- Advertisement -
A lot of shampoo advertising has us foaming at the mouth.
A sprig of organic herbs wafted at a shampoo bottle, and brands create an aura of naturalness around their products, meanwhile stuffing them full of harsh detergents and other nasty ingredients. And don’t even get us started on brands that call themselves ‘organic’ with nary a certified ingredient in sight!
“Many current shampoos contain potentially harmful chemicals such as sodium lauryl sulfate that not only damage your hair but also your skin and health,” says Daniel Galvin Jnr, who runs famed UK natural hair care company DJG.
It’s no wonder, he says, that hairdressers everywhere are seeing a plague of ‘dry scalp’ – and that isn’t just a polite expression for dandruff, which is a medical condition. It is simply dry scalp. And it’s not just our heads that are suffering. The manufacture of the host of synthetic ingredients that fill our bottles of hair scrubbing and styling products is hurting our environment too, through using up petrochemicals and spitting out pollution and harmful waste.
Meanwhile, shampoo commercials (and many hair gurus with a vested interest in selling litres of shampoo) have us believing that daily washing is a must. But just as using a harsh toner on skin turbo-charges oil production, over-washing your hair will strip away your scalp’s natural, protective oil barrier – often causing irritation and a subsequent increase in the production of that oil, so you think you need to wash your hair sooner rather than later. It’s a vicious circle, leading to the unnecessary over-consumption of these products and their packaging, heightening the eco-impact of our personal care regimes.
