Glycerine Soap

[durabone]

Back after my final exam. Ouch, but it's done.
Haven't caught up much, but thought I'd offer this:

Skin much softer and cozier when using only glycerin soap.

Most other soaps are based on Sodum TEA Lauryl Sulfate it seems.

The 70 yr. old woman who lives near me when asked why
her skin is so amazing: "I use glycerine soap!"

So I tried it. No more post shower itch. I didn't even realize
that there was an itch and dryness until I switched. FWIW.

 

[Renaissance]

If you have real sensitive skin, you'll not want to use glycerin soap as it contains alcohol, which can cause a problem from some. It probably works for many though because it is real soap and most all commercial soaps are actually detergents. Real soap goes through a saponification process where fat and acid react with one another - which provide for much healthier skin. Homemade soap is a great treat for your skin and you can find it in niche stores and some farmers markets.

 

[manitoban]

If you have real sensitive skin, you'll not want to use glycerin soap as it contains alcohol, which can cause a problem from some. It probably works for many though because it is real soap and most all commercial soaps are actually detergents. Real soap goes through a saponification process where fat and acid react with one another - which provide for much healthier skin. Homemade soap is a great treat for your skin and you can find it in niche stores and some farmers markets.

Coudn't agree more - natural soap leaves your skin soft and clean - and doesn't have all those nasty chemicals that they add to commercial soap to make it lather and smell nice. Many, many soaps and skin care products are filled with toxins. I have looked up some products on this site I found which reviews ingredients of various skin products and it is not pleasant reading but maybe worth a look. http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/about.php

 

[Aiming]

As far as I (think to) know, glycerine is a harmful ingredient.

Check this:
from _http://www.natural-health-information-centre.com/glycerin.html

Glycerin is a syrupy liquid that is chemically produced by combining water and fat. It is used as a solvent and a plasticiser.

Unless the humidity of air is over 65%, glycerin draws moisture from the lower layers of the skin and holds it on the surface, drying the skin from the inside out.

Known health effects: Serious risks if ingested.

The vast majority of skin care, hair care and other products marketed as "moisturising", "hydrating" or "replenishing" use glycerin as one of their main active ingredients. It is clear from the data above, that this is a myth, resulting in an increased level of moisture at the surface of the skin at the expense of drying out the deep, sensitive, newly formed skin in the basal layers.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that if you keep drying out the skin from the inside out, it will get progressively worse!

Commonly found in:

hand cream
soap
moisturising lotion / bars (that's rich!)
eye colour
baby lotion!
shampoo
hydrating fluid
after shave
toothpaste
cold cream
shave cream
insect repellant
sun cream
mascara
Also in

Car glaze
Leather cream
copper ceaner
Paint cleaner

and this:
from _http://www.healthy-communications.com/harmfulingredients1.html

GLYCERIN (Material Safety Data sheet)

MYTH: Promoted as being a beneficial humectant.

FACT: This is a clear, syrupy liquid made by chemically combining water and fat. The water splits the fat into smaller components – glycerol and fatty acids. It improves the spreading qualities of creams and lotions and prevents them from losing water through evaporation. Glycerin, however, has a tendency to draw water out of the skin and so can make dry skin dryer (Chase). A solvent, humectant and emollient in many cosmetics, it absorbs moisture from the air and therefore helps keep moisture in creams and other products, even if the consumer leaves the cap off the container (Winter). SEE HUMECTANTS. Unless the humidity of the air is over 65%, glycerin will pull the moisture out of the skin, drying you from the inside out.

GLYCERIN (synthetic)(MSDS)
Draws moisture from inside the skin, and holds it on the surface for a better "feel". Dries skin from the inside out. Listed on MSDS as hazardous

So I cannot see any reason to use a glycerine soap, as your skin may look beautiful and may feel soft from the outside, because it is sealed up by the glycerine, which is quite disadvantageous, as the skin needs to breathe!

