Natural Haven, a Santa Barbara-based company, is dedicated to helping families create low-tox homes that prioritize health and wellness, particularly for vulnerable populations such as babies, children, and the elderly.
With the mission of transforming homes into safe havens, Natural Haven offers personalized consultations to identify and replace harmful household products with safer alternatives. Founder Karen Bloom combines her background as a consumer protection lawyer with her personal journey of overcoming chronic illness to guide families through detoxifying their living environments.
Natural Haven is making it simpler than ever for families to spring clean their homes while making mindful choices that benefit both personal health and the planet. Empowering families to reclaim their spaces and protect their well-being.
What makes spring a good time to consider a home detox?
With its warm weather, increased sunlight and theme of renewal, Spring is a natural time to clean your home. It is also the perfect opportunity to introduce natural cleaning products into your cleaning supplies and swap out the conventional, chemical-filled cleaners that you may be using. Good old-fashioned vinegar, baking soda, castile soap, etc. (all the things that your grandmother used!) will get your house sparkling clean and toxin-free.
Conventional cleaning products are often deceptively marketed with “greenwashing” and instead of helping you create a healthier home, they can actually do the opposite by filling your indoor air with caustic chemicals and synthetic fragrances. Unfortunately, these toxins can contribute to respiratory issues in the short-term and create adverse health risks in the long-term.
It is also a great idea to incorporate a deep clean into your Spring Cleaning. Open the windows and doors! Clean those crevices where the dust has built up (often where toxins have collected into that dust). It will do wonders for your health and your home will feel bigger and lighter.
Why is it important to seek out non-toxic products for the home?
Just like eating well and exercising regularly support your health, so does creating a healthy living environment. Many everyday products contain chemicals that we ingest, breathe in, or absorb through our skin, all of which can harm our health by increasing the risk of chronic conditions like asthma, allergies, cancer, fertility issues, autoimmune disorders, and hormone imbalances linked to toxic substances. Filling your home with non-toxic products is important because it reduces your family’s exposure to the harmful chemicals that are hidden in everyday items. It can be especially important to do if you have children, pregnant women, and pets, in your home as they are particularly sensitive to environmental toxins.
Purchasing non-toxic home goods and decor will help purify your indoor air quality, among other things. The EPA has found that indoor levels of the most common organic pollutants can be 2 to 5 times higher than outdoors, due to all that we bring in through our products and activities. We spend the majority of our time indoors so improving air quality and reducing chemical exposure is vital.
Lastly, another important big-picture benefit is that non-toxic products are typically better for the environment, as they tend to be made with sustainable materials and have a less harmful impact on the environment during their manufacturing and disposal. This reduces the long-term accumulation of harmful chemicals in our ecosystems.
What are some sneaky ways that consumers may not realize they're letting toxins into their homes?
We are bombarded with a myriad of chemicals every day - most of which have never been tested for human toxicity - and many of them find their ways into our homes from the everyday household items that families unsuspectingly buy. For instance, conventional mattresses, couches, and rugs are often filled with foam and plastic that release formaldehyde and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the air. Formaldehyde is a carcinogen and VOCs contribute to poor indoor air quality. These furniture items are often coated in fire-retardants and stain-resistant chemicals as well. While a convenient feature to have, stain resistance is provided by PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down easily in the environment or the human body. PFAS can be absorbed into your skin can cause neurological deficits, fertility issues, immune suppression, and cancer.
Without realizing it, so many people are unwittingly filling their homes with substances that can cause health issues. My clients are typically most surprised by the fact that baby products, which parents typically assume are safe for their little ones, often contain a myriad of toxins, such as BPA, phthalates, flame retardants and formaldehyde. Products such as baby bottles, cribs, car seats, and toys often contain toxins that can cause developmental delays, respiratory issues, to name a few. Babies are especially vulnerable to these toxins, as they are smaller and still developing. It’s incredibly important for parents to choose safe alternatives that will nurture their baby’s development, such as organic cotton clothing, untreated wooden toys, glass baby bottles, and flame-retardant-free furniture, to create a healthier, toxin-free environment for their little ones.
Where can families look for recommendations that are trustworthy as they look for non-toxic alternatives?
Through my company, Natural Haven, I provide personalized consultations to help families cut through anxiety-producing greenwashing and create safe, healthy living spaces where their families can thrive. As part of my service offerings, I conduct in-home and virtual assessments of the products in clients’ homes, identify “problematic” products that I recommend swapping out and provide product suggestions of safer alternatives. I offer a complimentary initial consultation, which can be booked here. My website, www.naturalhavensb.
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