Natural Shampoo Brands

[GreenT]

Hi, does anyone recommend a good all natural shampoo brand? I have pretty much went all natural with soap, oils, lotions, deodorant, toothpaste etc. I tried looking at Whole Foods but they have so many brands to chose from and most of them had ingredients that didn't look natural...it was a bit overwhelming trying to read through them all lol...Anyone have good success with one that you can recommend??

[Mary Kay]

I'm on the same quest. Here is a list I copied a couple yrs ago, so it may not be quite up-to-date. And I wonder about Avalon because I was desperate and bought some shampoo at Whole Foods, which says "70%" organic....So what? the other 30% are harsh chemicals? IDK.

I once bought a $22 bottle of organic shampoo from Young Living (the people who make ssential oils), and my kids poured the entire bottle into the tub for a bubble bath....LOL...But I may try some again now that they're older.

Anyway, here's the list...just remember it's old:

Join the Organic Consumers Association's boycott of brands

The OCA maintains a boycott against the following brands, which it characterizes as "fake organic brands":

• Avalon "Organics"
• Desert Essence "Organics"
• Earth's Best "Organic"
• Eminence "Organic" (Except Few w/USDA Seal)
• Giovanni "Organic"
• Goodstuff "Organics"
• Head "Organics"
• Jason "Pure, Natural & Organic"
• Kiss My Face "Obsessively Organic"
• Nature's Gate "Organics"
• Physicians Formula "Organic" Wear
• Stella McCartney "100% Organic"

NaturalNews urges readers to join in this boycott and avoid buying these brands until they reformulate to be truly organic (USDA organic). Note carefully that even the Kiss My Face "Obsessively Organic" products are not considered truly organic by the OCA. Don't trust product names alone, as brand names and product names may be misleading.

Good organic brands to buy

Here are some of the honest organic brands you may wish to support through the purchasing of their products:

• Alteya Organics
• Baby Bear Shop
• Badger
• Brittanie's Thyme
• Bubble and Bee Organic
• Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps
• Earth Mama Angel Baby
• Indian Meadow Herbals
• Intelligent Nutrients
• Kimberly Parry Organics
• Little Angel
• Mercola
• Miessence Certified Organics
• Nature's Paradise
• OGmama and OGbaby
• Organicare
• Organic Essence
• Origins Organics
• Purely Shea
• Rose Tattoo Aftercare
• SoCal Cleanse
• Sensibility Soaps / Nourish
• Terressentials
• Trillium Organics
• Vermont Soap


HTH,

Mary Kay I'm thinking I may try Miessence

[sport]

http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/
This is a link to the Environmental Working Group's site. Browse it and save it. They let you check up on all of the products.

[GreenT]

WOW you two!! THANKS :excited:

[Dimond]

It's better to just wash your hair with conditioner anyhow. If you do a search for co-washing you can find tons of info. I also wrote a brief description of it on my website. The best natural companies are on the internet. There's many that use 100% natural ingredients, some organic, some vegan.

[MyRedPanda]

I don't use shampoo. I use instead baking soda for the wash and apple cider vinegar for the conditioning step. Its called "no-poo". You can google it and read all about it, but the basic premise is that shampoo contains toxic chemicals. The main reason I went no poo though is more due to the cost of manufacturing and all the petrochemicals necessary to make the bottle, ship the bottle, plus then I have to recycle the bottle. With baking soda there is much less waste AND its really, really cheap. To top it off my hair is more beautiful and tangle free and easy to care for than it has ever been in my entire life. I have been sans shampoo for about six months or so now, I honestly do not miss it. Its really easy, you just mix 1 tsp baking soda in 1 cup of water, dissolve, and then use a peri or squirt bottle to slowly work the mixture from your roots to your ends. Then rinse really well and repeat with the same mixture of apple cider vinegar and water. I use a large toothed comb for my hair to comb during the conditioning step. If you have hard water like we do you should boil the water first, then add the baking soda. It will fizz and then go into solution. Do the same for the apple cider vinegar mixture. I make my batch of "shampoo" and "conditioner" on Sunday to have for the week. I typically no-poo twice each week. This is what my hair looks like no poo: (kind of difficult to see, but my hair is really long and I love this method more than anything I have tried).

http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/2104/img0576w.th.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/849/img0576w.jpg/) Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

[Mary Kay]

I just got a bar soap/shampoo....tried it and it seemed to be okay, but now brushing it sev'l days later, there is a coating of soap residue in my hairbrush and I feel it in my hair.