As an aside (because I'm recently thinking about adjusting to a 100% natural shampoo), glycerine is also used in shampoos, and what it actually does is sealing up the hair structure (have no data, just being told from a cosmetician and a hairdresser, but I'll try to find some data). The cosmetician told me that glycerine is one of the reasons why one cannot simply switch to 100% natural shampoos, because after a life-long exposure to all the chemicals in cosmetics, the hair is full of those chemicals (and sealed up by the glycerine, so that the chemicals stay inside). The hair we have is not our natural hair but its looks and touch are the result of chemicals. In order to change to a 100% natural shampoo you first of all need to rid your hair of the chemicals and it needs around a month's time for the hair and scalp to adjust and for them to start to work naturally again. This adjustment phase is said to be pretty unpleasant, as one is having a constant feeling of oily/dirty hair.
(Well, we know about 'adjustment' phases, don't we? As in detox reactions, for example..)

 

[bltay]

... In order to change to a 100% natural shampoo you first of all need to rid your hair of the chemicals and it needs around a month's time for the hair and scalp to adjust and for them to start to work naturally again. This adjustment phase is said to be pretty unpleasant, as one is having a constant feeling of oily/dirty hair.
(Well, we know about 'adjustment' phases, don't we? As in detox reactions, for example..)

Hi essence

Would you please provide some info on the procedure to adjust to natural shampoo? Do you just start using natural shampoo and go through a detox period or is there something else to do during this detox time period?

 

[Vulcan59]

FWIW I haven't used shampoo for almost 2 years now and I feel great. Hair feels fine and the scalp doesn't itch anymore. I go to the hair saloon about once in 2 or 3 months to get a trim and on my last trip there, got to chatting with the hairdresser because she commented that my hair felt very 'soft and nice' and asked what shampoo I was using. She just couldn't believe it when I told her that I have not been using shampoo for quite sometime!!

 

[gwb1995]

Vulcan59,

What do you use to clean your hair? I am thinking you are only using some type of natural soap.

gwb

 

[Pierre]

Most other soaps are based on Sodum TEA Lauryl Sulfate it seems.

Here's an article about Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) toxicity :

Now lets talk about the chemistry of SLS and ALS. Both use coconut oil
as the back bone of the molecule In the case of SLS, the coconut oil is reacted
with one atom, Sodium (Na) and one molecule Sulfate (So) (i.e.: one molecule of
sulfur and 4 molecules of oxygen makes sulfate) in a complicated reaction process.

The resulting molecule SLS then has properties according to the size and skeletal
structure of the combining atoms and molecules. In the case of SLS, it has a small
molecular weight that will allow it to penetrate through the skin even into the
blood stream and thus will be carried and enter into every organ in the body, heart,
brain, liver, eyes etc. SLS has aggressive properties due to many unstable (unpaired)
electrons. This causes SLS to react aggressively with many compounds it comes in
contact with. With soils its corrosive action breaks down greases, proteins and
many other contaminates.

SLS is used world wide as the standard irritant for biological research on the
skin and other bodily systems. On a scale of 0 to 10 for surfactant irritation,
SLS is rated as a 10. Water would be rated 0. ALS would be at a 4 rating.

SLS denatures proteins, which causes skin and eye damage. It also can react
with nitrogen bearing molecules to form carcinogenic nitrates. If SLS is combined
with a long chain alcohol molecule (called ethoxylation) to create higher foam
levels; it becomes known as SLES (Sodium Lauryl Ether Sulfate or Sodium Laureth
Sulfate) SLES can reacts with ingredients to form both carcinogenic nitrates and
the even more potentially dangerous carcinogenic dioxin. Tests in Germany have
shown that SLES can cause hair loss.

 

[Vulcan59]

Vulcan59,

What do you use to clean your hair? I am thinking you are only using some type of natural soap.

gwb

Nothing, just warm plain water (with fluoride, unfortunately).

 

[Nienna]

I made soap, once, with a friend. It was the most wonderful soap I have ever used. My friend ended up losing interest but wanted to keep the utensils and I basically forgot about it.

