical based materials, which most foam is so most of the cushions in your homes and the mattresses and anything that's foam related, usually as a synthetic foam. But there are natural alternatives such as natural latex foam can like wool, there's like Kpop, there's a lot of different filters that you can put into cushions that are natural and not petrochemical based. And then again, any kind of finishes that have been applied.

Loni Brown 8:51
So like waterproofing, you know, a lot of times baby mattresses need waterproofing, because they have you know, they have, you know, accidents and so again, it's usually a chemical finish that, or plastic or something like that, that's that's been treated, that is what makes it bad. And then, and the reason why it's bad is off gases. And so if you've ever like opened up a package, if something that's been wrapped, and you open it, you kind of get that with the, you know, fumes that come out of it, and sometimes it gives you a headache, you know, you're like, Whoa, what is this and you feel like you need to air it out. That's, that's That's it, but that's off gassing that's happening right there. And you experience it when you open up a package. And it's not to say that like if you open an organic mattress isn't there's going to be zero smell. But the the the difference is that off gassing is when it's synthetic. And when it's chemically treated. It's a volatile organic compound, which is a voc and that's actually shown to cause like respiratory issues, asthma, you know, all kinds of things. When you get a little bit of a smell from like a natural product. It's just going to be the smell of the natural product. Like you'll smell the wool like you'll smell like it'll always smell sometimes like an animal for a little bit. But like, but it's a natural smell. And it's not like a voc off gassing that's happening. And if it's a voc off gassing, a lot of times people say, Well, you only smell it for like the first week, and then it kind of dissipates. The thing is, is that it's still off gassing, you don't smell it as strong as right when you open it, but it's still off gassing for years to come. And so it's important for bedding, because your baby and you yourself, you're sleeping on those things for long periods of time. It's usually typical for babies, it's like 18 hours a day, sometimes you're sleeping right on these things. And then even for us as adults, I mean, most adults get six to eight hours of sleep per night. So that's, you know, that off gassing and breathing that in while you're sleeping, when your body is supposed to be repairing, and, you know, you know, recovering and all of that when you are inhaling those those off gases. It kind of prevents your body from doing what it needs to do, which is restore recharge at night.

Stephanie Moram 10:58
That was awesome. I think one of the things that I I did, you know, almost 11 years ago is when we needed a mattress that was like a no brainer, we needed to go with like an organic mattress for my daughter than when Jackson was older and then we switched organic. And that's like, I don't know if it's something that you recommend first, but I feel like it's, it's something I recommend, but sometimes it's costly, right? So I always recommend, like, at least organic sheets, like what do you think about that? Like if say someone's in a position like, I'm not in a position to afford an organic mattress right now. It's just not in my budget for the next couple months or the next year? Is it you know, starting slow, like, okay, like, let's start with pillows, let's go with the sheets and then move into the mattress.

Loni Brown 11:44
Yeah,I mean, I would I look at budget, but I, I mean, I try to push for the mattress as much as possible just because of because of how long we're spending on there. And even it's great, putting organic sheets on there is great, because that's what's actually touching your skin. But the off gassing still gets through sheets, you know, because sheets are breathable. So but yes, I mean, you can only do so much I tell people, I what I try to do is I tell people, you can save money, like especially if it's like a if it's a situation where you have a new baby and you're wanting to buy a mattress, there's so much stuff that you could get on a registry that you literally could just avoid and just say I'm like, you'll save money by not buying this, and not buying this and not buying this use this instead. And then you kind of find creative ways to like to use your your dollars towards the things that really matter like a mattress. And so I I'd rather people like forego all this other stuff that they would they would spend money on on before their new baby. And just by the core things that like the baby's gonna use a lot, which is a mattress like I mean 18 hours a day. So I'm like, forget all the toys, forget all the cute little clothing and forget like the, you know, wipes warmers, and the Diaper Genie and all those other things that like are not that critical, right, save all that money and put it towards a great quality mattress. Because the thing is, is that at least organic mattress I purchased, it was double sided. So it was like hard on one side for an infant. And then on the other side, it was softer for a toddler. So like even today, like my four year old, like still can sleep on it, you know. So it's not one of those things where like, it's your baby's only going to use it for the first year, it could actually it could actually be used longer. Our crib, which we you know solid wood and has all the certifications and everything was pretty expensive. But again, the crib transforms into a toddler bed, then it transforms into a day bed and then it transforms into a full bed by just buying like, like one little like piece after that. So the headboard, and the front and the back of the crib become the headboard and the footboard of an actual full size mattress, I mean a full size bed. So it's you know, these products are a little more expensive, but they have like a lot more use long term. So I personally think it's worth it to spend your budget on a good quality mattress for your baby. But like you said, if it's really just not in the cards, then making sure that they're their pajamas that they sleep in, maybe can't buy their whole wardrobe in organic cotton. But you you buy their pajamas and organic and you buy their bedsheet and organic and maybe like their pillow and then pillowcase.

