Natural Hair Care Tips
As women, we all know the value of hair care products when trying to tame a bad hair day and maintain beautiful tresses on a day to day basis. But if you’ve used conventional products for years, what you probably don’t realize is that along with holding your ‘do and taming frizz, you are inhaling phthalates, artificial fragrances, aerosols and other possibly harmful chemicals. (Brazilian blowouts have made news of late for potentially hazardous levels of formaldehyde.) Especially if you use hair care products every day, getting those chemicals out of your life is a good precaution. Think about switching those that you use more commonly out first.
If you’ve never used natural hair care products before, don’t be afraid of the ingredients lists in these concoctions; just because they contain oils and natural butters doesn’t mean that they will make your hair oily or weigh it down; in fact natural oils can be good for the health of the scalp, and actually prevent dry or oily scalps and fend off dandruff.
Jessa Blades, a natural beauty artist, has styled all kinds of hair and tested out tons of natural products. “Keep in mind that when using natural products, they, like food, don’t have as long a shelf life as conventional products. Using them within 12 months is usually recommended to make sure the product is fresh and effective,“ Blades said. She recommends looking for products with natural oils (coconut, carrot seed, etc.), natural butters (shea, cocoa, etc.), food-derived proteins and essential oils (lemon, orange, geranium, lavendar, etc.). She recommends avoiding:
> Parabens (methyl-, propyl-, butyl-paraben, etc.)
> Sodium lauryl/laureth sulfate (SLS or SLES)
> Petrolatum (Petroleum Jelly)
> Propylene glycol
> Diethanolamine (DEA) and Triethalnolamine (TEA)
> Imidazoldinyl, urea and diazolidinyl urea
> Silicone
> Ethoxylated ingredients (those starting with PEG- or ending with –ETH)
If you have products in your cabinet and you’re wondering about the safety of their ingredients, check out the Skin Deep Cosmetics Safety Database, which allows you to search for many products, as well as specific ingredients to learn about scientific test results, and how safe the Environmental Working Group considers them; while the beauty industry uses chemicals according to federal guidelines and laws, watchdogs believe those laws are outdated and inadequate.
Read the full article here for more info on recommended organic and natural hair care products.
KaliLiving 