How I Use Honest In My Home

It's true.... you can't walk 4 feet in my house without running into an Honest Company product or two. What started as an interest has turned into a full on obsession! Not only are these products cute but I swear they've been helping with my asthma when it comes to cleaning and laundry. 

If you've read my earlier blog posts, you know why I love the shampoo and the vitamins. But I wanted to take a second and go over what products I use to keep my house clean and healthy for my family, dogs, and myself. 

My #1 FAVORITE product is the Bathroom Cleaner! It really cuts through tough junk in the shower and sink, not to mention it smells amazing. When I was just a few weeks pregnant I got into this whole spring cleaning phase and went to town on the house making sure I scrubbed every surface I could think of. I bought a name brand bathtub cleaner at a grocery store and followed the directions and basically sprayed the heck out of our tub. The next thing I know I got super dizzy, could barely stand up, and noticed my nose was bleeding! (I never get nose bleeds, so this scared me) I ran out of the room and shut the door with the window open and fan running. After a few hours I went back in and washed down the strong cleaning solution.... and it had basically done nothing. I didn't scrub it or anything, but I figured since it was strong enough to burn my nose it would be string enough to cut through some dirt and soap scum. Nope. So I gave up for a few days and then went back in with the Honest Co Bathroom Cleaner. To be honest (excuse the pun) this was one of my first experiences with their products so I wasn't expecting much from the "plant based" cleaner. I mean that just sounds wimpy.... but I'll be darned! It works soooo much better than the toxic crap I used before. Without hardly any pressure I  was able to wipe away all the grime. I moved on to the counter top and same thing! Worked like magic! It even did an amazing job on the mirrors, just as good if not better than traditional glass cleaner. 

My 2nd favorite... The yummy smelling grapefruit dish soap. My hubby and I made an agreement that I would take care of whatever he wants as long as he does the dishes... so I haven't had too much experience with the soap myself, but he loves it! It makes the kitchen smell nice and I have found a ton of other uses for it. I mixed some in with some vinegar and water and washed my wood cabinets before I polished them.... that worked awesome! And just last night I mixed 2 parts dish soap with 1 part olive oil in a dish and used it as a solution to wash my makeup brushes! Ok, so I stole that one from Pinterest... but it worked amazing and the Honest dish soap made the brushes smell nice and clean. 

Onto the last product I will be reviewing in today's post... well it's actually a tie for 3rd place. Drum roll... The Honest Co Laundry Detergent and Oxy Boost Packs! I have to admit, this was a hard switch for me. My doctor had been telling me to switch to a "free and clear" detergent for a long time, but I just couldn't give up my strong smelling traditional detergent. In fact, the one I used to use had like extra scent power to it. So when I just bought the detergent and used it for the first time I missed that chemical smell of mountain breeze or whatever it was supposed to be... but after a while I when i would smell my parents clean clothes or wash something at my in law's house with their soap I realized that those smells are really overwhelming and were giving me a headache! But now, with no more cover up scent.... Troy's (my hubby's) work clothes weren't smelling all that great because he's a mechanic and gets oil and whatever else on this work clothes and they smell like a gas station. So I ordered my first bag of the Oxy Boost Packs and just like magic it fixed the smell problem. So now all of us can enjoy using a toxin free, safe, and healthy laundry detergent. In fact, that reminds me.... I need to go fold that toxin free laundry now. 

I've slowly been stocking up on diapers for my little Tara... so I can't wait till she gets here and I can review those! And boy do they come in such cute designs! 

If you're interested in checking out the Honest Co and want to see what all my fuss is about, CLICK HERE.

Love Always, 

Scarlett

Why I Love The Honest Company Prenatal!

From my last post, you can probably get that I am completely obsessed with The Honest Company! There are so many things I love about the company who's co founded by Jessica Alba. All of the products are made with high quality and are beautifully designed! I love having these cute products all over my house!

One of my favorite products from the line is the Prenatal One A Day Vitamin! 

Pros:

1. They are Doctor approved!... Well at least by my OB dr! When I brought the bottle into my first appointment my doctor almost looked shocked when she reviewed the nutrients list... she said she was impressed with the fact that they added probiotics to the vitamin and that there was a really good amount of folic acid! But not just regular folic acid form, it's the L-Methylfolate form which is the most bioavailable form of folic acid and enhances the absorption.

2. Free of toxic binders, fillers,allergens, synthetic additives, pesticides, and contaminants!

3. Ginger is added to help soothe the tummy.

4. Comes is a super cute and stylish glass bottle, I swear they have the best packaging. 

5. Can have it delivered right to your door automatically, so you never run out.

6. Pretty easy to swallow, I believe the pill is Vanilla coated.

Cons:

1. The pills are pretty big.... but every prenatal vitamin seems to be. 

2. I wish you could get it in a larger quantity, like 90 pills so you can order it less. 

I am also taking The Honest Company DHA/Omega-3 Baby Safe Formula 

Pros:

1. Also Dr approved! My doctor reviewed this and gave it two big thumbs up! She says it's really important to take a DHA/Omega-3 that is baby safe because that means that they used a high quality fish oil that is not high in mercury. 