Stephanie Moram 14:25
Yeah, and I love how you said like being creative. I remember when I was pregnant my daughter and I mean, we didn't have a huge budget, you know, but going through that process, like I realized when I don't need all this stuff, I'm being marketed and I really really wanted and each repeated changing pad like I really wanted what was like 100 bucks like 11 years ago. Now 100 bucks for a changing pad is 100 bucks. I mean, yeah, I've given it away, and it hasn't

Loni Brown 14:48
Really it's still it's still 100 bucks after all these years.

Stephanie Moram 14:52
And my husband's like $100 for a changing pad. I'm like, no, no, but guess what? We're not gonna buy a changing table. And he's like, why? I'm like, I'm just gonna carry this changing pad, everywhere I go, I'm going to change, you're on the floor on it, I'm going to change, you're on the bed, I'm going to change you're on the counter, I'm going to pop it in the car if I need it. So actually, we're saving money by me getting this and he's like, that's fine stuff. Okay, whatever. And so it's being creative like that saying, like, what's more important? Do I actually need a changing table? Or is it just like a fun thing to have, you know, and I totally agree with the mattress, like totally agree with the mattress, you know, we spend all our time there. And it's just such an important purchase. And I also like how companies are trying to be creative as well, where you know, it's a baby bed, and it's a toddler bed, and then it's like a full band. So then you're, you know, putting that money out. But it's like long term, it's not like for a year, because it just seems so wasteful, sometimes, like so wasteful, we actually got our mattress, which is super cool. It's a Canadian company here. And what they do is they do pods, so you buy like the mattress, but say my husband needs you know, a firmer like mattress and I need like a less firm one, you get to decide. And there's like, I think it's four, six paws on the mattress. So then, over time, if let's say, wear and tear or whatever, and you want a new mattress, you don't actually have to change your whole mattress. You just need to change like this. Take the pot out or you're like, oh, I want a softer mattress, and you have like a firm one. You just have to like remove that pod part. And put that back in. So again, it's being creative, like okay, yes, I'm forking out X amount of money, but it's going to like pretty much last forever. And if you do need to replace parts of it, you're just replacing parts of it not a whole mattress. Right?

Loni Brown 16:38
Yes, yes, that's we have for my we have a king bed. And for our matches, it's the same, we went with nature repeat it for our for our King mattress too. And it's the same concept, they have those pods and you just unzip it. And it's the same thing my husband went with medium and I went with softer. And it's so great that you can do that. One because you can customize it really to you. But then like you said, most mattresses, you're having a buy, like every 10 years, you know, and you have to replace, you have to replace the entire thing. So that's like also wasteful and bad for the environment. Right. And but with these with this new style with these pods, it's just like a small little portion that you're replacing. And, without having to buy the whole mattress. So you're right. I do believe that over time, if you think every every 10 years, you get to buy a new mattress versus these little pods which are like a fraction of like a whole mattress over time, you'll save a lot more money this way. And it's healthier and better for the environment.

Stephanie Moram 17:37
And so before you casually mentioned in the conversation certifications, so when it comes to your mattress, let's say pillows, bedding and stuff like that, what kind of certifications should people be looking for?

