Detox Your Home With Christine Dimmick’s Insights
The Good Home Company founder and author on elevating wellness in your personal sanctuary
Since 1995 Christine Dimmick has been delivering on her mission of creating a healthier home. Today the founder and CEO of The Good Home Company offer a range of cleaning, scents, gifts and more—including her latest book—has a mission that’s two-fold with her new book “Detox Your Home“— she want to educate people about the products we use, wear and surround ourselves with, but she also wants to empower readers to make these important choices by being informed about ingredients, manufacturing and more. From detergents to toothpastes, cookware, food, cellphones and fast-fashion, there are decisions to be made that touch us, our families, other people, the planet and our own health. We spoke with Dimmick recently about the mistakes, misconceptions and misadventures we all face every single day and what we can do to be a little more mindful when making decisions about what we live with.
While you discuss skin/hair/body products that go onto our bodies, the deep dive in your book is into products many might not consider when thinking about wellness—did you feel there was a lack of interest in those areas? Or was it a lack of information?
Definitely a lack of information. Nearly everything discussed in the book has longterm health effects that are built up with daily exposure. You do not immediately see the harmful effects until you wake up one morning, years later, with a fertility issue, auto immune disorder or worst case scenario: cancer. With electronics and furniture—you can’t smell the off-gassing or see the RF waves—you can’t possibly conceive what harm it is causing until the harm has been caused. Unless you take the time to do the research you would have no way of knowing the potential harms as there are no warning labels.
What do you feel might be the most common misconception about healthy home products? Is there one (or two) that—if nothing else—you want to clear up for your readers?
The vegan symbol is a good example as it has a lot of misconceptions. A product that is certified vegan means an animal was not harmed to make it, and that it does not contain any animal by-products and was not tested on animals. It does not mean however, that it is chemical-free, organic or healthy. Many vegan beauty products contain chemical ingredients and dyes that are harmful to us and/or are petroleum-based. That isn’t to say there aren’t healthy vegan products, unfortunately many manufacturers take advantage of consumers preconceived ideas regarding words and labels—”natural” is another word used on products with very broad terminology.
Good health is your birthright
Other than the obvious health benefits surrounding your guide and ideas, are there other happy incidental results that your readers are especially pleased by? If so, can you tell us about some of them?
Awareness. The most common response I get is “I had no idea.” After reading the book, you will have a definite awareness of what is inside the products you use.
The positive effects of good health cannot be emphasized enough. Good health is your birthright. Once you eliminate many of the issues you are unknowingly exposed to and regain your health—your life changes. Which leads to empowerment. But first you need to be aware.
Ultimately, what do you want readers to take away from your book—in terms of knowledge and also attitude?
Empowerment. I am an advocate for consumer awareness. Like smoking—we can choose to do it or not, however we should know that it may give us cancer or emphysema. If everything was labeled properly, showing its long term effects on our health and our ecosystem, we would have a much healthier population and planet.
Images courtesy of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers and The Good Home Company