Not long ago, I purchased my own soapmaking book simply because, as I said, it was the best soap I had ever used. However, because of other concerns, I have not had the time to really read the book or to make any soap. It's on my to-do list. ;)

I thought I'd look up what my book has to say about glycerin since this book is for making all-natural soaps (cold-pressed soaps).

The Soapmaker's Companion[/i]]Hydrolysis is the process that breaks down fats and oils into useful parts. All esters, including glycerides, can be split by the absorption of water into their components, glycerin and an acid. The splitting of triglyceride into its constituent bodies is called hydrolysis. In the following formula, tristearin is a triglyceride and stearic acid is a fatty acid.

C3H5(C18H35)s)3 + 3H2O = C3H5(OH)3 + 3HC18H35O2
tristearin water glycerin stearic acid

The water in a soapmaking formula carries the sodium hydroxide to all corners of the pan, and then participates in hydrolysis. When fats and water are mixed together, only a little oil dissolves in the water. That is, plain water will hydrolyze (split apart) fats and oils only slightly. That's why water and oil don't mix well. That's why sodium hydroxide must be added to the water.

During hydrolysis, the hydroxide ions in the lye solution attack the carbon in the carboxyl end of the fatty acids, breaking off one fatty acid at a time from the triglyceride. Each released fatty acid is then free to react with the sodium ion to make soap. Three hydroxide ions react with the glycerol to make glycerin.

[As you can see, in cold-pressed soapmaking, the glycerin is made naturally during the soapmaking process.]

Hydrolysis proceeds in three different stages. First, the water and sodium hydroxide solution act upon the triglyceride and split it into a diglyceride - two fatty acids and glycerol - freeing one fatty acid which is then available to react with sodium to make soap. This little bit of soap made during the first stage acts as an emulsifier and pulls other components into the soapmaking reaction. During the second stage, the water and sodium hydroxide solution split the diglyceride into a monoglyceride - one fatty acid and glycerol - freeing up another fatty acid to make more soap. Finally, in the third stage, the water and sodium hydroxide solution split the monoglyceride into glycerol and a separate fatty acid, completing the conversion of the original triglyceride into its separate fatty acids and free glycerol. The free glycerol reacts with three hydroxide molecules from the lye solution to form glycerin.

The book also talks about this author's definition of glycerin soap vs. let's call them commercial soapmakers.

Transparent soap has become synonymous with glycerin soap, and yet there is a distinction to be made. Under the umbrella of "glycerin soap" fall many soaps, including transparent. The cold-process opaque soaps described in Chapter 1 and in The Natural Soap Book are glycerin soaps, because they retain the glycerin produced during saponification. Some soap manufacturers, who make soap using fatty acids that have been split from the glycerol portion of the triglyceride, add glycerin - usually a synthetic glycerin - to their soap formulas and call the results glycerin soaps. And some companies label their translucent and transparent soaps as glycerin soaps because they contain various polyols (kinds of alcohols), one of which is often glycerin.

I distinguish between glycerin/opaque soap, translucent soap, and transparent soap. I define glycerin soap as cold-process opaque soap that retains the natural glycerin produced during the soapmaking process. This opaque soap diffuses light and does not allow any to pass through. Translucent soap is neither opaque nor transparent; it scatters some light, but allows a little to pass through, as a lampshade does. A deep haze keeps translucent soap from being see-through, though it is clearer than opaque soap. Transparent soap is the clearest of all. It transmits light with little scattering, so some objects beyond are visible. A person with good vision should be able to see large objects through a transparent bar of soap. Within the industry, a generally accepted standard defines transparency: The 14-point print on a business card should be legible through a 1/4-inch (.6-cm) slice of transparent soap. The bar as a whole will be light and glossy and free of obstruction, though not as perfectly clear as a slice of the bar.

She makes one more comment about transparent soaps, which industrial/commercial soapmakers call glycerin soap.

