The Life-Giving Qualities of Linen
Toxic-Free Talk Radio
Archives of radio interview transcripts with leading toxic-free innovators recorded 2013-2015
TOXIC FREE TALK RADIO
The Life-Giving Qualities of Linen and Other Natural and Not-So-Natural Fibers
Host: Debra Lynn Dadd
Guest: Melanie Ellison
Date of Broadcast: November 10, 2015
My guest today is Melanie Ellison a young entrepreneur who established Life-giving Linen to provide affordable GOTS certified organic linen bedding and garments to individuals seeking better health. Today we’ll be talking about how different types of fibers can affect your health for better or for worse, and what you can do to incorporate the health benefits of natural fibers into your everyday life. Melanie has researched natural remedies all her life, so starting a business was a natural next step after learning about the linen frequency study. Based in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, Life-giving Linen has happy customers in 50 states and 10 countries. Testimonies of improved quality of life are the heart throb motivation of the business. www.lifegivinglinen.com
Transcript:
DEBRA: Hi, I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. This is Toxic Free Talk Radio where we talk about how to thrive in a toxic world and live toxic-free.
It’s Tuesday, November 10th. It’s November 10th already. I looked at that and I went, “I can’t be November 10th. I thought it was November 1st.” It’s Thanksgiving and then it’s Christmas and then it’s going to be New Year. So we’re almost there. Wow! It went by so fast.
Anyway, it’s Tuesday, November 10th, 2015. I’m here in Clearwater, Florida and we’re having a lovely autumn day. We’re going to talk about a subject that is – well, there are times when I want to say, “This is a really interesting subject,” but all of the subjects are really interesting. This one is unique. This is more unique than what we usually talk about.
We’re going to be talking about fabrics – fibers, natural fibers and other kinds of fibers – and specifically, how they can contribute or not contribute to our healthy. This is a subject that when I read this website, I went, “Oh, I understand this.”
One of the first things that I ever said about natural fibers was my body feels better when I wear them. What you’re going to hear today kind of explains that. I notice that the highest ranking fibers in terms of health benefits are the fibers that are my favorite fibers.
So anyway, my guest today is Melanie Ellison. She’s a young entrepreneur who established a business called Life-Giving Linen in order to provide affordable GOTS-certified organic linen bedding and garments and other miscellaneous products to individuals seeking better health.
Hi Melanie!
MELANIE ELLISON: Thank you for having me.
DEBRA: Thank you for being here. So, one of the things that I find most interesting is people who do something so completely different that the idea came from within themselves because nobody else is doing it. So, obviously, you’re one of these people where you’re doing something so different.
So how did this come to happen, you doing what you’re doing?
MELANIE ELLISON: Well, all throughout my life, we have found as a family that there are many more solutions going the natural route and from allopathic medicine. For instance, you can have $2000 of blood work done and come out of there and they’d say that you’re fine and you just don’t know that there’s something wrong. You just don’t feel up to snuff.
And so we’ve been excited to find that there are natural solutions that go on a deeper level than allopathic medicine would find. They’re great for acute conditions and emergencies, but some of the chronic things can be better treated and avoided doing natural means.
So that was the foundation that went into when I heard about the linen frequency study five years ago – I’ll just explain that real quick here. It’s an explaining study where Dr. Heidi Yellen (she’s a Jewish doctor and she performed the study) and she found that everything has a frequency.
DEBRA: So what does that mean, everything has a frequency? We might as well talk about this now.
MELANIE ELLISON: We might as well. They used a farmer’s device where he measures the frequency of crops to know when they are at their ideal stage to harvest. And so that is the same device they used to measure the fabrics.
So according to the study, the signature frequency of the human body is a hundred. Polyester and silk are down at 15 like a nearly dead person. The lower the number, the more it puts a strain on the body. Cotton is about 40-70. And if it’s organic, then it’s a hundred. So it’s neutral. But the exciting thing about linen is it’s a supercharged frequency of 5000 units. So it gives the body extra energy to heal and just to have a better quality of life.
