4 Tips for Limiting Clothing Toxicity

Hello, tender friends!

As I shared in my last post, I’m taking down the sacred cow of decluttering: my closet. (Cue Eminem singing, “I never meant to make you cry but tonight I’m cleaning out my closet.” And yes, I sang this to myself while cleaning).

Anyhow, while I’ve always believed that the Lord cares about the most minute details of our lives, giving control to God over my closet still felt weird.

Lord, clothe me, I keep praying.

As I gathered clothes for donation, I realized that they all contained synthetic fibers: polyester, nylon, spandex, etc. Suddenly I couldn’t stand polyester anymore.

What can I say? Decluttering changes you in unexpected ways, and I’m here for the ride.

I knew that clothing toxicity was a real thing, but the truth is that you can only focus on healing so much at a time. Microplastics from clothing are small enough to get into our lungs and pose a real health risk because we have more of in our bloodstream than ever before.

But I thought it would be too expensive to buy all natural clothing. Of course I wish my wardrobe was entirely comprised of those materials, but that just doesn’t seem that practical.

But I am committed to weeding synthetic fibers out of my wardrobe over time and purchasing clean items as I’m able and feel led. And who knows? Maybe God has a whole closet full of clean clothing items that he’ll bless me with when the time is right.

Given that this blog was initially about healing, I wanted to share a few tips related to clothing in that vein:

1. Natural fibers are best, so consider investing in organic cotton sleepwear and sheets. Since we spend a third of our lives in bed, and nobody will ever know if you’re wearing the same organic cotton night clothes, I think that’s the most financially feasible way to limit your exposure to microplastics.

2. Try to avoid buying as much new clothing as possible. I know, I know. I used to live to shop too. But the truth is that I’ve cut way back just because of getting older and becoming a mom, and I’m trying to cut back even further now that I’m more mindful of microplastics.

3. Use natural laundry detergents even though they’re more expensive. Many traditional laundry detergents also contain microplastics, not to mention the fact that they are full of synthetic fragrances that also disrupt the endocrine system. (Ditto for natural dish detergents).

4. When you do have to buy new items, consider linen, organic cotton, silk, and cashmere. I’d rather own less clothing that’s higher quality at this stage in life anyway.

It sounds weird, but I feel so loved and cared for that God has brought this to my attention.

And this is the first time in my entire life that I’ve gotten rid of so much clothing and not have the urge to buy anymore. At first the spaces between my hangers felt weird, but now I love it.

All that extra space makes me feel like I can finally breathe.

Okay, thank you so much for stopping by! I’ll be sharing a friend’s book announcement in Thursday’s post.

Oh yeah, I’m a real person:

(Btw, that shirt did not get decluttered because it is linen. Yay for that!)

Thank you for sharing!

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