The following is part of an Organic Living Journey Guest Post Series now written by Mariana who has a mother’s heart and scientist’s brain.

It’s summertime. I don’t know about you, but my hair has been fighting (or giving into) the frizz lately. So this week, we’re going to give our hair a little attention and take a look at shampoo! This is an industry with thousands of choices: normal hair, oily hair, troubled scalp, color-treated, curly, dry, fine or thick. Prices range from bargain ($0.07 per ounce) to boutique ($7.00 per ounce), all essentially doing the same thing: washing your hair. There’s a lot of personal preference and individual needs that go into selecting your hair care products. I’m thankful for all the choices, but it leaves me wondering, “what am I paying for?”

We’re going to take a look at a few different things. As much as I’d like to research whether $60 shampoo is worth it, I’m going to focus on the health issues behind the products:

• how does shampoo work?
• are more expensive shampoos healthier and/or better?
• what are the alternatives to traditional shampoo?

When Good Hair Gets Dirty

I used to think I had oily hair. It was long, relatively straight and kinda thick. I would wash it, dry it, and repeat…day after day. If I skipped a day, my roots would look greasy and not even a ponytail or bun would help. About 12 years ago, a friend told me that she only washed her hair once or twice a week, and if I started skipping a wash, my hair would be less oily over time. She was a model with lovely hair, but I was still skeptical and kept my washing routine.

Then I had kids.

My routine got rocked, and I ended up skipping a wash. After a few months in this new survival routine, I realized, my hair wasn’t oily anymore. Nowadays, I’m able to get 2-3 days between washes before my roots look icky. I’ve talked to other women who’ve experienced the same thing.

So, what’s the science behind this? When you shampoo your hair, soaps and detergents bind to and wash away all oils and dirt. All of ‘em. Your scalp is designed to secrete oils to protect your hair. If you wash those oils away, your scalp increases production, leaving you with more oil than normal. Fortunately, you can retrain your scalp for normal oil production and shut down the excess oil factory by stretching out the time between washes.

Overwashing strips the oil and also dries out the hair- like when you wash your favorite t-shirt to death, it wears out quickly. Traditional shampoos are detergents, designed to give you an awesome lather and a clean feeling, but they don’t leave your hair any healthier. In fact, if you are sensitive to any of the chemicals in shampoo, you can develop skin reactions like mild rashes, dry scalp, dandruff, etc. in addition to stripping your hair of healthy oils.

I love having clean, healthy hair that smells nice (who doesn’t?), but I don’t love how traditional shampoos…

• strip my hair’s healthy oils
• take up tons of landfill space (the bottles, obviously). One report says that shampoo bottles account for 25% of landfill usage.
• cost $10-30 for a quality product
• contain some questionable chemicals like sulfates (SLS), DEA/Diethanolamine, parabens, mineral oil, phthalates, fragrance, and artificial dyes [note – we discussed some of these chemicals last week, so I’m not going to bore you with those details again]. Though shampoos don’t spend a lot of time on our skin, they are still used almost every day of our lives, increasing our overall exposure. Sometimes it gets in our mouths or eyes, both highly absorbent tissues.

Is there another way to clean hair without harsh detergents and toxins? Thankfully, yes. Here are three routes to explore:

1. Go sulfate-free – sulfate-free shampoos are becoming easy to find. Potential toxicity issues aside, sodium lauryl sulphate is a salt compound, and it will dry out your hair and scalp over time, stripping any hair dyes along with it. However, read labels closely. Many advertise “sodium lauryl sulfate free” but still use other detergents as foaming agents. Some sneaky labels will also use one of SLS’s aliases; watch for these too: Sodium Laureth Sulphate, Sodium Diethylene Glycol, Lauryl Ether Sulfate, Alkyl Ether Sulfate, Sodium Dodecyl Polyoxyethylene Sulfate, Sodium Lauryl Ethoxysulfate and Sodium Polyoxyethylene Lauryl Sulfate. SLS-free products may still contain parabens, phthalates, and fragrance, which in my opinion are a greater toxicity concern.

2. Organic or natural products – these products actually contain organic or natural (plant-derived) ingredients. This does not guarantee a 100% natural product. You’ll see some shampoos made with aloe, various oils, plant extracts, and exotic ingredients supposedly from the Amazon rainforest. As with all products, constant vigilance should be applied to organic shampoos too. Watch the ingredients list for harsh detergents, parabens, phthalates, and especially fragrance. Most of the “natural” shampoos I found were relatively “clean” but many used fragrance.

3. No ‘poo for you – y’all, I thought this was so extreme when I first heard about it, but it seems kinda cool…you don’t need a traditional shampoo at all. The “no ‘poo” movement replaces shampoos with a solution of baking soda and water and conditioner with a water/vinegar rinse. That’s it. The baking soda is alkaline and gently cleanses the hair, leaving the natural oils and keeping the hair shaft in tact. Here is one blogger’s no ‘poo story.

Shopping Around

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