So I was really excited to learn about this study. And regardless whether or not the listeners believe in frequencies and that kind of thing, linen is one of the most ancient fabrics. Throughout the Bible, we read about linen all the time. Every time an angel is mentioned, they’re just in linen. And then, the [inaudible 00:05:39] is wrapped in linen’s swaddling cloth and He was buried in a linen clothing. And the priests in the temple and the tabernacle were, which was interesting because it’s an antibacterial fabric, so it would’ve protected them from all the dead animals and the blood around them and all that.
And also, Alexander the Great, he had something called linothorax as an armor. So it’s an ancient fabric and it survived through the course of time.
It’s a wonderful fabric.
DEBRA: It is interesting how ancient some of these things are. When we just look around in the modern world today, we’re surrounded with things that are both ancient and modern. And unless we study a little bit, we don’t really know which is which. And linen is one of those things that is probably one of the first fabrics.
MELANIE ELLISON: Yes, I believe so, along with wool probably.
DEBRA: Probably older than wool.
MELANIE ELLISON: Yeah. And the interesting thing is that linen is made from flax. A lot of people don’t know that right off. But if you think about it, you eat flax seeds and they lower your cholesterol and they’re great to your health. But we don’t so much eat cotton foods.
DEBRA: But we do, we do. We eat cottonseed oil.
MELANIE ELLISON: Yes, and it’s not the best for our health.
DEBRA: It’s used in junk food.
MELANIE ELLISON: Yeah, exactly.
DEBRA: Yeah.
MELANIE ELLISON: So it would make sense that a fabric made out of plants that the seeds are good for us would also be good for us.
DEBRA: It seems like talking on a frequency level that (and you can correct me if I’m wrong) everything has its own frequency. That’s one of the things that they’re finding from the study.
MELANIE ELLISON: Yes, everything living.
DEBRA: Everything living has its own frequency. And things that aren’t living don’t have frequencies at all. The frequency is measuring, we could say ‘life force’ for lack of a better term.
MELANIE ELLISON: And it’s a very scientific thing. It’s not a New Age type of thing. It can be measured scientifically [inaudible 00:07:45] listeners.
DEBRA: Yeah, thank you. Because I know this is something different. We talk about toxic chemicals in terms of man-made industrial chemicals. But to me, all these other things also can be toxic. They can also affect our health in negative ways and positive ways. So it’s not just toxic chemicals that are manmade. I think what we’re going to find here, as we’ve already said, the man-made fibers are practically dead.
MELANIE ELLISON: And not only that, but they put a drain on the human body.
DEBRA: Right, right. That’s another way to be toxic.
But I was trying to get to explain in all this was I think the way it works is that every living thing or type of thing has its own frequency. Linen would be different from cotton would be different from pine trees would be different from human bodies. And some of them are more frequency-compatible than other ones.
MELANIE ELLISON: Yes. And it’s also interesting to note that there are available health benefits from linens. For instance, it’s used for internal sutures because the body accepts it. And then in another case, Japanese hospital use it for linen sheets because they found that their patients don’t have bedsores when they sleep in linen.
And also, it’s antibacterial. It’s hypoallergenic. That’s recommend for sensitive skin. For people who can’t handle other fabrics, they’re often just [inaudible 00:09:24] linen. It doesn’t accumulate static electricity. It causes 1.5 times less perspiration than cotton. And it’s also effective in reducing fevers and inflammation.
So it has all these observable health benefits that people have written about in testimonials and things like that that confirm the frequencies.
DEBRA: Wow! I can’t even express what I’m feeling right now. It always amazes me how nature can be healing and how, if we do the natural thing, then our bodies are supported, greatly supported by natural materials whether they’re foods or fibers or whatever it is, just being out in nature.
And what we do in our culture is that we do exactly the opposite. We don’t respect nature. And instead, we [inaudible 00:10:24] man-made things because it costs less or it’s more abundant or whatever it is. We just ignore all the good things that nature is giving us and then wear dead clothes and things like that – eat dead food, wear dead clothes.
MELANIE ELLISON: Right! And I also find it interesting that science confirm the Bible on this, things we read and we think, “That’s an interesting story” or whatever. But the science, again, confirm that there’s a reason behind the Creator something for our benefit.