I've tried Dr. Bronners with the same results.

Okay, okay MyRedPanda --I've heard of this method for sev'l years and have never given it a try. You've twisted my arm!!!

I'll let you know my results!

Mary Kay

[Mary Kay]

Just re-read your post, MyRed Panda ---what does boiling your hard water accomplish? We also have hard water.

Thanks,

Mary Kay

[MyRedPanda]

Mary Kay, boiling the water enables the baking soda to more readily go into solution phase. With hard water dissolving baking soda is difficult. However, upon heating it becomes easier. You know the soda goes into solution when it fizzes.

Why does it fizz, you ask? Well, endothermic reactions require heating. Baking soda is NaHCO3 and water is H2O. Added together you get NaOH and H2CO3 which are sodium hydroxide and carbonic acid.

NaHCO3 + HOH ---> Na^+1 (aq) + OH^-1 (aq) + H2CO3 (aq)

H2CO3 (aq) ---> CO2 (g) + H2O (l)

Carbonic acid is the fizz in soda. Eventually the mixture releases CO2 gas when the H2CO3 breaks down into H2O and CO2. This happens more rapidly upon heating, so there is CO2 released in the form of gas (fizz). If you just added it to room temp. water, some NaHCO3 would go into solution, and H2CO3 would be produced, and the H2CO3 would slowly decompose into CO2(g) but the fizz would occur gradually over time. Heat just expedites the process and enables more NaHCO3 to go into solution.

When you just add the baking soda to plain old hard water without first heating it, you will end up with a slimy, oily film on your hair that is nearly impossible to rinse off. This is because not all the NaHCo3 went into solution, and so it is remaining as a film on your hair. ICK!

I know many things online say this is the "detox period" in which you hair is "getting rid of all the chemicals on it" from using regular shampoo, but for me I knew this was not the case because already I was only using shampoo once or twice a week, so I knew it had to be something with my hard water. Once I started boiling the water before the addition of the baking soda it solved the problem, and now my hair is soft :)

Hope this answers your question.

[Mary Kay]

MyRedPanda,

Cool! I received a little chemistry dissertation along with my answer! THANKS!

Okay, so let me get this straight. I'll boil a cup of water then add darn - forgot...how much baking soda? While it's still hot?

then I'll mix up how much apple cider in a cup of water? I don't need to heat or do anything with that, right? I make my own apple cider - dh is an apple farmer - and it's STRONG. So I'd prob have to use less.

My hair is currently dirty and we literally have drops of shampoo left, so once I get the answer, I'm going to finally give it a try, after you've now twisted both my arms!!

Thanks again,

Mary Kay

[Mary Kay]

UN BAH LIEVABLE!!!!!

I finally tried baking soda today, and my hair is lovely!

So I'm a little ignorant and stupid, I think!!!

Ignorant is when you don't know any better (I never knew how well this would work)

Stupid is when you've been told/should have known better. (I've been told to try this numerous times over the years, but didn't believe it. Others have said that soap, like Dr. Bronner's works, when I felt it left a film on my hair., so I just didn't believe that the baking soda would work so well.)

Sheesh. Maybe now I should go and delete my list of organic shampoos. They are absolutely not needed!

But tell me, do you really need to do the vinegar rinse? What if you don't? My hair felt squeaky clean right after rinsing the baking soda out, before I did the vinegar/water rinse.

Thanks!!!

Mary Kay

[CathyA.]

I'm sold too. Going to try this out this weekend. Sick of trying to find the right organics for my hair care.

[pemaom]

Wow Mary Kay, thank you for that amazing list! So helpful...

She forgot Morrocco Method on her list of truly organic shampoos. Their shampoos are all excellent and I have used all of them (as the company recommends to alternate all 4 shampoos, one each time in any order). They complement each other very well. They all do different things such as flush out debris, restore a healthy pH, reverse hair thinning or hair loss and rejuvenate your hair and scalp and they are all excellent. Their brand is 100% natural, pure, raw vegan, gluten free and fair trade (which is such an added bonus!). Check them out, I am certain you will be so pleased :) I started with one of their products many years ago and now I use all of them. Good luck!

[AngelM]

LOL! Again, I agree with Pemaom.

My sister and I started making our own shampoos, conditioners, masks and even toothpaste about a year ago. One day I decided I wanted to see if their were companies out there who really devoted their time and resources to creating products that were eco-conscious. What sold me on Morrocco Method was the ingredients list. Exotic and wonderful stuff that smells great and works just as well!