I spent years searching for hair products that worked well for me, only to find out that most of them contain chemicals that are harmful to my body. Phthalates and parabens are chemicals frequently used in cosmetics. Both are endocrine-disruptors which “disrupt” the reproductive, neurological, and developmental systems. CDC studies on the US population have found the presence of phthalates and parabens in the urine to be widespread. Phthalate levels were found in higher concentrations in women.
Below are the hair and body products I’m using that are Phthalate and paraben free. They are also free of just a whole bunch of other junk that we don’t need in our products.
Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint Castile Soap. My husband and I use this for body wash and for our shampoo. It cleans really well. It doesn’t lather the way standard soap or shampoo lathers because it’s made without sulfates. Lather makes us feel like the product is working but it’s not necessary to get clean.
We also use pure coconut oil as a conditioner. With standard conditioner I would use a couple tablespoons of product but with coconut oil I use two pea sized amounts on my hair after I’ve showered. I melt the oil spreading it over my fingers and then distribute it through one side of my hair, avoiding the roots. I do the same on the other side and then brush my hair to distribute the oil more evenly. If I use anymore than this my hair would be super oily and would need to be washed again. If you have shorter hair, start with less. Coconut oil is also what I use as a skin moisturizer and makeup remover.
Hair styling products free of unwanted chemicals are difficult to find. There is one solution that I have found to work just as well as hairspray. It’s a very simple salt and sugar mixture that I found on a blog post written by Daima Hussain.
Here is the link to the blog post with the original salt and sugar spray recipe: https://chardasuuraj.com/2018/05/17/beauty-tip-14-salt-and-sugar-hair-spray/?v=ef7ad2cb6232.
I love how simple and pure this solution is. It gives my hair great body and hold. The only downside is that the salt pulls moisture from the hair. So I don’t use this solution every day, just on days when I want my hair to look its best. And with that I am being sure to moisturize before and after using the salt and sugar spray to both protect and restore the moisture in my hair. The blog says the spray has a 15 day shelf life.
There are other products out there that are free of harmful chemicals. I see the industry picking up on the demand for that. If you would like to look into more options I have found an awesome resource that can help you do this. You can go to ewg.org/skindeep This is a database of over 90k products, their ingredients, and the hazard level of each ingredient. It offers a quick overview as well as in-depth information. Even if the product you are interested in is not in the database, you can still look up the individual ingredients using this resource.
I don’t want to make it seem like this is only way that we are exposed to endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Eliminating them from your hair and body products is a great first step. Keep in mind phthalates are also used in some plastics and vinyl products. BPA is one of the more well-known endocrine-disrupting chemicals that has been widely used and if you would like to learn more I recommend reading Count Down by Shanna H. Swan. She discusses these chemicals and their effect on fertility.
And lastly It can seem like too much work to avoid these chemicals because we rely so heavily on products that contain them. And if everyone is using them, are they really that bad? Well, at one point lead was widely used in paint, asbestos was widely used in construction materials, and originally people didn’t know how bad cigarettes are for your health. The likelihood of there being other harmful substances that are worth the inconvenience of avoiding, is high. Especially when companies are focused on profits, and consumers are focused on price and convenience.
So I invite you to ask questions.
I also invite you to share products that you know are free of harmful chemicals by commenting on the YouTube video linked in this blog post. You may know of products that I would never stumble upon and I’d love for you to share those so others can find those options.
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