Melany Oliver, who advocates using home-made cleaning and beauty products
Melany Oliver, who advocates using home-made cleaning and beauty products
Melany Oliver, who advocates using home-made cleaning and beauty products
Melany Oliver, who advocates using home-made cleaning and beauty products

The Dubai woman trying to remove chemicals from her life


Rupert Hawksley
  • English
  • Arabic

Two products to make at home

Toilet cleaner

1 cup baking soda 

1 cup castile soap

10-20 drops of lemon essential oil (or another oil of your choice) 

Method:

1. Mix the baking soda and castile soap until you get a nice consistency.

2. Add the essential oil to the mix.

Air Freshener

100ml water 

5 drops of the essential oil of your choice (note: lavender is a nice one for this) 

Method:

1. Add water and oil to spray bottle to store.

2. Shake well before use. 

A few years ago, Melany Oliver developed a nasty rash on her neck. She was also experiencing debilitating headaches. The rash had appeared where Oliver sprayed her perfume, so she stopped using it, just as an experiment, really. But within a matter of days, the rash had disappeared, along with the headaches. As soon as she started using the perfume again, the symptoms resurfaced.

Oliver, who is half-British and half-Brazilian but lives in Dubai, began making a mental note of the other occasions when she experienced a headache. A theme quickly emerged. “I noticed that when I walked into a mall, I’d leave with a headache,” she says. “It’s the heavy fragrance that they use, which is not natural.”

This discovery led Oliver to study the products she was using in her home, including soaps, candles, washing-up liquid, dishwasher powder and, of course, perfume. “If you look at the back of these products, it will just say, ‘fragrance’,” she explains. “It won’t actually tell you what the chemical is but usually it’s synthetic.”

According to Oliver, who is leading a workshop titled How To Live a Chemical-Free Life at Alserkal Avenue in Dubai on July 8, fragrance is far from the only problem. Many products, including shower gel and shampoo, contain other toxins that, Oliver says, "build up inside your body".

Sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS), for example, produces the foam in many cleaning products but is described as a “moderate hazard” by US non-profit organisation Environmental Working Group. Oliver highlights other commonly used chemicals, which may have a harmful effect on us, including quaternary ammonium compounds (QUATs), which are found in fabric softeners and which can cause dermatitis, and 2-Butoxyethanol, which is used in many household cleaning products and has been linked to respiratory problems.

Melany Oliver leads a workshop on how to remove chemicals from your life. Supplied
Melany Oliver leads a workshop on how to remove chemicals from your life. Supplied

“You would think [these products] are safe because you can buy them in a supermarket,” says Oliver, who has a degree in complementary therapies from the University of Westminster. “Initially when you use them, there is no immediate effect because the amount of toxins is so small. After years of usage, though, you [can] start to get sick. Your body cannot break down some of the toxins found in these products.”

The solution, as Oliver will demonstrate during her talk, is to make one’s own household cleaning and beauty products, using natural ingredients, such as coconut oil, vinegar, sugar, baking soda and essential oils, including lavender, eucalyptus and tea tree. Some of these products, such as the toilet cleaner and air freshener, “take two minutes to make”.

Oliver recommends a brand of essential oils called Young Living, which are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and urges caution when buying other brands, since some essential oils are, in fact, produced synthetically.

"I feel better using products that I know are safe and essential oils that are in harmony with my body, ingredients that it accepts and embraces" says Oliver. "With the toxic chemicals, your body is fighting them and trying to break them down. Even the smell of the [natural] products is much nicer and cleaner." Or as Oliver writes in her description of tonight's workshop, "It's time to take control of the yuck in your home and start living a natural, chemical-free life."

Melany Oliver: 'I feel better using products that I know are safe'. Supplied
Melany Oliver: 'I feel better using products that I know are safe'. Supplied

Parents, particularly, are joining the chemical-free revolution. “Kids have lots of different allergies and I really believe toxins are to blame,” says Oliver. “A lot of parents want to support their children’s health, rather than disrupting their immune systems.”

As appealing as these natural products sound, though, Oliver urges converts to approach their journey to a chemical-free life in stages. “Don’t do it all at once,” she says. “I tried to [introduce] one product a month. I started by cutting out perfume and then [chemically-produced] toothpaste, washing powder, one by one. Don’t overwhelm yourself.”

How To Live a Chemical Free Life is at Kave, Warehouse 20, Alserkal Avenue in Dubai, July 8 at 8pm. Entry is free. For more information, visit www.alserkalavenue.ae

$1,000 award for 1,000 days on madrasa portal

Daily cash awards of $1,000 dollars will sweeten the Madrasa e-learning project by tempting more pupils to an education portal to deepen their understanding of math and sciences.

School children are required to watch an educational video each day and answer a question related to it. They then enter into a raffle draw for the $1,000 prize.

“We are targeting everyone who wants to learn. This will be $1,000 for 1,000 days so there will be a winner every day for 1,000 days,” said Sara Al Nuaimi, project manager of the Madrasa e-learning platform that was launched on Tuesday by the Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, to reach Arab pupils from kindergarten to grade 12 with educational videos.  

“The objective of the Madrasa is to become the number one reference for all Arab students in the world. The 5,000 videos we have online is just the beginning, we have big ambitions. Today in the Arab world there are 50 million students. We want to reach everyone who is willing to learn.”

Labour dispute

The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.


- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law 

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Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
WRESTLING HIGHLIGHTS
What is a Ponzi scheme?

A fraudulent investment operation where the scammer provides fake reports and generates returns for old investors through money paid by new investors, rather than through ligitimate business activities.

Two products to make at home

Toilet cleaner

1 cup baking soda 

1 cup castile soap

10-20 drops of lemon essential oil (or another oil of your choice) 

Method:

1. Mix the baking soda and castile soap until you get a nice consistency.

2. Add the essential oil to the mix.

Air Freshener

100ml water 

5 drops of the essential oil of your choice (note: lavender is a nice one for this) 

Method:

1. Add water and oil to spray bottle to store.

2. Shake well before use.