Organic Shampoo
I feel like I am one of those people that is CONSTANTLY buying shampoo, conditioner, and soap/body wash. I don’t even wash my hair everyday. However, I am kind of a sucker for specific skin treatments–for example, I have a regular body wash, an exfoliating body wash, and a body wash to keep away acne (I’ll save that topic for another post), a baby body wash, a baby bubble bath…you get the idea. But recently I felt the need to simplify and simultaneously, look at whether the ingredients in my current products could be harmful. Additionally, I figure that if I’m simplifying, I might as well go organic…so I took the leap.
365 Everyday Value Shampoo (image courtesy of Whole Foods)
I would rather purchase something under $5, . So, I bought Whole Foods‘ 365 Everyday Value body wash, shampoo, and conditioner. I don’t think any one bottle was over $2.99, so it’s truly a good value. The only thing that would make it better is if I could refill the bottles in the bulk aise…but I’ll just keep dreaming. They use essential oils to scent what appears to be really simple formulas, so everything smells good in addition to gettin’ the job done, so that’s good.
So, what are the benefits to using organic shampoo? From what I’ve been able to find, the most important being the avoidance of sodium lauryl sulfate. While this stuff isn’t a carcinogen, it’s been found to cause skin, eye, and tooth irritation (it’s used in toothpaste sometimes). Some sources even refer to it as a poison. I am saddened to learn that my Target brand body wash, Johnson’s bedtime bath, Neutrogena Clean Shampoo, and perhaps most sad is Cetaphil cleanser (good acne products are hard to find!)–all of these have SLS. Guess I’ll be dumping these and recycling the bottles. From what I’ve found our Aveeno baby products are SLS-free (but not all Aveeno products are–I noticed that this “Active Naturals” shampoo has ammonium lauryl sulfate, a similar skin irritant, in their ingredients). I’m honestly afraid to look at my Proactiv products…I really don’t want to ditch those.
On my list to try are Kiss My Face and Avalon Organics (we’re already using their tea tree shampoo, but I’m open to more options). Any other suggestions?