2. Small and easy to swallow.

3. Taste and smell free! Yay! I normally hate the way fish oil pills smell. 

4. Molecularly distilled which eliminates impurities, allergens, mercury, and toxins.

5. Also comes in a stylish glass bottle.

Cons:

None that I can think of.....

I have been taking these for about a month and a half now, I have not noticed any difference in my nails or hair 

An Honest, Honest Company Shampoo and Conditioner Review!

I will admit... I am OBSESSED with The Honest Company. (see website here)

I have tried switching over to all of their products and I have been very very impressed!

Today's review will be on The Honest Company Shampoo and Conditioner! 

Ever since we decided we wanted to have a baby, I started looking into the best ways to take care of myself while I was growing our little one. And I was shocked to find out that there are so many products that are toxic for mom-to-be's to use! And one of those dangerous products I was using daily! It was Head and Shoulders shampoo! One of the main ingredients is Selenium Sulfide and although I'm sure there are thousands of women who have used this while they were pregnant and their babies are just fine... I didn't want to take the chance after reading about the chemical on this website. 

So I made the switch to The Honest Company Shampoo and Conditioner after looking into the ingredient list, fellow mommy reviews, and The Skin Deep Database . The shampoo only rated a 1 out of 10 (10 being the worst) on the Skin Deep Database, which means its been rated very low for any toxic hazard! 

Now that we know this product is pretty dang safe... I'll move on to my review of the product itself.

Pros:

1. It smells AMAZING! The scent is Sweet Orange Vanilla and I've never smelled such a yummy shampoo before! 

2. The bottle is super cute and I love that all of their products are packaged so beautifully. 

3. The shampoo really makes your hair feel cleansed. In a weird way the shampoo almost seems to be kinda "harsh" for lack of a better word and it really feels like it's doing a good job at getting the crud out of you locks!

4. The conditioner is to die for! I have never used such an amazing conditioner before! It leaves my hair feeling so soft and healthy! It makes blow drying a a pleasure because it comes out looking so shiny and silky. 

5. They also sell a matching leave in conditioning detangler spray with the yummy Sweet Orange Vanilla smell! it has proven to be pretty light weight and does help a lot with detangling.

6. The shampoo is hypoallergenic and tear-free.

7. Safe to use on color treated hair.

8. Everyone in our family can use this product... so no need to buy everyone something different anymore! 

Cons:

1. The cost - each bottle is only 8.5 fl. oz. and each bottle costs around $10 at Target! Yikes! It's also around that price online as well. I've seen that there are huge bottles of the shampoo for sale at Costco, but since I don't have a Costco Card, I'm not sure how much it goes for there. But there is a trick to the cost, if you sign up for the monthly bundle at Honest.com you can pick out 5 products for $35 and it gets shipped to you right away! That is a much better deal and that's how I can afford it!

2. The shampoo is difficult to rub into the scalp, since it's an all natural and plant based product, it's not as sudsy as regular shampoo. But you just have to work a little harder to rub it in.

3. It reminds me a little of "Wen Shampoo" in the sense that it doesn't seem to strip your hair of natural oils.... which it great! But this is definitely not a "skip a day or two" type of shampoo. I found that I need to wash my hair every day when using this product because by the middle of the second day, my hair gets really greasy and honestly a little "earthy" smelling. I know... TMI. 

Use on Pets:

Okay, so I wanted to make this a whole separate thing since I don't want to say this is a pro then find out it's actually a bad idea.... but, we've used the shampoo on our dogs a few times! Our dog Buddy has terrible skin rash issues and I thought I should give this shampoo a shot for him since it's hypoallergenic. And so far so good! Our dog Penny had no reactions what so ever, which I expected and it did leave her smelling and looking clean. As for Buddy, he still has a little bit of a rash on his belly, but I don't think it was caused by the shampoo, I'm pretty sure he's allergic to grass or to a plant that we have outside. But the shampoo definitely did not irritate the rash further, so I think I'm going to keep trying this with Buddy!

Final Rating:

I'm gonna give the shampoo, conditioner, and leave in one big score as a set.

I give it an 8.5/10! 

Overall I'm very pleased with this product and plan on continuing using it all the way through my pregnancy and on our little one after he or she is born!

Let me know if you have any questions about the review or the Honest Company in general... The next review I will be doing is on the prenatal vitamins, so stay tuned!

Love Always,

Scarlett

Baby On The Way!

I am sooooo excited! I can't even believe it! We have a baby on the way! I am only 5 weeks along, but I couldn't wait one minute longer to tell all of our friends and family! This has really inspired me to start blogging again to document the pregnancy and share what it's like getting ready for baby!

I plan to post bump updates, product reviews, and use the blog to stay motivated to stay fashionable during the pregnancy. 

Troy and I are both hoping for a baby boy, since it would be nice to take a break from all of the pink and princess that is in my life! But anyone who knows me knows that having a girl would be so much fun for me as well! 

It would be my honor if you would join me along my journey to becoming a mommy! So keep posted and let me know if you have any requests for my blog!

Love Always,

Scarlett