Organic Shampoo Ingredients

Organic Shampoo Ingredients

Do you use organic shampoo?

Then you could be forgiven for believing the ingredients do what they say on the bottle.

The very thought of washing your hair in organic suds is a delight.

Yet sadly, when it comes to your personal hair products, using the word shampoo is a bit of a misnomer.

Many shampoo brands that are labelled organic contain synthetically produced ingredients, such as petrochemicals and detergents.

These are just some of the ingredients in shampoo brands that market themselves as organic.

Organic Shampoo

So why is there such a problem defining the term organic in shampoo?

The biggest problem when it comes to shopping for an organic shampoo, which really does what it says on the bottle, is two-fold:

1. A lack of regulation – shampoo brands can label their products with the word “organic” even if the ingredients list is filled with questionable ingredients.
2. The second reason is that it is hard to label shampoo as organic because, in food, the water percentage cannot calculate the per cent of certified organics present in the product. Yet surprisingly, this does not hold when it comes to your shampoo.

Alarmingly, there has been an influx of companies trying to mislead consumers, so much so that the organic consumer’s agency felt it necessary to quote the following:

When it comes to organic shampoos and soaps, anything that says it is “organic” almost certainly is not.

Shampoos are Often Adulterated

Many organic shampoo brands add many floral, herbal waters and essential oils to their products.

Still, it is the smaller percentage of ingredients such as vitamins, extracts, and antioxidants which are at the root of the problem; it is not difficult for unscrupulous companies to replace organic herbs they originally used with herbs that aren’t organic, and then claim their product to be organic; this is something the Soil Association is currently trying to address.

The other problem is that for an ‘organic shampoo’ to be classified as organic, it needs to be made with an organic soap base.

The only genuinely natural option is saponified organic oils. However, the problem is that organic soap made from saponified organic oils does not create a truly pH-balanced shampoo for long-term human use long or colour-treated hair.

The high pH level of around 10 found in natural soap can cause your hair’s cuticle cells to swell, thus stripping your hair and leaving it looking rough, dull, and lifeless.

To conclude. The naked truth

So what is the answer? What do you look out for when purchasing certified organic shampoo? The soil association has some great guidelines about organic products.

Still, until governing bodies can agree on a global guideline, it comes down to you, the consumer being a savvy buyer and becoming your own label detective.

A tip to look out for is that organic or natural dry shampoo tends to have low suds or may even be completely lather free.

However, these formulas may not create mountains of suds in the way that a traditional salon product does, they clean just as well, and the great thing, they are much healthier for you and the environment.

References

https://guidingbeauty.com/best-organic-shampoos/
https://www.elle.com/beauty/hair/advice/g30272/best-organic-shampoo/
https://www.soilassociation.org/organic-living/beauty-wellbeing/our-certified-brands/haircare/