Take Good Care: A Goop-Approved Wellness Consultant Shares Her Best Tips To Reduce Toxic Exposure In The Home
ABOUT JENNA
Jenna Coviello is the founder of Take Good Care, a Brooklyn-based wellness consultancy, which provides personalized services to help people reduce everyday toxic exposures in their homes and beauty routines. After many years of transitioning her own home and day-to-day life to be as clean as possible, Jenna brings her knowledge and expertise to her clients, streamlining the process to make healthier choices feel less overwhelming. Her mission is to empower others to optimize their wellbeing by reducing their toxic exposures – in an easy, chic, and beautiful way.
Ariel came across Jenna’s work a few years back and immediately found her clean-home tips to be both helpful and useful both personally and professionally – learning more about potential toxins in the home is something we are striving to do as a firm.
Q: Where do you recommend clients start when they want to make clean swaps for the house?
A: The simplest and least expensive first step is with your cleaning products. Use up what you already have, and then gradually replace the products you need with ones that are free of harmful ingredients.
Q: What are the top three things everyone should keep in mind when trying to keep their homes, and the products in it, as “clean” as possible?
A:
1. Indoor air is much less healthy than outdoor air; open your windows as much as possible and use an air purifier in the rooms where you spend the most time.
2. Swap out your cleaning supplies for non-toxic ones.
3. Shoes off inside, especially if you live in a city - so many things come in on your shoes and ultimately get breathed in through indoor air. I draw the line at making guests do this if I'm entertaining, but for day-to-day, shoes should come off.
Q: Are there specific ingredients or compounds that make a home product “toxic” or bad for you? How do you easily identify the nasties?
A: There are thousands of ingredients/compounds that should be avoided, so it makes it overwhelming for the average consumer to sort through. I would say generally, avoid plastics/PVC, anything with flame retardants and antimicrobial additives, and anything that contains "fragrance." Look for natural fibers, zero or low VOC, and for furniture, vintage is generally a safer bet. Another helpful clue is to look for product certifications like GOTS and Oeko-Tex for bedding/linens, and Made Safe and Green Guard for furniture.
Q: What is your favorite resource for searching the safety quality of a product for your home?
A: EWG (Environmental Working Group)'s Healthy Home Guide is the most user friendly resource: https://www.ewg.org/healthyhomeguide/
The New School, where I'm pursuing a certification in Healthy Materials and Sustainable Building, has a guide that gets more into the nitty-gritty of building materials: https://healthymaterialslab.org/tool-guides
Q: What is the first thing you typically recommend people swap out in their homes?
A: After cleaning products, buy an air purifier. If you can install a central one in the whole home, great, but if not there are freestanding ones that are very affordable and just as effective.
Q: Do you have any favorite clean home product manufacturers that have become go-to’s for yourself and for clients?
A: For cleaning products, Pur Home, Blueland, and Biokleen are my go-to brands. Naturepedic and Parachute make my favorite mattresses, and Parachute also makes some of the best non-toxic bedding. For upholstery, I prefer custom furniture so you know you're getting non-toxic fill, adhesives, and no flame retardant/stain repellant; but if that's out of reach, Cisco and Lee make more affordable non-toxic furniture.