Though these bars are rare among cold-process soapmakers, they've been produced industrially for a long time, with varying degrees of popularity. On the whole, transparent soap has never been as popular as other soaps, because it does not last as long and is typically more expensive. Still, because people think of it as "natural," it is revived with other natural products during each back-to-basics movement.

So, all in all, it would seem that the best soap is the homemade, cold-process soaps. And even here you have to be careful. Tom's and Burt's Bees used to be homemade products, but has been bought out by big industry.

Until I have the time to make my own soap, I have asked the people who work at my local health supply store which soaps they recommend. And it just so happens that they carry a brand of soap that is homemade in the city in which I live.

My main point is that glycerin is only bad, I think, when it is synthetic glycerin, as stated above.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[rrraven]

what did people use as cleanser before?
the answer is ghassoul(pronounced rasul) silt from the atlas mountains
i found this site
-http://www.alibaba.com/product/nomedian-103531334-10853577/Natural_Ghassoul_Shampoo.html

Used since centuries to clean the hair and the body. It is an essential component of the hammam culture. Ghassoul is Composed of calcium and aluminum, iron, magnesium, silica ions, its washing action is completely different from that of standard shampoo or a soap. Like a blotter, the GHASSOUL fixes and absorbs the particles of grease and impurities, dead cells and dust.
The GHASSOUL Shampoo cleans carefully and in-depth. It replaces the traditional shampoo or the freezing-shower by a softer washing. Moreover it gives one inflating astonishing aspect to the hair. we resume all Ghassoul vertues in our natural shampoo, perfumed with natural essences and rose water. Just Try it. you will love it.

after all the word shampoo comes from the Moroccan bath attendant for King George ,he may well have called it ghassoul but the English couldn't pronounce it.
i have tried it myself when i was in Morocco and it does work very well
i also wash with a rock...one i picked myself from a river near here, about the size of a cake of soap ,not too rough and not too smooth,gets the dead skin off beautifully
RRR

 

[Aiming]

... In order to change to a 100% natural shampoo you first of all need to rid your hair of the chemicals and it needs around a month's time for the hair and scalp to adjust and for them to start to work naturally again. This adjustment phase is said to be pretty unpleasant, as one is having a constant feeling of oily/dirty hair.
(Well, we know about 'adjustment' phases, don't we? As in detox reactions, for example..)

Hi essence

Would you please provide some info on the procedure to adjust to natural shampoo? Do you just start using natural shampoo and go through a detox period or is there something else to do during this detox time period?

Hi bltay,

That's exactly what I'm trying to find out myself. On the i-net I couldn't find much.

from:_http://www.synthesis345.com/products/hair_care.html

Adjusting to natural and organic hair care

For eons, hair was cared for with only natural, plant-based ingredients. These days many of us have become accustomed to the use of synthetics. These may give appealing instant results, but sacrifice the natural balance of the hair and expose us to potentially harmful chemicals.

It can take up to 4 weeks for chemically exposed hair to adjust to a natural product. This many be less depending on the condition of your hair, and if you shower in filtered water. During this time your hair will be ridding itself of the chemical build-up – a detox for your hair! Some people may experience increased heaviness, oiliness or even dryness whilst the hair re-balances.

Natural Hair Care Tips:
*For a deep treatment, leave Thousand Ships Conditioner or Hair Oil on overnight and rinse off in the morning. (This quote is from a shop that sells 100% pure natural hair care products, also for transitional phase - I'm neither associated with them nor have I tried their products, but it seems to be worth a try.)
*Apply a small amount of Thousand Ships Conditioner or Hair Oil or Light Haven Oil to dry ends and leave on.
*Stress can play havoc with hair health, making the blood vessels contract, limiting the flow of nutrients. Take time therefore to regularly massage your head and scalp to help encourage healthy circulation.
* If your hair has been exposed to harsh chemicals and synthetic styling aids, try using a clarifying apple cider vinegar rinse. Dilute a cup of Organic Apple Cider Vinegar in a litre of water and keep pre-mixed in your shower to use after shampooing. This rinse helps quicken the restoration of the acid/alkali balance of the scalp and further clean and remove build up of toxins in the hair.
* We recommend using a shower filter, which removes heavy metals and other unseen contaminants found in most water supplies, for the sake of the health of your hair and whole body. This will also help you gain the maximum benefit from natural products. It has been found that “showers lead to a greater exposure to toxic chemicals in water supplies than drinking the water” (Ian Anderson New Scientist) and a professor of Water Chemistry at the University of Pittsburg U.S.A. claims that exposure to vaporised chemicals through showering, bathing and inhalation is 100 times greater than drinking water! (The Nader Report - Troubled Waters on Tap)