DEBRA: I have to interrupt because we need to go to break. And we’re supposed to be hearing a little music and I don’t. So we’re going to go to break anyway.
This is Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Melanie Ellison. We’re talking about the life-giving qualities of linen. We’ll be right back.
= COMMERCIAL BREAK =
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Melanie Ellison. She is the founder, entrepreneur founder of Life-Giving Linen at the LifeGivingLinen.com. She’s got a lot of information that she’d like to share with us about linen.
So Melanie, you talk for a bit.
MELANIE ELLISON: Okay! Sounds good. Well, let’s go in a little bit more to the fact that you were talking about other fabrics other than linen being not as good for us. A lot of people know already that polyester is not the best for us and have gotten rid of polyester out of their closet. That’s actually where I recommend starting. Just go through your closet and get rid of the synthetic materials. That’s a good start.
DEBRA: I recommend that too. That’s the first that I did. What I’m seeing here is that you and I have a parallel. It’s all parallel because if I’m approaching it from a toxic chemicals viewpoint, I’m going to say, “Get rid of all your synthetics,” and you’re talking about it from your health-giving perspective and you’re saying, “Get rid of the synthetics.”
And I know the first thing that I did when I wanted to remove toxic chemicals was get all my synthetic things out of the closet.
MELANIE ELLISON: Yes. Then you’re usually left with cotton, which a lot of us thought is as good as they can get. But what we’re finding now is that much of our modern-day cotton is genetically modified. So eventually, you want to gradually switch over to some linen in place of your cotton.
I would at least recommend using linen undergarments (everything that’s touching your body) and then, also, bedding because that is where you’re spending many hours of your day and it’s an easy way to just change the sheets and the pillowcases over to linen.
But I want to go in a little bit more to these genetically modified things in the specific category of feminine products. And guys, don’t tune out here because you all have a mother, a sister, a wife or some woman in your life who needs to hear this information.
So what we are finding is that the plastic in feminine products increases women’s estrogen which actually causes them to bleed more, so that they buy more of these disposable products.
DEBRA: Oh, that’s horrible!
MELANIE ELLISON: Isn’t that horrible? Yeah! And when I first heard that, I thought, “Well, there’s no way.” But then I started hearing it from women after women that when they switched over to a more natural, reusable type of feminine products, that their periods were shorter and lighter flow and less cramping. So the disposable feminine products, they’re also made chemicals that have dioxins in them which is a cancer-causing agent.
And there was actually an article written posted on the 22nd of October, just recently, here in NaturalNews.com. I’m going to quote it here because it’s so good to know this information. The article said:
“Monsanto’s toxic herbicide has been found in 80% of feminine hygiene products. It is a chemical found in RoundUph herbicide used on genetically-modified cotton crops. Glyphosates,” that’s the name of the chemical, “Is a known cancer-causing chemical. The World’s Health Organization has classified it as ‘probably carcinogenic’ and many other studies clearly link it to an endocrine disruption process that leads to cancer.”
So it was just through knowing some of these information and then also through my own struggles with yeast infection that I created the Linen Pleasant Pads. Many of my friends switched over and they started just reporting an incredible change in their quality of life and their time of month.
It’s just going much easier and less cramping. And so I’m really excited about that.
And again, you can read more about this on my website, LifeGivingLinen.com about the specifics.
DEBRA: I totally agree with you about this. I mean, I no longer need that product being the age that I’m at at this moment, but that was one of the first things to go for me when I started living in a non-toxic way. I just used cotton. And nobody was even making them then, these pads. And so I just started ripping up cotton, flannel sheets and making my own because it just didn’t make sense to me to be using all those chemicals.
MELANIE ELLISON: And linen takes it one step further because linen is antibacterial. And also, it’s stain-resistant, so it’s the perfect fabric.
DEBRA: Yes, yes. I agree with you. That’s great. That’s great.
MELANIE ELLISON: And a lot of women don’t know that they even have options as far as alternative menstrual products. But it’s exciting to research and to see the testimonials of changes lives in that regard.
DEBRA: Well, because I know that there are several different options for women besides using the standard products, but I do see what you’re saying about why linen is the best alternative just from its health-giving characteristics.
