Having a beautiful radiant hair depends on multiple factors: your lifestyle, your diet, the place where you live and, of course, using a healthy shampoo and conditioner.
Each element plays an essential role and can have a great impact on how your hair looks. Let’s focus more on the shampoo and conditioner products.
Shampoo and conditioner keep your hair clean and give it that shiny look you like. Yet, in order to keep it healthy, you need products which contain beneficial ingredients.
Healthy shampoo and conditioner products are usually composed of natural ingredients which can have amazing effects on your hair. What’s more, they can be eco-friendly, meaning that using them can cause little to no harm to the environment.
This is also the main difference between regular and healthy hair products. In order to understand it better, let’s look at the ingredients used in regular shampoo and conditioners.
Ingredients used in regular shampoo and conditioner
If you have ever checked the ingredient list behind a shampoo or conditioner, you may have found a list full of names hard to read and understand. Some of the ingredients you may have seen are:
- Sodium lauryl sulfates (SLS)
- Ammonium lauryl sulfate
- Siloxanes
- Myreth sulfate
- Propylene glycol (or what you may know as antifreeze)
- Olefin sulfonate (deodorized kerosene)
We’ve selected a few and explained the effects they have.
Sodium lauryl sulfates, also known as SLS, are chemicals which have been associated with skin and eye irritations. Although these symptoms do not appear to all people, we can find them in various cosmetic products. For this reason, some persons have developed a higher sensitivity to this ingredient.
This chemical can have some effects on the environment as well. As it is released in the waters, the wild flora and fauna consume or absorb it. SLS can cause diverse mutations to animals.
As in the case of SLS, ammonium lauryl sulfate (ALS) has also been linked to causing skin irritations, especially for sensitive people.
Propylene glycol is what you see written on packages as antifreeze. Yet, this ingredient can have some serious side effects such as allergic reactions, irritations, respiratory, kidney and liver-related problems.
Olefin sulfonate has also been linked to skin and scalp irritations. Hair products which contain it have been named strong and caused the hair to become dry.
Benefits of using healthy shampoo and conditioner
As opposed to regular hair products, healthy shampoo and conditioner have some amazing benefits for your hair and the environment.
Natural ingredients
When we speak of natural ingredients we refer to plant-based ones, essential nourishing oils such as aloe vera or coconut oil. They take care of the aspect of your hair and give it that healthy radiant look.
What’s great about them is they can offer excellent protection, can stimulate a natural healthy growth without side effects such as allergies and scalp irritations.
In order to make sure products are suitable for you, check the ingredients list and see if they contain anything you are or may be allergic to.
Some products may contain certain labels such as all natural or organic. Check and see if this is true, especially for the organic products. They need to be certified by a certain authority in order to wear this label. You can look on the company’s website or contact them to verify this information.
Eco-friendly
Instead of using harsh chemicals, healthy shampoos and conditioners go for more eco-friendly natural ingredients. They can be less harmful to the environment and may not affect the flora and fauna.
Depending on the company you are buying from, the products may contain biodegradable ingredients. This means they decompose without causing damaging effects to nature.