from:_http://www.ehow.com/how_4512551_green-homemade-hair-care-tips.html

How to Go Green with Homemade Hair Care Tip

Step1 Clean your hair with baking soda. Baking soda is one of those miracle cleaners. It’s touted for cleaning everything from your teeth to the kitchen sink. It works on hair as well, ridding your hair of styling treatment buildup and residue. Just rub a palm sized amount of baking soda on wet hair and scalp and rinse. If you’re not ready to quit commercial shampoo cold turkey, add a couple tablespoons of baking to your regular shampoo, then lather and rinse as usual.

Step2 Make a dry shampoo with cornstarch. Just sprinkle a little cornstarch near the roots and fluff your hair with your fingers to spread the cornstarch evenly. Comb out the excess and style as usual. This is environmentally friendly on two counts; it helps lengthen the time between shampoos, saving water, and it helps avoid those pesky chemicals going down the drain.

Step3 Give your hair a lift with beer. Pour a cup of beer on clean wet hair, dry and style as usual. You can rinse the beer out if the smell bothers you, but the beer scent usually doesn’t last long, and your hair will be shiny and manageable.

Step4 For super shiny hair, use a white vinegar rinse. Just add a couple tablespoons of vinegar to a cup of cool water and use as a rinse. Just like the beer, the smell will dissipate pretty quickly.

Step5 Grab the mayo for a deep condition. Use a half cup of mayonnaise on your hair. Use a wide tooth comb to saturate all the strands and leave the mayo on for 20 to 30 minutes. Then shampoo and rinse as usual. The key to getting silky hair and not clumpy hair is to put the shampoo directly on the mayo and lather before you rinse.

Step6 Keep your brown hair looking rich with a coffee rinse. This is a great way to use that leftover coffee. Pour a couple of cups of cool or lukewarm coffee on clean hair and rinse.

Step7 Help the environment and make your blonde hair vibrant with chamomile tea. Brew the tea as usual and let it cool then pour it on your hair. There is no need to rinse it out as it smells great too.

Step8 To help cover grey hair, make a sage tea. Use a couple of teaspoons of sage per cup of water and brew up a tea. Allow it to cool then use it as a rinse.

I couldn't find anything detailled on the transition to natural shampoos as yet.
So for now I can only present what the cosmetician told me about it:

What will get the toxins out of the hair is using a mineral soil. She recommended to use "White Lava Soil" from an organic cosmetic firm called Logona (am not associated with them), made of Kaolin and Montmorillonite (powder). The ready-to-use lava wash cream has only added water, essential oils, nelumbo nucifera extract and limonene.

Montmorillonite

is the main constituent of the volcanic ash weathering product, bentonite.(from wiki)

.
Yes, it's the very substance which is used for a colon cleanse.

Kaolin and Montmorillonite are supposed to gradually remove toxic substances from your hair.

However, if you have long hair it's pretty inconvenient to use, ie it's hard to remove all the oil from your scalp - there's no foam. As you're not using the normal shampoo anymore, the scalp suddenly produces or seems to produce more oil (scalp's totally out of balance). This, and the fact that your hair doesn't receive the 'look-good-feel-good' toxins from the shampoo anymore, makes the hair look bad/oily/dirty/dry (depending on general hair structure and how severe your exposure to these chemicals were, eg using also hairspray/hair foam and what not) while it is ridding itself of toxins.
Now the adaption phase consists of enduring the 'sad' state of your hair, which can last up to a month. The sole thing that hinders you from pursuing this transition is your vanity.