MELANIE ELLISON: And for the men too with yeast infections, we do offer linen underwear for both men and women and that can be helpful as well. So it’s not just a women’s site here.
DEBRA: Good! Alright! So, we just have a couple of minutes before we need to go to break again. So where would you like to go from here?
MELANIE ELLISON: Well, I’d like share some testimonials. We have customers in 50 states at 10 countries who have been benefited through the health benefits of linens. I don’t know if we have time to share one of those now.
DEBRA: Why don’t you share one of those now?
MELANIE ELLISON: Okay! Here’s from a lady named Darlene Myrn. She was in Colorado and she said:
“I had an unfortunate injury last year which resulted in a severe, enlarged rotator cuff tear. The end result was surgery. I could not sleep well for months on end before and especially after the surgery. I would lie awake all through the night. I had to discontinue the pain pills because they made me sick and nauseous.
During this time , a co-worker told me about Life Giving Linen, its healing properties and how it might help. So I tried linen bedding – first the pillowcase and then I ordered a sheet set.
I fell in love since to my surprise and delight, my pain decreased and I slept better. To this day, they are the only sheets that I sleep in.”
So it’s interesting to me that the healing benefits of linen are actually causing a reduction in pain. For a lot of people, it’s chronic pain. We see this time and again.
DEBRA: I think that that is very interesting. I’ve been sleeping on your pillowcases. Melanie sent me one, listeners and I’ve been sleeping on it for about a week. It just feels very calming.
I guess the first time that I ever saw a big sheet of linen that I was around, I saw it in a store, it was purple linen. I just wanted to wrap it all around my body and never take it off. And that was just the feeling that I had from it.
I think I need to get myself a set of linen sheets because I’ve been wanting linen sheets for about 35 years. And now, you’re explaining why. The pillowcase just kind of clinched the deal for me.
We’re going to go to break. But when we come back, we’ll talk more with Melanie Ellison about the life-giving benefits of linen. You can go to her website, LifeGivingLinen.com and there’s a lot of information to read there. We’ll be right back.
= COMMERCIAL BREAK =
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Melanie Ellison. She’s established Life Giving Linen to provide affordable, GOTS-certified organic linen bedding and garments and other miscellaneous things to people who are interested in improving their health.
So Melanie, I want to talk about linen itself and the different kinds of linen fabrics that are available. You have a very special linen fabric. You can’t just go down to a fabric store and buy what you have, what you’re oferring. So tell us, first of all, does it have to be organic linen?
MELANIE ELLISON: Any linen is going to be better off for you than the other fabrics. But for those who have health issues and who really want the ultimate as far as having health improvements, I recommend unbleached, undyed. Bleach and dyes are also toxic chemicals. And also, the organic means that it is grown without pesticides. Basically, you’re getting the ultimate as far as health benefits. You’re getting the linen frequencies plus also, not adding any toxins on top of that.
So my fabric are all of those. It’s unbleached, undyed, organic. That’s what we make all of our products out of. It’s a lovely off-white. And it’s…
DEBRA: Yeah, I wanted to ask you. How come it’s white and not what I think is natural linen color?
MELANIE ELLISON: Yes. It does go through a natural hydrogen peroxide whitening treatment, but it’s not bleach. So a lot of people who are coming from regular white sheets, they still want kind of that look of the off-white. They may not be ready to plunge into the flax color.
DEBRA: So is everything that is off-white, everything that you sell, is it that same, off-white fabric?
MELANIE ELLISON: Yes.
DEBRA: So are you going to be offering just the regular linen color too?
MELANIE ELLISON: No, because this is the only organics that I have been able to find. So that’s really important to us to keep the quality up.
DEBRA: And also, your fabric is GOTS-certified. So would you explain to us what that means?
MELANIE ELLISON: Yes. And you have a wonderful archived show on your site that I actually listened to you this week explaining the GOTS process of how it goes through certification. So for any listeners who are curious and going in-depth on that, you have your archived show on that.
But it’s certified through the whole process of manufacturing to be according to the international standards.
