Green Hair

There's been a lot of news/hype lately about chemicals in beauty products, specifically hair products as seen on GMA and Oprah, to name just a few. I've had a love/hate relationship with my hair since I was old enough to understand that unfortunately, looks matter. It's straight -- I like that -- and baby fine -- hate that. My hairdresser says I know more about hair products than any person she knows including herself. Lately, I've been reading and seeing a lot about the ingredients that go into shampoos and conditioners (and other beauty products) and (a) decided to do some investigating on my own and (b) go in search of some "safer" products that were equal to or better than the chemical induced volumizing gook that I'd been using.

I found out a couple of things: (a) that in spite of comments to the contrary there is no link between SLS's (sodium lauryl sulfate/sulfeth, etc.) and cancer. It's complicated but apparently from both studies and a chemical standpoint it is impossible for SLS's to do what they've been accused of (something to do with nitrogen atoms - check out www.treehugger.com and their article on Eco-Myths, among others, if you don't believe me) other than possibly being irritable to sensitive skin; and (b) that the information about Parabens is true. Parabens are a group of compounds widely used as anti-microbial preservatives in all kinds of products from food to cosmetics and including underarm deodorants. Parabens are absorbed through intact skin and from the gastrointestinal tract and blood. U.K. researchers found measurable concentrations of six different parabens in 20 human breast tumors. Due to this there are, of course, more studies on the table. And there is another common ingredient in a lot of beauty products, ethanolamines (listed most frequently as MEA and DEA which do contain that pesky nitrogen atom which when combined with other ingredients can be cause for concern).

This was just creepy enough for me to want to stop using them (after all I quit smoking 20 years ago so now I'm going to let my shampoo try to kill me?). I didn't hold much hope though of finding anything "safe" that would be kind to my pocketbook and continue to give my hair it's required chemical boost!

I was wrong. Burt's Bees to the rescue!!! I discovered they made volumizing hair products and after several attempts did manage to score some from a Walgreens while on a recent business trip. This stuff is amazing! Very Volumizing Pomegranate & Soy Shampoo and it's companion, Very Volumizing Pomegranate & Soy Conditioner. The Shampoo was only $8/bottle which is a LOT less than I was paying for my salon-type products. It lathers like no tomorrow and has a pretty nice fragrance. The Conditioner has a great consistency, goes on evenly and rinses clean. The only downside is that the Conditioner has a bit of an odd smell . It's not awful, it just isn't pleasant. It rinses out though so there's no worries there.

So congrats to Burt's Bees and for all you fine and thin-haired beauties out there looking for economical and effective hair products with fewer chemicals - no more worries!