Would you use the 100% natural shampoo before cleaning your hair from toxins, your hair cannot respond well to it: you won't be able to comb it, it's severely matted (the cosmetician I mentioned and a collegue of mine tried it and switched back to chemical shampoo at once: no way to get the comb through the hair! Plus vanity: "I'll not look that way for such a long time").

With short hair, however, it's much much easier and faster to adapt, because you're not carrying around the residual waste of long hair (it seems, not all toxins can be removed, thus the best and fastest way is to cut your hair short, so you're simply cutting off the toxin-laden hair and care for the new growing.)

Don't take my word for it, though, I'm only beginning to try and get a grip on this topic, too. As soon as I'm done with the procedure myself, I can let you know about the details of the process from own experience.

Another thing to note: You really must check the ingredients list of your cosmetics! Even in organic shops there are many cosmetics that aren't 100% natural, they are for instance half natural and half chemical (for those customers who like to keep it convenient). So be sure to check this.
Maybe there's a cosmetician working in your organic store (you can ask the personnel) who can consult you. Just be sure to let them know you've got some insider knowledge, so they won't try to sell you this or that.

My main point is that glycerin is only bad, I think, when it is synthetic glycerin, as stated above.

Nienna, thanks for clearing that up. Appears to be logical that only the synthetic glycerin is harmful.

 

[mamadrama]

* We recommend using a shower filter, which removes heavy metals and other unseen contaminants found in most water supplies, for the sake of the health of your hair and whole body. This will also help you gain the maximum benefit from natural products. It has been found that “showers lead to a greater exposure to toxic chemicals in water supplies than drinking the water” (Ian Anderson New Scientist) and a professor of Water Chemistry at the University of Pittsburg U.S.A. claims that exposure to vaporised chemicals through showering, bathing and inhalation is 100 times greater than drinking water! (The Nader Report - Troubled Waters on Tap)

Here's more on toxins via the shower from Dr. Mercola. It's from an ad to sell shower filters but still some good information in it, fwiw.

_http://products.mercola.com/shower-filter-pure-clear/?source=nl

Most people fail to realize that taking a typical shower can expose you to nearly ten times more chlorine than you would receive by drinking unfiltered tap water all day long.

When it comes to the water you drink, you might go out of your way to buy it bottled or filtered -- so you’re guaranteed something that is pure and clean. It just makes good sense.

You install filters on your kitchen tap, so even the water you use in your cooking is safe. You wouldn’t want to knowingly put harmful chemicals and pollutants into your body, right?

So, it’s surprising that you’ll take showers in the same water you refuse to wash your veggies in. But, more than just surprising, it’s also potentially hazardous to your health…

More and more studies are confirming what I have suspected for many years -- simple exposure to water in your shower and bath has the potential to do real and long-term damage to your health and wellbeing.

In fact, exposure to the chemicals in your shower and the steam a hot shower produces, including chlorine, chloroform, trichloroethylene (TCE), and hydrogen sulfide, may cause cancer, respiratory illness, liver and kidney disease, and a whole host of other health problems.

And, let me clarify here… when I say “exposure,” I just mean getting wet and breathing while you’re in the shower -- there’s no scientific jargon that disguises something more complicated than what you do every time you take a shower.

That’s right -- every single day you could be putting yourself at risk by simply stepping into the shower. Wow! This is one time where singing in the shower is not advised. This, in my opinion, is a serious problem.

Thankfully, I’ve got a very powerful solution for you. But first…

The Very Real Dangers of Chlorine
Raining Down on You with Every Shower

“We conclude that skin absorption of contaminants in drinking water has been underestimated and that ingestion may not constitute the sole or even primary route of exposure.”

Studies like this one published in the American Journal of Public Health are finally exposing what I’ve suspected for a long time: exposure to chlorine on your skin can potentially be dangerous to your health.

For many years, researchers thought that the “exposure” came only when chlorine was ingested. But, current studies are showing that drinking the water is not the only risk. And is likely not even the most severe.