DEBRA: And I want to clarify this just because this is an important point for listeners. You are using a GOTS-certified fabric but you, yourself, are not a GOTS-certified business. So that’s not a criticism of you. I just want to point out that a lot of times people are confusing, different businesses are confusing about the difference between the fact that they are using a GOTS-certified material and that they’ll say something like, “They have GOTS-certified products” in some confusing way, but the product itself is not GOTS-certified. So GOTS hasn’t come and inspected you. That doesn’t mean that you’re not making your products in a way that GOTS would approve of.
MELANIE ELLISON: But we do no dying or anything like that that could [inaudible 00:30:23] the organic quality.
DEBRA: Yeah! Yeah, yeah. I mean, you obviously understand the issues and obviously are wanting to make it as humanly possible as natural as possible.
MELANIE ELLISON: I want to share one more story if I may. And this is my story of coming into actually believing in linen. I heard about it and thought, “I don’t know about this…”
DEBRA: Yeah, that was what I asked you at the beginning, but we got off track.
MELANIE ELLISON: Yes, it’s interesting. So I started sleeping on linen sheets – but let me back up. Before that…
DEBRA: But why? How did you get from the toxic world into linen sheets?
MELANIE ELLISON: Oh, I heard the linen study. And that was what made me want to try it out. But I grew up as a concert cellist and I’m really goal-oriented and I thought of that as a good thing. But at this music camp, I ended up practicing six hours a day some really intense music and I ended up being in severe pain.
So for 18 months, I tried 20 different therapies. I couldn't drive. I couldn't open the freezer to get the ice out. I was in severe pain. Nothing was working for me, acupunture, physical therapy, chiropractic. Nothing was working.
And at that same time, I switched to sleeping on linen sheets just for the general house benefit. I wasn’t expecting anything at all. I was at a convention at this point and the day before switching to the linen sheets, I had tried to take notes all day and I was in pain and I couldn't write. That night, I slept on linen sheets and then the next day, I was taking notes hour after hour and there was no pain at all. I thought, “What is the only thing that I’ve changed?” And it was sleeping on the linen sheets.
So that made a believer out of me because I was not expecting anything to change. And that changed my health journey with my arm.
DEBRA: Wow! Wow! As you’re saying this, I’m thinking there are so many things that I’ve done to help my health. I’m so much healthier than I’ve been probably most other times in my life. Most people says, “I’m getting older, but my body is getting heavier.” And I don’t look anywhere near my age and yet there are still things that I’d like to improve about my body. So I’m moving now from functional to optimum.
And so I’m just thinking about if I were to sleep in this life-giving cocoon of linen every night, how much would that help my body? Oh, my God! Just doing that one thing.
MELANIE ELLISON: Yeah, everybody’s story is different. It’s interesting to see how everybody’s bodies respond differently. But there seems to be a confirmed thing that many people have experienced with chronic pain being reduced or totally healed. So that’s exciting to me.
DEBRA: That’s exciting to me too.
So we have another minute or so, about one minute until the break, so why don’t you read another testimonial?
MELANIE ELLISON: Another one of the ones that I have is that a lot of my customers experience poor sleep. This woman was no exception and she said she had a “lifetime of poor sleep. It started in childhood before I even had a word to put to what was wrong. A noise, a flicker of lights from the TV in the living room, a breeze all conspired to keep me awake.
I can say I knew that every hour of the night was passing as the years went by.” She tried drinking milk before bedtime, even sleeping pills until she found out about Life-Giving Linen. So she tried to purchase. She said:
“I didn’t quite believe they would make any difference at all. But I bought a set of linen pillowcases and put them on my pillows right away. Then I walked away and forgot about them until the next morning. At 5 a.m., I opened my eyes and thought, ‘What? What happened to the night? Where did it go? Did I really sleep through the night?’ Yes, I had. I slept through the night. And then, I remembered the linen pillowcases. I’m sure that’s what did the trick.”
So people are finding that they sleep deeper as well with linen.
DEBRA: Yeah, yeah. Okay! We’re going to go to break. You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Melanie Ellison who has put all these information together about linen and has taken it upon herself to provide us with wonderful products made from the best and purest linen possible, the most life-giving linen that there is on the planet. And so you can go see her website at LifeGivingLinen.com.