Loni Brown 17:50
Yes, and I tell people like certifications are great, but they all like a lot of these certifications are for different things. So just because some something has like one certification doesn't necessarily mean it's like 100% good in all the areas. So I always say like take these certifications with the you know, you have to look at them whole you have to look at the product holistically. So for example, for like cotton, I like to look at GOTS certified right, because they, they typically certify cotton, they also certify like now I think they certify some polyester and some other some other materials. But they're their processes this you know, this cotton is certified organic meaning it's not it doesn't use pesticides, it doesn't use, there's a whole list of like chemicals that can be used in the manufacturing process. And with GOTS, the whole supply chain has to be certified. So like if you if the the facility that's making the fabric, you know has to be certified and then it goes to the facility that then is going to do the foam, and then it goes to the facility that's going to do the cutting. So the whole supply chain has to be GOT certified in order for the product itself to be got certified. So that's why sometimes you'll see an actual product itself will have got certified and it has that little icon on it. Other times you'll see a product and it'll say like made with GOTS certified organic cotton. That just means that the product was made with organic cotton, but the whole product itself is not GOT certified. So there's those things and then there's like, for example, with furniture, there's GREENGUARD certification, and there's there's like, there's different levels. So there's GREENGUARD, and there's like GREENGUARD gold. And this is this is again, it's a good certification, but what it certifying is voc content. So it's basically you know, in order to be GREENGUARD certified, it has to meet a certain threshold of VOCs it does not mean it's voc free, it has to say Voc free in order to be voc free. So just because it's GREENGUARD certified, you can rest assured that it has very limited VOCs it has to meet their standards and the strictest standards is GREENGUARD gold but but again if they're fabric on that piece of furniture. Just because it's GREENGUARD certified, it doesn't mean that fabric is organic. So I would you know, when I look at something that has both hard finishes like wood off gas VOCs, I look for maybe GREENGUARD. But then it has fabric I want to look at, like, what's in the fabric? Has it been treated? Is it synthetic fabric, right? So there's a lot of different certifications for different types of materials, for example.

Stephanie Moram 20:23
And so something that is, you know, so you're buying sheets, let's say, and it's one set, a sheet says organic cotton one says GOT certified, so as a GOT certified just like a better level of organic.

Loni Brown 20:37
yes, it means that they have met the strict standards of GOTS, there are other organizations that certify organic, but I feel like GOTS is the standard and they have the strictest requirements. Other certified sometimes a product will just say organic cotton, and there's no certification. And so in my sense, I don't trust that, you know, I like one party to blame to him to like, verify this for me, please like you as the manufacturer, like seeing a certified, like, or just saying organic, but it's not actually certified by another third party institution, then I just don't trust it as much. I probably would trust it a little more than something that didn't say that just said, like cotton, for example, or blend. But so there's different levels, you know, but for something that I truly care about, I'm going to look for some type of certification just because I know that they've had to go through this process. And I, you know, like I manufacture some of my own products now. And like I went through that process, and I know what it entails, you know, so. So like in the fact that the whole supply chain has to be certified says a lot. So I like to look for the certifications, if I really, really want to be sure because these days organics not regulated unless it's a food, unless it's a food item where you know, you have to have a USDA Organic stamp for the US. Like if it's just like bedding and a sheets, it's not regulated, I could slap organic on there if I wanted to, you know, and I could just use a little 10% portion of organic, something in there. And I could probably label it as organic. You can't say certified organic, right, unless it is certified, but you could label it organic, even if it wasn't certified.

Stephanie Moram 22:15
It's like so shocking to me, like what companies do to like greenwash or like whatever wash talk, non toxic wash, whatever you want to call it. It's just so crazy. What are the levels that company go to, to literally do consumers and knowing that they're duping them, right, like, knowing full well that this product has like maybe 5% organic cotton in it. And it was probably the stitching. stitching, but we can put it's organic because part of its organic, right. It's just, it just blows my mind when they're willing to do.

Loni Brown 22:51
And it's the mattresses to this this well, it makes my skin like cringe. But there's this new, there's this new it's not new anymore, but like I don't know, five to 10 years ago, there was all this hype about eco foam and soy foam. And I actually was like, Oh, let me look into this. Like I'm really excited about soy foam like what is it? I don't like soy in general but like I'm like it's better than petrochemicals. Right. And I like started to do the research and it's like different names. It'll be called green foam. It'll be called Eco foam. It'll be called soy foam. But what it is, is it's 90% polyurethane foam, which is really petrochemical. Right It's like It's like your typical mattresses are made of polyurethane foam. It is 90% polyurethane foam and 10% soybean oil, and soybean like product. It's just 10% and pretty much it's still very toxic. And people they'll they're labeling it green foam or better for the environment eco friendly save all the terms and it's just like major greenwashing it's just very upsetting, and they're charging so much more for it.