That’s why it’s so critical you help protect yourself, starting now…

Consider these facts about the danger of chlorine exposure -- and remember chlorine is just ONE of the chemicals in your water right now:

On average, you consume between 1-2 gallons of water a day, but on average you expose yourself to 25 gallons of water when you shower. The U.S. Council of Environmental Quality reports that cancer risks for people who drink chlorinated water are 93% higher than people who don’t.

Even if your skin repels 75% of all chemicals and toxins in the water, that still leaves 25% of chemicals that make their way through your semi-permeable skin and into your body. That means one 15-minute shower is the equivalent of drinking 8 glasses of polluted water.

But, it gets worse…

When you take a hot shower, toxic chemicals are liberated from the water and released as gasses, including chloroform (50% more released) and trichloroethylene (TCE) (80% more released) -- both known carcinogens.

That steam you love so much -- that is so relaxing to you -- well, it’s potentially filled with gasses that could harm you.

In fact, research shows that the dangers of vaporized chlorine are 100 times greater through inhalation and bathing than drinking. It’s a harsh reality, isn’t it?

And, the longer your shower… the bigger your potential risk. As you double the length of your shower, you quadruple the amount of harmful gasses that are accumulating.

 

[manitoban]

My main point is that glycerin is only bad, I think, when it is synthetic glycerin, as stated above.

Thanks for posting that info - I have read similar info in soapmaking books. I was always under the impression that glycerin was a natural ( and good) byproduct of combining oils/fatty acids and lye. Big difference to the synthetic glycerin added to many products.

In regards to natural shampoo, I have seen recipes for shampoo bars - they are basically handmade soap made with particular oils added such as castor oil that produce more lather.

Another thing to note: You really must check the ingredients list of your cosmetics! Even in organic shops there are many cosmetics that aren't 100% natural, they are for instance half natural and half chemical (for those customers who like to keep it convenient). So be sure to check this.

So true! For example, natural creams will only last a few weeks unless they have a synthetic preservative, so many creams with natural ingredients will still have that preservative in them. Also I have seen organic ingredients prominently mentioned in a skin product or soap, and the product does indeed have an organic component yet a closer look at the ingredients shows chemicals etc.

Once you start looking into the whole area of our skin and personal care products, its just as ugly as so much else in the world - toxins, lies and misleading adverts everywhere. Ugh!!

 

[shellycheval]

FWIW I haven't used shampoo for almost 2 years now and I feel great. Hair feels fine and the scalp doesn't itch anymore.

DITTO! 6 years and counting and my hair never in the previous 49 years looked so good!

Shampoo and the idea that one "needs" to shampoo hair daily is another billion dollar, environment polluting, capitalist consumer cultural conditioned scam foisted on us. All the things most people hate about their hair are CAUSED BY SHAMPOO/SLS compounds: dry, thin, weak, "flyaway," split-ends, tangles, too straight, too frizzy, itchy flaky scalp, breaks off, won't grow--STOP using shampoo and these will all go away.

There is about a month-6 week period of greasy oily hair before your scalp will stop over-producing the oils it has been disparately pumping out to compensate for the industrial strength stripping it has been receiving every day or two. Using a good conditioner every other day will minimize the oily greasy period and help you psychologically transition to a shampoo-less world. It is interesting to observe how programmed we are when you try to convince someone that unshampooed hair is better and hear all the reasons they will come up with as to why they can't/won't even try going without shampooing their hair.

About twice a week I clean my hair using an organic (as organic as I can find) conditioner, and the rest of the time I rinse it with water and/or a vinegar or baking soda rinse. (NOTE: Mixing vinegar and baking soda causes some sort of chemical reaction that creates a sizzling sound, "smoke", and cleans drains well--I don't know how dangerous this would be on my head so I don't mix the vinegar and soda rinses.)

Honestly, you believe 911 was an inside job, so challenge your programming and join the shampoo-less for better hair! ;)

shellycheval