We’ll be right back.
= COMMERCIAL BREAK =
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Melanie Ellison and we’re talking about the life-giving properties of linen.
Melanie, I just realized during the break that when I had my sofa recovered (actually, this was maybe 20 years ago now), and I didn’t want a toxic sofa, I actually got a very old sofa, ripped everything off, so I only just had a frame and then I had an upholsterer kind of rebuild the cushions and stuff. It’s all covered with 100% linen in this beautiful plaid fabric.
MELANIE ELLISON: Oh, how wonderful!
DEBRA: It’s 20 years old and the fabric, it’s brand new. It lasts so long and it feels so comfortable. And again, it’s like I’ve always gravitated to linen.
And I was just thinking also during the break that I had a bit of an epiphany over the weekend about how I want to dress. I think that early in my life,
I was very fashion-oriented because our culture is fashion-oriented, so I was raised to be fashion-oriented and my mother was fashion-oriented. And as I went through life, I became less fashion-oriented because I didn’t want to be wearing all those plastics, the polyester and all the finishes and everything.
And so as I looked for natural fibers, I made the switch to natural fibers, but I was still looking at my natural fibers like with this fashion eye. How could I get something that look like fashion made out of natural clothes?
And so that kind of went away, but I can see where I still – all of a sudden, I saw where I’m still thinking that way. And what I wanted, all of a sudden, was just to have very plain clothes.
There was a period in my life where I had these cotton pants and shirts from India. They were just very, very plain. And I had them in every color. I could buy these sets at the [inaudible 00:41:02] flea market. They were really baggy. But I had to own every color, so whatever color of the rainbow I felt like wearing that day, I could.
But what I was feeling was I just wanted to have beautifully draped clothes that were very simple – and solid color – which I mostly have now anyway. I buy like 10 tops and capri pants and stuff. I just wanted to have like linen clothing that I’d love to just have a set of linen clothing in our basic colors and then wear beautiful scarves and beautiful necklaces and have the accessories make the look, but that I have flowing linen clothing next to my body all the time.
MELANIE ELLISON: And next to your body parts, that’s the key. And that’s what I recommend to people in colder climates (like I am up here in Colorado), just making sure that you have a layer of linen next to your skin, that’s the most important, the underwear and then the bedding. You can do your [inaudible 00:42:13] that way and still have pretty clothes on the outside if you’re not quite to the point where you are, Debra.
DEBRA: It is a process. It’s a proces to go through these stuff. And I was even thinking, I have on my bed cotton, flannel sheets, but one of the things that I like is the “fashion” of them. And as I go through the year, in the spring, I have flowered sheets. And then in the winter, I have plaid sheets, all these. I have a certain aesthetic joy out of doing that.
But I went through a shift during the break where, “Well, okay, good. But there’s cottons and there’s dyes. And even though it’s not toxic on my user end, it’s GMO cotton and all these stuff.” I just really thought about taking all the sheets away and just getting a set of white, linen sheet and that would just be my sheets. The thought of that, it’s like my whole body relaxed. Just the thought of it, my whole body relaxed because it’s the optimum environment for sleep and it’s based on, “How can I get my body what it needs rather than what color are the sheets?”
MELANIE ELLISON: Yes. And I think with all natural health remedies, you go through a switch. Whether it’s eating more healthy when you’re craving delicacies and the things that make you feel bad, you go through a switch of wanting to feel good more than wanting something that tastes good or look pretty. And I think once you experience that, that’s what really makes the change. You have to experience it. And then you’re sold.
DEBRA: It is! And it’s also like a step towards nature, which is really important to me, that I went through a whole thing of moving out of consumerism into viewing myself as being of nature.
And so then I wanted to do what nature does. The more that I live that way, the more I keep peeling away the industrialism and eat natural foods and wear natural fibers and use natural things on my body and see howi it can fit into my ecosystem, then the healthier I get and the happier I get and the more relaxed I get.
So here, I live in Florida, so linen is my ideal bioregional…
MELANIE ELLISON: It is! It’s perfect.