Stephanie Moram 24:03
Yeah, it's pretty insane to me like just in all levels when it comes to like clothing when it comes to your personal care products when it comes even to food like like there's just so much greenwashing we could probably talk about this forever, but it just to hear you like say like you can put something that's organic and it's not actually organic, just to dupe the consumer. It's just it's frustrating. You know what I mean? Because I know a lot about different certifications. I don't know everything, but I do my research. And I get you know, greenwash sometimes going oh my gosh, it's gonna be a great product and then I buy it I'm like and I was doing real bad. So I just think of like the average consumer that isn't going to go research everything like you do or I do or whoever else and they buy these products thinking they're better it's just it's frustrating it you know, must make you angry to like and sad at the same time. You know that these these huge corporations just want to screw us, you know what I mean?

Loni Brown 25:03
Like, it's all about the money. And it's all about the marketing. They know. I mean, they know that consumers are way more conscious these days, they know, right, and so and there's a demand for better, healthier products. That's why there's a lot of truly, really good brands now that are really, you know, legit, and actually trying to create better healthier products. And they're seeing that, and they're taking away some of the business from these other, you know, traditional manufacturers and manufacturers are noticing this. And so they're like, Okay, we have to do our version, but they're not actually willing to, you know, put their dollars to actually create better products, it's all shortcuts. And I'm like, if they, if they spent the amount of money that they spend marketing, right, trying to trick us, if they just use those dollars to actually make better products, like the whole world would be better, but they don't, they just, it's all about the shortcuts, it's all about their profit margins. It's all about, you know, making money. And it's not about better products for the world, or for human beings. It's just sad.

Stephanie Moram 26:06
And you can see the price, right? So if I go buy organic sheets, right? Like here in Canada, it's sometimes hard to get organic sheets, like I really have to search for them versus like in the United States, there's a lot more companies that produce them. So I'm searching for it, and I see the price, okay. It's not cheap. But then you go to like, HomeSense or something, and they've got their organic sheets. I'm like, why is there such a big huge price difference? You know what I mean? And that's like, also a red flag. Like, why is it $30 for organic sheets here, but I'm gonna go to this company, and spend like, $200, and they're like, they're legit, like, I want to save the world type company, you know, like, where they sell only got certified products, they only sell bedding, they only sell like, the mattresses like, this is what they do. This is their wheelhouse, versus like home sand or like another company where we have organic sheets, and they're $20. And all these people are like, Wow, awesome. And it's like, I don't know, if they're actually organic. Think I'm like questioning that. Like, why is it like $20 or $40? For these sheets? Meanwhile, I'm payin $200 from this company, right? Like, it just it doesn't add up sometimes, you know, like, I get the whole thing. Maybe they're, they're ordering more sheets, so they can bring the price down. But to that difference, it's just so mind boggling to me. And since we're talking about like organic, can you quickly just maybe touch on like, the difference between like, organic versus non organic cotton? Like, why is it necessarily better?

