Question from Bohdan Lychacz

Staples is a large chain in Canada selling business supplies.

Just recently they started piping in fragrance throughout the store. Here is the response to my letter of concern.

I want your readers to know that yesterday I sent my husband into Staples ahead of me into the store to check for the fragrance they had vented in. He gave me the all clear.

The sickening fragrance was no longer in the air.

I hope this is a permanent decision on their part.

I am heartened by their decision to suspend the air fragrance.

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Question from Juliee

Debra, I read some of your articles re: chlorine. I swim 3 X a week. Before going into the outdoor pool, I cover myself w/ Coconut oil. When I get out, I pour a bottle of H2o over me that has 1000 mg of Vit C dissolved in it. I then go into the sauna from 15-30 min. I really am trying to get rid of any chlorine that I have absorbed while swimming. Am I wasting my time doing this routine?

Debra’s Answer

We discussed this in 2007 at Q&A: How to minimize risk from swimming in chlorinated pool.

I just was searching about this and came across a useless article that gave ste-by-step instructions for removing chlorine from your body after swimming with soap and water.

Chlorine is immediately absorbed through your skin on contact, so there is no way to remove it after the fact, you need to apply a barrier, like you are doing with coconut oil. I don’t know how effective that is, but it would be better than nothing.

There is a field called “toxicokinetics” that is the description of what rate a chemical will enter the body and what happens to it once it is in the body. It’s very useful stuff to know. You can seach on “toxicokinetics” and the name of the chemical to get this information online. Unfortunately, it isn’t always available or complete.

I searched on “toxicokinetics chlorine” and found that there wasn’t anything on the effects of chlorine in your body when absorbed through the skin, only when inhaled. So I’ll tell you when it is inhaled, it basically is absorbed into the body through the airways. The distribution, metabolism, and excretion of chlorine is determined by how it reacts in one’s individual body.

The purpose of chlorine is to kill micro-organisms. It doesn’t care if those micro-organisms are in the pool or in your body, and it also doesn’t know which are harmful and which are beneficial. It just kills them all. So it’s best to keep chlorine out of your body as best you can. I imagine it would leave your body fairly quickly as it is a gas. It’s not something your body would store.

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Question from Susan

Hello Debra, Do you have any suggestions to find a mold-resistant shower curtain that is not vinyl? And if it has to be vinyl perhaps a less toxic version?

Thank you, Susan

Debra’s Answer

I know all about this, having been through this problem myself with cotton shower curtains molding.

I’m told hemp shower curtains do not mold.

You can get shower curtains made from nontoxic EVA plastic at IKEA stores (not online) very cheap (I think it’s something like $3) or online at Vita Future

Nylon shower curtains are also nontoxic and don’t mold.

But what I did was just install glass shower doors, which cost less than $100 at Home Depot and Lowe’s. Much nicer than a curtain and mold-free.

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Question from Christie Fairman

I never knew that even the picture frames in our homes have chemicals that can offgass. There is a new labeling system for “formaldyhyde compliant” with a phase number. I have looked everywhere for solid wood frames. But, mostly I kept finding the toxic picture frames. I am also trying to slowly replace items in my home.

Debra’s Answer

First I want to explain “formaldehyde compliant”.

The statement is “California 93120 compliant for formaldehyde” and it means that the amount of formaldehyde offgassing from the product at 73 degrees in a room that has one air exchange per hour will be at or below the California standard.

This standard was set up in California after a 2009 study showed that 98 percent of the homes tested exceeded the recommended formaldehyde limit established by the state, and the typical home exceeded the limit by four times.

But being formaldehyde compliant does not mean that the product is safe. This is based on meeting the standard when the temperature is 73 degrees and there is one air exchange per hour.

This means all the air in the room is replaced by new outside air every hour. Is that the case in your home? Keep in mind that when you are using your HVAC for heating or cooling, it probably is recycling the air to preserve the heat or coolness.

It also means that the air needs to be at 73 for compliance. The reate of offgassing doubles with every 10 degrees of temperature.

Wondering why we now have all these fragrances on products and in stores? It’s because scent makes shoppers buy more.

“It basically enhances the environment for a first great impression,” says Biondi, whose company serves everyone from Express clothing to Mandalay Bay Resorts. Retailers, hotels, and even car makers use scents, he says, to evoke certain moods that will make customers happier with the brand.

“It’s very subtle,” he says. “When it’s done best, it’s not overwhelming, just enough for someone to look around and say, ‘It really smells nice.'”

It’s well known in marketing circles: Scents can have a powerful effect on consumer behaviour. After sound, scent is the second most powerful sense, experts say, and the only one of our five that bypasses the rational part of our brain to tap directly into our emotions. By spraying the right molecules into the air — into their merchandise, or even onto their letterhead — companies can make customers feel relaxed, energized, safe, young or sexy.

Read more at ABC News: Smells Like Profit: Scents in Stores, on Products, Makes Shoppers Buy More

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Question from Rebecca

About safe (safer) hair coloring: I worked with a somewhat organic/safer hair colorist for the last several years who gave me blonde highlights (my hair is dark blonde naturally with some greying on top). She is no longer available….so on the search for a new person AND a safer hair product. I see there are now a number of hair-color products on WFoods shelves, etc, that claim to be less toxic (no ammonia, resorcinol, etc.) Can anyone recommend a hair coloring product, esp if you go “blonde highlights”, which has worked reasonably well for you? I’m also very scent-sensitive with MCS, so have to take great care. Thanks much!

Debra’s Answer

Readers? Your experience?

My suggestion would be to find the new hairdresser and discuss this with him or her, as they are responsible for the outcome. They also will want to work with professional products and not an off-the-shelf product designed for home use.

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