DEBRA: That’s what people historically have worn in hot climates – linen, linen, linen, linen.
MELANIE ELLISON: Yes, it causes less perspiration than cotton even.
And I just want to talk a little bit about the production side of thing since you’re mentioning consumers. All of our Life-Giving Linen products are made individually. In the U.S.A. here (and it’s often the GOTS-certified organic linen), we try to have high quality and then also undercut cost of competitors to make them as affordable as we can. The sheets are an investment. But for those who are starting out with a pillowcase, that’s the most affordable organic linen pillowcase that you can find. They’re on our website.
And then, also, with the feminine products, you actually save quite a bit of money by using a washable product.
So our goal is to individually make here in the U.S.A. high quality and affordable.
DEBRA: Well, you’re doing an excellent job. And I can tell. I mean, one of the other things, one of those intangible things that I know people can feel is that when something is made with a caring viewpoint, that you feel that in the product. The bed that I sleep on, it’s from Shepherd’s Dream in California. Where I got it at the time, I could go visit the sheep. I have slept in the showroom and their workroom where they make the mattresses.
MELANIE ELLISON: Wow!
DEBRA: And so when I have this bed, I think about, “Talk about counting sheep.” I really know where those sheeps were. I knew where in the world they came from. I knew the women who were sewing it. It’sj ust such a different thing to have a hand-made thing like that with a caring person rather than having something made on an assembly by a factory.
MELANIE ELLISON: Yes! I so agree. We seamstresses love to know about who we’re sewing for and [inaudible 00:46:49] what the linen might help them with with their health. And even for people who don’t have health issues, it helps with deeper sleep and just a better quality of life even if you don’t feel it directly. Some people aren’t as sensitive, but it’s still better.
DEBRA: Well, I’m so glad that you came across the study and that you put together a business. So this is just giving us another layer of understand of how we can help our health. I’m just so pleased that you’re doing what you’re doing and that you came to be on the show today.
MELANIE ELLISON: Thank you.
DEBRA: So we have just a few minutes left, about two minutes. Is there anything you’d like to say in closing?
MELANIE ELLISON: I’d just like to encourage people to not get overwhelmed, not think that you have to go out and get a whole new closet overnight. A good idea of how to change over is just one item at a time. So, you find a white linen shirt or something, then change out the white cotton shirts, get rid of that one. So just one at a time to veer north. Switch over and start with the pillowcases. That’s the easiest way.
So I just encourage you to take one step at a time and not feel overwhelmed about having to do everything at once.
DEBRA: Let me just ask you very briefly because we do only have about a minute left. What about ironing because I know that’s the first thing that comes to my mind. It’s like, “You have to iron everything that’s linen?” Do you really have to iron it?
MELANIE ELLISON: A good answer is line drying helps a lot with that. The weight of the fabric pulls out some of the wrinkles. And for things like your undergarments or your bedding, you don’t really care as much if they’re really wrinkly, so…
DEBRA: No. But I know I have a pile of linen shirts sitting on a chair waiting for me to iron them. I think that that just needs to become part of my life, to iron my linen shirts.
MELANIE ELLISON: The other easy thing to do is to spray them with a spray bottle as they’re hanging on a hanger. And again, the weight pulls out the wrinkle.
DEBRA: Oh! Good, good. That’s good to know. Good, good. Okay, so we still have a minute left, so…
MELANIE ELLISON: For those who are interested in reading the details of the scientific linen study, that is also on my website, LifeGivingLinen.com. I got in touch with the doctor who did this study. I wanted to found out more details and I published them there on my website for those who want to read more about how that actually took place.
DEBRA: Good! And it’s very interesting. I read it! Yeah, I guess the last thought that I would like to leave people with is just really, it made an impression on me to read this study and see what a low frequency the synthetics fibers have and the different frequencies of the natural fibers and that it does make a difference to us. It just added another layer of understand for me and a confirmation of seeing, once again, in another way, how synthetic things, toxic things, petrochemical things are sapping life away from our bodies rather than contributing to it.
So once again, thank you so much. You can go to Melanie’s website at LifeGivingLinen.com. You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. Be well!