Loni Brown 27:35
Yes. So cotton actually is the one crop that uses the most pesticides out of any other like crop that's produced and manufactured. So like, I think, I read a stat and it was like 25% of all the pesticides in the world get used for organic, I mean, sorry, for cotton. So with the so one with these pesticides, right, they are, not only are they bad, but not only do they get embedded in the actual cotton, so there's no way to like wash them away, it's in the manufacturing process itself, these pesticides or chemicals, and they just they go into our waterways, they go into our soil, they're just everywhere. So they're, it's really, really bad for the you know, for the planet. In general, the amount of pesticides that's used in cotton production. Also, non organic cotton also uses a lot more water in the manufacturing process. Because I guess, you know, the way that you have to manufacture cotton with all the pesticides and other chemicals involved, like you have to use a lot more water. So in general, organic cotton uses less water, it uses way less chemicals, and the actual manufacturing process. So in general, it's just it's better for us because again, when it's on your skin, and you have those chemicals and those pesticides and everything which is ingrained in the cotton, because it was in the actual manufacturing of the cotton, there's no way to get around it. And then in general, it's just a weak, more wasteful manufacturing process in general and, and worse for the environment in terms of all the chemicals that run off and forgot certified. It you know, it's not only just like, it's not just pesticides, I mean, they have and you can go on there, like the website, they have a list of all the things that cannot be used in the manufacturing of these products, not only the manufacturing, but even the putting together of the product. So like the, you know, when you cut and sew, and when you you know, put things together, the whole thing has to be certified to not use any other chemicals because sometimes maybe chemicals aren't used in the manufacturing, but it's used in the actual production once it gets to like the facility so that too, in terms of any kind of treatments or finishes or whatever, it all has to be certified and so there's just a lot of chemicals that get used across the whole process, including dyes, right dyes and coloring and all of those things and if anything's treated with like a stain remover or like there's a lot of fabric clothing that has like wrinkle free, though the market is like, oh wrinkle free, that wrinkle free was a chemical finish that was applied to the fabric in the manufacturing process. And so there's just a lot of other chemicals that that get introduced. And so for GOTS there's like a list of chemicals and dyes and all those things that just cannot be used at all in any stages of manufacturing.

Stephanie Moram 30:22
And I just wanted to add, like when Loni is touching on like organic cotton versus conventional cotton, like, it's also to think about the people working, like what they're exposed to, right. So if it's not good for us to sleep on, can you imagine the people that are touching the cotton, making the cotton like, it's also not good for them? You know, like, so it's like, you know, it's not good for the planet, and it's not good for the people, right? You know, we've had this conversation a lot, sometimes something that's good for the planet isn't good for the people, it's always good for people may not always be good for the planet, right? So I just feel like that's like, that's another conversation. But it's important to just, you know, throw out there, like, somebody is making these products. And they're touching it. And they're using the chemicals. And they're using all these things that we don't want on our bodies, but someone's using them out there. So it's the think of those people and also like, it's so true with the finishes, because you would see like, let's say, you're buying a t shirt, and like oh my gosh, you start getting a call. That's amazing. And then they have like some like sticker on it. And I'm like, I wonder if that's made of. I feel like that's probably like some like, chemically made thing you don't like when they put like stickers or something on your T shirts. But like, I love how board certified is like, no, no, no, no, no, that also needs to be yes. Non toxic. Yeah, so a lot of companies do that they buy like the organic cotton T shirts, and they sell them and then all the printing on it might not be so non toxic, right. And they don't have to be transparent about it if they want to the t shirt is not is organic, but they don't ever talk about the finishing. So that's why also I do like the GOT certified, because I know and people buying it know that the whole supply chain is being audited and made sure that this is the way it's supposed to be.

Loni Brown 32:07
Yeah, when they tell you, right, when I went through my own process of manufacturing my products, I mean, it was like the like the zipper, you know, and like not only the main, the main, you know, product, but like the little zipper and the stitching and the little the little like wash care label on the inside, you know, that shows you you know, that little label that says like, you know, wash cold water, like whatever, like even that little label on the inside has to be caught certified, right? Like the whole thing like every little piece.

Stephanie Moram 32:37
And I remember, I remember when you started that process, and you were like, I got, I think it was the pillows, you're like, I told them that we can't use that label. And you're like, I don't know what to do

Loni Brown 32:51
Only because it was evil, it was synthetic. So because again, GOT certified, they certify polyester, and they also certify some synthetic materials. So it's you know, if you're going to buy polyester, yeah, I want it to be bought certified, because at least even though polyester is a synthetic fabric, knowing that it went through that stringent certification process of just the pesticides and chemicals and the finishes and all that that's going to be better polyester, but my label was like a synthetic fabric, but it was got certified. And but I was like I don't want it I'm not a fan of anything synthetic in general. And so we actually went through this process of, of not putting those those labels, those wash care labels inside of my pillow that no one would really look at or touch or it's on the inside. So it's not like it would touch your skin and it was got certified, but just knowing that it was polyester and I'm not a fan of polyester in general, even even if it's GOT certified, it's better for you in the planet, but like I just I want natural, I don't like synthetic materials. But that was an experience you know, and we were able to find an organic cotton label and I paid a little more for it. But to me it was worth it. But yes, going through that whole process knowing that like every little stitch every little thing has to be certified in order to in order for the entire product to be certified.

