She Unfollowed Me.
Then She Came Back.
A follower messaged me recently and said: "I unfollowed you about a year ago... I thought you were turning your back on the low tox community."
She shared that it felt like I was "selling out" because I had started including brands and products she assumed were toxic or not good enough. In her eyes, I wasn't crunchy enough anymore.
But here's the beautiful part:
She told me she had since started digging into the actual science behind the ingredients she always heard to avoid. She asked hard questions to brands. She looked for testing data. She learned how dose, formulation, and sourcing all matter.
And slowly, her black-and-white view of "toxic vs. clean" began to shift.
She realized some of the "mainstream" brands actually had better-tested, safer options than some of the buzzy clean ones.
She realized that fear sells, and a lot of influencers (even well-meaning ones) just repeat what they hear without reading the research.
And then she re-followed me.
She apologized. And she thanked me for the way I've approached this space.
Her message meant the world to me.
Because here's the truth I keep coming back to (and keep repeating lately):
Low tox living is a spectrum, not a scorecard.
It's not about perfection. It's not about gatekeeping.
And it's definitely not about shaming people into buying $22 deodorant or $1500 air purifiers or a whole grass fed and finished regenerative farmed cow.
It's about reducing our toxic load where we can.
It's about learning, asking questions, and staying open.
It's about doing the best we can for our families, our budgets, and our peace of mind.
If that means you still use mainstream dry shampoo and Chick-fil-A? Cool.
If that means you're DIY-ing your own magnesium spray? Also cool.
If that means you're choosing a budget-friendly brand that's not 100% "clean" but is safer, lower tox, and works? Amazing.
You don't owe anyone purity. You owe yourself balance, truth, and peace.
So whether you're deep in the crunchy life or just dipping your toes in:
You are welcome here.
You are seen.
And you don't have to be perfect to belong.
Maybe you still think I've turned my back on the low tox movement... That I'm not crunchy enough. That I'm wishy-washy. Or a hypocrite.
But I promise you, that's not the case.
What did happen?
Life. Life humbled me.
It forced me to sit with the uncomfortable truth that nuance exists: in low tox living, in motherhood, in health, in everything.
Maybe your standards need to be tougher than mine. That's okay.
But I've made it my mission for this page to be a space where everyone can find something — no matter where you are on this journey.
From budget-conscious swap posts... To personal stories of medical trauma, grief, and healing...
You're welcome here. Even if you're not doing it all
Even if your cart has both organic strawberries and a pack of goldfish crackers.
If want you to learn how to make "better" swaps, I want to give you the education to arm you to make the good, better, or best choice for your family in this season... but one thing I refuse to do anymore is shame someone that isn't doing it perfectly.
Yes, some ingredients are worth avoiding.
Yes, you can still choose to skip things like synthetic fragrance (I often do!).
But that doesn't mean every single product that isn't perfectly "clean" is automatically harmful. Sometimes even the brands we label "mainstream and toxic" have one or two truly low-tox gems in their lineup. And sometimes the "clean" brands have questionable ingredients too.
So let's keep learning. Let's stay curious. Let's make informed choices, not fear-based ones. And most importantly, let's not turn this lifestyle into a competition.
