Shampoos and hair conditioners have become an integral part of our lives. But when you use these shampoos and conditioners with harmful ingredients, you expose yourself to toxic components which can result in a lethal condition.
Before buying either shampoo or conditioner, take your time to look at the ingredients. If it has no harmful ingredients go ahead and buy it. Otherwise, the product on the shelf is a better option.
Harmful Ingredients In Shampoo And Conditioners You Should Avoid
Artificial Fragrance
Products whose fragrance is from a natural source or the natural source is stated on the packaging is good. But other fragrances are made from mixing different chemicals and on the package they do not specify the fragrance source. These chemical mixtures can cause skin cancer, irritation on the scalp while others can even cause asthma.
Sadly most products in the market are guilty of this. Make sure you keep an eye on the ingredients list for these ingredients.
Parabens
Parabens are mostly used as preservatives in both shampoo and hair conditioners. It contains hormone distrusting agents. They are said to cause breast cancer. As much as you can, you must avoid products with parabens.
Sulfates
Sulfates are commonly known to be chemical detergents. They are very effective to remove dirt but also removes your natural oils from the scalp. For this reason, they are harsh to your scalp so that they leave the hair sparkling. Not only this, In the cleaning process the dioxane it contains gets a chance to penetrate to the body via your scalp. Dioxane alters kidney function thus making it a threat to your body.
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Silicones
Silicones make your hair smooth and shiny but besides that, they have no more benefit to your hair. Instead, they ruin more than they do good. As you Continue using products with silicones they continue to leave a layer of the build-up of your hair shaft making it greasy and damaged. eventually, you end up cutting the hair.
Triclosan
Triclosan is known to be an anti-bacterial agent but besides that, it’s harmful to the skin. It alters the functioning of some hormones in the body. For that reason, it causes skin irritation and has the capability of causing skin cancer. You can refer this post for more additional details.
Polyethylene glycols
Polyethylene glycols are derived from petroleum thus harmful to humans. However it’s not confirmed that polyethylene glycols are harmful, but all its by-products are known to be harmful. Following this reason, there is a high probability that it also contains toxins just as it’s by-products.They should, therefore, be avoided.
Sodium Chloride
Sodium chloride is known to be salt. They are used to thicken shampoo. Salt has the capability to absorb water. When sodium chloride is used on the scalp, it makes it dry and itchy and gifts you hair loss.
Formaldehyde
Among other harmful ingredients, formaldehyde could be the worst. It penetrates to the human body via the skin. In some cases, manufacturers use it as a preservative while in other cases its a result of chemical reactions from other preservatives. It’s said to cause hair loss, burn the scalp and discolored hair.
Synthetic Colors
In most cases, the manufacturer will add synthetic colors to shampoos and conditioners to make them attract the customer’s eyes. The colors are from petroleum which is again said to cause health hazards to humans. Frequent use of these colors can even lead to skin cancer.
TEA and DEA
These are triethanolamine and diethanolamine. They are colorless but with an odor similar to one of ammonia. The use of these chemicals is said to cause cancer. In some countries, their use has even been banned. There are so many brands that actually are coming up with natural products free of these harsh chemicals. Try opting for those instead of using ones that can be very hazardous in the long run.
~Written by Shrutika Motwal. In case if you would like to write for HCS too, please click here.