Stephanie Moram 34:12
So outside of like organic cotton, what are some other natural fibers that people can look for?

Loni Brown 34:18
Yes, so I like wool. I like hemp. Hemp is great. There's some controversy around bamboo. But now there are there are some organizations that are certifying bamboo because bamboo is bamboo itself comes from a natural plant, obviously bamboo plant, but in order to get it to become a fabric, it needs to go through this like processing that needs to happen like I think it basically they take the bamboo and it like turns into like a type of gel and then they have to process it and then it has to like dry out and it becomes it becomes like yarn or like thread. Again, I think bamboo is a sustainable crop. A lot of times these these, these crops have to be shipped. So that's a whole other thing, right? Like if it can be grown locally versus if it can be grown, if it's grown overseas, but in general, like I, you know, I would go, I would go with bamboo over something that's just like purely synthetic like like nylon or something. But those are, those are typically my, my go twos in terms of like fabrics that I that I, look at.

Stephanie Moram 35:27
Yeah, and when it comes to bamboo, I've also been very skeptical thinking it's very labor intensive to take like a tree and all of a sudden, basically a lot of processing. Yeah. And then all of a sudden, it's like a fabric like, how did that happen? Is there like a magic wand? So I feel like it's way more labor intensive to do that. And also, you know, if it's not certified, I would assume like, I could be totally wrong here. But just because it's bamboo doesn't mean they're not like, using any sort of chemical in the finishing process, like on the finished product, you know, flame retardants and stuff like that either, right? They basically do whatever they want. So again, I would imagine it's kind of a form of greenwashing. They're like, Oh, buy bamboo, it's so amazing. You know, it's from a sustainable crop, yada yada yada. But what are they putting on the finished product? And so I love that maybe companies are least coming out and certifying it. Is there a GOT certification for bamboo yet?

Loni Brown 36:19
So no, no, but um, but I look at there are there is bamboo that is eco Tex certified. And this is a certification for textiles in general. So they will certify leather and, you know, all kinds of fabrics and what that and there's like they have their eco tex 100. And that's just like a list of 100 kind of chemicals, finishes, dyes, treatments, and the really harsh harmful ones that are like known to cause cancer known to cause birth defects and all the things right, none of those can be used in the manufacturing process. So if I was going to buy something that was like, maybe a synthetic fabric and it wasn't like organic cotton for example, I'm at least going to look for the bare minimum this eco texts certification because this is going to be your, your like nylon or polyester and your leather and your bamboo and you know, some of these other fabrics. Even just non organic cotton can have an eco tex certification, that's kind of like that next step down is like, okay, can't afford organic or certified gods or whatever. But then eco Tex is another really good one. Because you know, that like these 100 Like, really, really bad chemicals were not

Stephanie Moram 37:35
used. Okay, that's really good to know. So for those people that are kind of, like, in between, right, like, I want to do better, but my budget isn't allowing it right now. So they have that like middle ground, right?

Loni Brown 37:45
Yeah, exactly. And it's in their Ico text. It's like I think it's like 20 different institutes that like are involved in their this like certification process. So it's a lot I mean, it's truly third party, and they're not backed by like, you know, some of these certifications that are out there they're they're just a joke because they're like certifications by the manufacturers themselves. And I'm like, I don't trust that like you're certifying yourself right, like you created this certification to look good. But like this is one Ico Texas one where it's literally like, you know, set like I think it's like close to 20 Institute's that are like in Europe which Europe has like the highest standards when it comes to toxins and chemicals and substances and things and so there's like some Yeah, there are these Institute's are like a part of Europe and Asia and some other places and so it's a good one to look at as like a bare minimum. And there are I mean, you can find a lot of eco tech certified things now it's you can find it everywhere like even just that like the regular big chain stores now for like pretty affordable. So that that would be like my bare minimum if I was going to buy like bamboo sheets or any kind of like synthetic other sheets, I would look for that at least.

