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What You Need To Know About Shampoo
Did you ever wonder how we got started down the path of using so many synthetic chemicals in so many products that we use each day – even including our shampoo? Years ago, people shampooed their hair with soaps and cleansers that were natural. Back then the shampoos used didn’t contain an ingredients list that included things like sodium laurel sulfate or propylene glycol or methyl and propyl parabens….What changed? Why did we stop using natural cleansers and soaps? Today, these and many more synthetic chemicals are present in almost every shampoo, soap, and cleaning product on Earth.
It seems that the change took place in the 1940’s. Before then, all soaps, cleansers and detergents were derived from natural fatty oils, (i.e. coconut oil and palm oil etc…). The development of formulating detergents and soaps from synthetic chemicals instead of these safer natural fatty oils can be traced to World War II. During World War II, German chemists invented the process of synthesizing detergents from petroleum because they were under an intense economic blockade by our allies and did not have access to enough natural fatty oils to meet their detergent needs. They found that their new petroleum derived detergents were much more powerful and therefore more effective for removing dirt, grease and oil from machinery than the milder ones derived from natural fatty oils. In addition, the petroleum detergents were less expensive to manufacture than the natural fatty oil detergents.
But, while petroleum derived detergents can de-grease any machine quickly and efficiently, they should never have been added to shampoos and other personal care products because they are toxic for humans. When these petroleum based chemical detergents are inserted into shampoos, soaps, and cleaning products, they remove the healthy and necessary components of hair and skin along with the dirt and oil. In fact, they completely strip the hair and scalp of all its oil and moisture which then impairs proper blood circulation thereby damaging the scalp and hair. This doesn’t even address the internal damage they do when they are absorbed through skin and stored in body tissues.
Most of the hair and scalp problems that people experience today are caused by shampoos containing these toxic synthetic detergents and alcohols like sodium lauryl sulfate, or any derivative of lauryl alcohol or olefin sulfinate, murreth sulfate and others.
The most common of these synthetic degreasers is Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS). SLS has been found to cause improper eye formation in children, according to Dr. Keith Green of the Medical School of Georgia. It also can delay wound healing in the eye, and if used over time will build up in the internal organs and contribute to many different diseases. SLS causes skin to become dry and flakey and rough, and in fact is used as a laboratory standard for contact dermatitis. This means that when a scientist wants to test a new chemical for its ability to irritate the skin, they will compare it to a common known skin irritant – Sodium Lauryl Sulfate.
Some companies have tried to make the SLS less abrasive while enhancing it’s foaming ability by using a process called Ethoxylation. While this sounds like an admirable goal, ethoxylation can create an even more toxic chemical 1,4 dioxane, which will further contaminate the product and ultimately, the user. Because 1,4 dioxane is a toxic mimic of estrogen it is considered a hormone disruptor and may increase the incidence of many cancers.
In addition to these detergents many other toxic chemicals are added to shampoos (like propylene glycol, quaternium-15, etc…) that further stress the hair follicle, scalp and oil glands causing even more problems. It is estimated that one out of 6 women and 1 out of 3 men suffer from premature hair loss today, one out of 5 people suffer from dandruff, and still many others complain of flakey or itchy scalp. Most of these conditions are caused by toxic shampoos.
According to Dr. Samuel Epstein in The Safe Shopper’s Bible: "The best way to protect yourself is to recognize ingredients most likely to be contaminated with 1,4-dioxane. These include ingredients with the prefix word, or syllable PEG, Polyethylene, Polyethylene Glycol, Polyoxyethylene, eth (as in sodium laureth sulphate) or oxynol. Both polysorbate 60 and polysorbate 80 may also be contaminated with 1,4-dioxane.” Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have found that an ingredient found in shampoos ( methylisothaizoline – MIT) can cause neurological system damage.
Be aware of what is in the products that you are applying to your skin or hair. Be sure to read the ingredients list of the shampoos and other products that you and your family use. If you read an ingredient that you can’t pronounce or wouldn’t eat…think twice. Consider this: when you rub a product onto your skin, most of it is absorbed into your body. Think about it. Also think about the fact that the human body cannot break down synthetic chemicals so it must store them in the body. After these chemicals reach a certain toxic threshold they start to suppress the immune system until you get sick.
© Copyright 2007 by Cynthia Drasler, MBA. Permission is granted to use this article in whole or in part only if Cynthia Drasler and www.OrganicExcellence.com is referenced as the source.
