Kirstie's curse on the cult of cleanliness: plug-in air fresheners that pump toxic chemicals ...

Kirstie's Curse on the Cult of Cleanliness: Clog deodorants that pump toxic chemicals into the air, housewives cleaning surfaces, and even their hands in bleach.

By Kirstie Allsopp for the Daily Mail

Posted : 22h17 CET, May 10, 2019 | Last update: May 1, 2019

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I'll put half a lemon in the dishwasher if I want my house to smell good, and I've banned plastic containers with hand soap. I remember that surgeons wash their hands with hot soapy water.

As a person who spends a lot of time looking into the homes of others, I was not sure if it was always possible to be surprised by them.

But what I discovered this week blew me away.

This of course started on Twitter when I tweeted on Monday and repeated my conviction that the complement of air fresheners was wrong at all levels.

Like millions of people, I've always hated things. They gave me a headache and when I was pregnant it was even worse.

I can not even see the houses they have, the crew has to go first and get rid of them all!

I have discretely struggled for years, but lately I have noticed more and more things.

With news like this week's UN report warning us of the damage we are doing to the planet, I've talked more about it.

Any disposable plastic should be questioned, and a disposable item that needs high-quality electricity to pump chemicals into our home should sound the alarm.

Some people responded to my tweet by saying, "I use Zoflora rather, a little on its radiator."

Zoflora (a concentrated antibacterial disinfectant with a sweet smell) was new to me, though I like the name and it sounded organic.

Then I slipped into the rabbit hole and found myself at the hat maker's tea party, where the entire surface is disinfected and the "clean influencers" are pushing and selling the fear of bacteria in the home. Like Alice, I look around helplessly.

As I did not know fashion for various people who give cleaning tips on the internet and Instagram, I'm overwhelmed. What surprised me, however, was the obvious lack of environmental awareness in many of these tips.

Not only that, it also seems that we swallow the marketing myth, the hook and the leash that our homes, clothing and pets are a threat to us.

Whether it's advertising claiming to kill 99.9% of the bacteria or affecting your child's highchair, you're worried if you, horror, have used the same cloth to clean these messages off the kitchen table our psyche infiltrates and that makes me angry.

As a person who spends a lot of time looking into the homes of others, I was not sure if it was always possible to be surprised by them. But what I discovered this week has amazed me.

Well, I do not belong to the women who live next to the fridge magnet mantra "only boring women have clean houses", and among my friends and family I know that I'm a bit neurotic about the request.

I am very aware of the cleanliness and spent the last weekend in the attic of our Devon home dusting, vacuuming and cleaning my house. dress up Like many women working outside the home, I can not wait to get back into conversation when I come back.

But this obsession with eliminating all germs is just a marketing problem that aggravates the guilt of working mothers. The products penetrate our water and destroy the ocean.

It seems that all the aerosols that are so generously applied (which harms pets and children much more than I spread cat hair) come in plastic containers.

While these can be recycled, they are rarely made from recycled products, and the strongest ones do not offer refills, as do brands like Ecover and Ocean Saver.

One woman wrote to me on Twitter that she put a cup of disinfectant into her bathroom every night and another woman said she washes her hands at least once a day with bleach. What do these people think about them? [File photo]

Several studies have shown a link between cleaning chemicals and lung damage from inhaling small, vaporized particles.

Many even say, "Keep it away from children and animals" in the pack and Zoflora is flammable in its undiluted form. When I grew up, there was no antibacterial spray.

My mother-in-law is 89 years old and does not take it either from me or from my mother, despite a weakened by cancer and his treatments immune system.

For the past 25 years, he has had at least three or four chemotherapy treatments. He never dipped his home into chemical products, but preferred to be more careful than usual and to ask someone with colds or coughs to stay away.

So how do we get to a place where people are more afraid of being killed by germs than global warming?

One woman wrote to me on Twitter that she put a cup of disinfectant into her bathroom every night and another woman said she washes her hands at least once a day with bleach.

What do these people think about them? The only time you need to wash your hands is after going to the toilet, before eating, and when you have taken dog feces.

I'm fortunate to have a good laundry room with a shelf for cleaning products, but these are made from organic products like baking soda and vinegar.

I'll put half a lemon in the dishwasher if I want my house to smell good, and I've banned plastic containers with hand soap.

Instead, I remember the surgeons who washed their hands with hot soapy water.

So I ask all influential people, especially young people, to denounce these toxic chemicals by relying too much on plastic. If you do not put it in your aquarium, do not throw it in the sewer.

And please do not wash your hands with bleach!

I am very aware of my cleanliness and spent the last weekend in the attic of our Devon house wiping, vacuuming and tidying my house. dress up Like many women who work outside the home, I can not wait to return to the conversation on my return [File photo]

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