Stephanie Moram 38:55
So we're coming to an end. But we have to do this conversation again because I had like other questions I wanted to ask you and obviously did not get to them. But so for the listeners, where can people find you? Your website social media, and you you know you mentioned you had created some of your own products. So maybe you could just kind of touch on that briefly.

Loni Brown 39:16
Sure. Thank you. So I am at entirely eco on social so on Facebook and on Instagram. I also have another brand that's a little bit newer. It's called wholesome nest and I'm also I have that on on Instagram as well. And wholesomeness is really tailored to baby things. So it's all about babies. It's all about nurseries, it's all about the baby stuff. And entirely it goes broader. So it's the whole home. So it's just I kind of separated those two brands because I have again I have like men that shop and entirely eco and so they don't want to see all the baby stuff. So I have two separate websites and two separate social media so I can really go to town on all my baby things. But entirely eco is my store and so that's where I sell certified organic home products. So bedding like mattresses, pillows, oh, I just remembered like one of the other natural fibers are really like it's Kpop I think I mentioned it earlier. But Kpop is another it's kind of like cotton, and you can get it you can get it certified too. But it's another really good material for mattresses and pillows. But yeah, I saw lots of Kpop on my site, bath towels, you know, rugs and things like that. So that's entirely eco. And then I did watch my own line, which I'm really excited about. And I'm it's our signature line. And so it's the the name of it is sanest, it's S A N U S, and it'll be you'll be able to get it from my my entirelyeco.com site. And it is our we were first launching with a line of decorative pillows, and I'm an interior designer. And so when it comes to buying more eco friendly certified organic products like pink, like decorative pillows, and blankets and things like that, a lot of the industry is typically looks the same, it's a lot of those earthy tones, which is great, because that kind of matches the style of like sustainable and eco friendly, a lot of people like those earthy colors and earthy tones. And for the longest time, you really had to go with more natural colors from the actual from nature, because the dyes are so toxic, but there's been a lot of innovation around dyes. And so now you could get actually colorful things. And so I want it because a lot of the and I'm a designer and I have a lot of other designers reach out to me, they're like I really want to do non toxic homes and more eco friendly homes, but everything is the same color. They're all like earthy beiges and grays and, you know, like neutral greens and things. And they're like, can we just get some fun color. And so that's what my line is about. It's certified GOTS organic, the entire product, every little stitch is certified GOTS organic, but it's so colorful, we have yellows, and reds and blues and greens and purples and pinks. And so that's kind of the journey that I'm going down as to to allow designers to really add pops of color into their designs and not have to have that same earthy tone look, which is a very great look and style, but it's not for everyone. And so I really want to make it a little bit more mainstream, where people can have fun with color.

Stephanie Moram 42:19
And I also, I was gonna say I also think a lot of like, you know, teens or tweens, you know, okay, great brown, green, but I'd like some pink or they want some orange. So that just, you know, opens up that door for them to have sustainable products, but also have the colors that they like. Right, exactly,

Loni Brown 42:37
Exactly. So that's SANUS. And we'll be we'll be dropping that this spring and we have some fun colors. And SANUS actually stands for healthy and Latin. So that's kind of how we came up with that.

Stephanie Moram 42:48
Oh, I love that. Well, thank you so much for being here. I really, really appreciate it. It's been a great conversation. We're gonna have to do this again. So thank you, Loni, for being here. Again, I appreciate it. Thank you so much. You're very welcome. So for more green living and non toxic information, can listen to my other episodes, including episode 27 eco guilt, just number Episode 20, which is six ways to detox your home. And episode nine. How to reuse what you already have. Stay connected with me on Instagram at Green Junkie podcast. And don't forget to subscribe to the Green Junkie podcast on the platform you're listening. If you're curious about zero waste, living sustainable fashion, or wondering how to read food cleaning and product labels, I've got you covered for direct access to me your green living expert, click the link in the show notes where you can ask me questions and get a customized plan on how you can live a greener like hop on a one on one call with me or you can ask me your questions via email. If Zoom is not your thing. I will be your personal hashtag green Google and you can pick my brain. Thank you for listening and I'll see you next Tuesday Green Junkie.