by Emma Restall Orr
When I was a child, my father worked in advertising, and at one point his sole focus was a vast multinational company that produced shampoo. As a result, I grew up knowing about shampoo.
For a new shampoo is not developed in the thoughtful labs of some toiletries company, but in the creative mess of an ad agency: a couple of young lads throwing ideas around an office, bouncing a ball off the wall, music playing in the background to ease the stress of such trivia: hey guys, why don’t we make the stuff blue, or can we make it smell of fresh rain, or add some notion of an obscure cloudforest herb associated with native indians, or a magic ‘new’ chemical that makes your hair feel like silk? The design of the bottle, the words on its plastic, the ad campaign that goes along with it, are all created before what goes inside: the shampoo itself. The ad agency takes the concept to the company who put together the product, confident that the ad boys have said it will sell. I grew up with a profound scepticism about the whole notion of shampoo.
When I was old enough to understand further, my scepticism evolved into horror. I began to realize that the point of a shampoo was to strip my hair of all its natural oils in order to clean off the dust and dirt that sticks to those oils. The softer and silkier my hair felt, the more natural oils had been removed, and after a while my hair became pretty dull, lifeless, static. The obvious answer, listening to the Voice on the TV, was to add conditioner, which replaced those natural oils the shampoo had so effectively removed, with artificial oils – just enough to make it shine and smell of perfume.
Eventually I had had enough of being duped. I stopped using shampoo. Don’t you wash your hair?! I wash my hair whenever I like, every day, every few days … for the glorious feeling of warm water flooding over my head and face, for the delight of having my hair drenched and heavy with water … and to wash off the dust and dirt that stick to the natural oils in my hair. No shampoo.
They say it can take a few months for your hair to regain its natural oils and find its own cycle once again. If you eat a clean diet, low in animal fat and chemicals, if your body is healthy, it takes only a few weeks for most people. Once through the rebalancing, you have the opportunity to get to know your own hair as it naturally is.
I am aware that the oils in my hair rise and fall with the tides of my hormones. For most of the month my hair looks fine, thick and strong and shining with its own oils; for five days or so, it is hopeless, looking lank and oily. On these days, I use a hair moose from some ethical company, or a cup of very dilute cider vinegar in the shower (others use lemon juice), or I wear a hat, or tie it into plaits. It isn’t long before it’s fine again. The tides of our bodies, expressed so clearly in our hair, are for me simply another way of living with nature – in a culture that is ever trying to control it.
Of course, there are many other reasons why it is sound not to buy most of the shampoos and other hair products on the market. Companies such as Unilever (Dove, Sunsilk, Organics, Timotei), Procter & Gamble (Clairol, Head&Shoulders, Herbal Essences, Pantene, Vidal Sassoon, Wella, Wash&Go) and L’Oreal (Fructis, Garnier, Elvive and 26% owned by monster company Nestle) have track records for environmental pollution and animal testing, all three of which are under boycott calls for their unethical behaviour. Packaging of shampoos is almost always in plastic bottle which, although some can be recycled, most cannot or end up in landfill anyway.
In shampoos, which we happily put onto our heads and rub in with warm water, are chemicals that most people would be horrified to discover. In fact, shampoo manufacturers are free to put almost any chemical they wish into shampoos, even if it is known to be toxic and hazardous to health.
The chemicals include colours, scents and preservatives that you wouldn’t want to eat, yet which are readily absorbed through the skin. They also include synthetic chemicals that are horribly tested on animals, as well as animal products hidden in the ingredients and the ‘parfum’.
Many of these chemicals do not break down in the body: they are passed from parent to child through breast milk and in pregnancy; they remain in our urine and consumed through drinking recycled water. Needless to say, it is not only human bodies that are polluted: these chemicals are causing damage to the environment and all the other creatures who depend upon it.
Here are a few, with the problems some research has indicated. (Sources for problems are from the Women’s Environmental Network and other sites across the internet; put the product into your search engine and judge the site and its information for yourself.)
alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEO) : hormone disruptors, carcinogenic
methylisothiazoline (MIT) : neurological damage
parabens (alkyl parahydroxil) : an oestrogen mimic, traces found in breast milk, decreased male fertility
phthalates : reproductive and developmental defects, allergies, asthma
propylene glycol (propan 1.2 diol, PG) : dermatitis, skin problems, depression, nerve and heart disorders
sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) : skin, eye, respiratory, liver, lung, immune system damage, hair loss, and reproductive problems. This is not to be confused with the mild detergent found in many shampoos : sodium laureth sulfate (SLES), which some believe to be acceptable in shampoos.
LINKS
This is an interesting page, brought to my attention by Julia Jackdaw. It talks about the chemicals in shampoos, but also gives advice about how to ‘transition’ from being a shampoo junkie to letting go of the habit …
http://www.naturalfamilyonline.com/basics/health-and-wellness/no-shampoo-hair-washing
Shampoos that we would recommend, if you choose to use them, are from the following companies :
Green People
This is an excellent company that use gentle, natural organic ingredients throughout. Based in England, they are 100% vegetarian (the majority is vegan, using only bees’ wax or propolis in some products), registered with the Soil Association and, of course, use nothing tested on animals. What’s more, 10% of their profit is donated to charity.
For example, their scent-free shampoo is made of aloe vera, gentle foaming and cleansing agents from corn and coconut, glycerin and green tea extract.
http://www.greenpeople-organic-health.co.uk
Lush
Their solid shampoos are great. They use some chemicals but no packaging at all.
http://www.lush.co.uk
Neal’s Yard Remedies
Their powdered shampoos are great, and have no plastic packaging.
http://www.nealsyardremedies.com/
Weleda
A wonderful company all round, using anthroposophic vision in all their products.
http://www.weleda.co.uk/