I have very curly hair, and I like to indulge in overpriced hair-care products on occasion. While in the shower this AM I read the fluff on the back of my latest purchase: along with the usual fruit extracts, assorted vitamins and exotic oils this stuff proudly contains fructose and glucose, the two components of that rare and costly substance, table sugar.
What, like my hair needs fattening so let’s feed it some empty calories? Or maybe if it’s nice and sticky it won’t frizz as badly? :rolleyes:
Seriously, either the manufacturers of consumer products think we’re braindead or they’ve just run out of fancy-sounding stuff to brag about. Who doesn’t realize that it’s the 2-2-2-poly-amino-hydro-chemical-hydrosaminouria[sup]*[/sup] that makes your hair feel nice, and not the Organic Madagascar Pear Tree Sap Extract?
JRB
[sup]*[/sup]Not an actual chemical. For demonstration purposes only. Do not ingest.
I would like a Splenda version please. My hair is getting fat, and it won’t exercise. It just lays on my head all day, drinking those sugar-laden shampoos. If this continues, I might have to consider surgery as an option.
Try www.lush.com. I adore their shampoos and bath products for just these reasons. I don’t need those crazy chemicals gunking up my hair and giving me allergic reactions.
They are very environmentally conscious and their stuff smells amazing. My husband thinks I spend way too much money there, but it’s worth it for getting quality bath products from an ethical company.
I highly recommend their solid shampoo bars. They’re very portable and make my hair very soft and shiny. My current favorite bar Hybrid contains the following:
No fructose but there’s lemon, cocoa butter, tarragon, tahini, charcoal, and other awesome stuff. I’m no hair expert, but this stuff makes me smell like black licorice (I personally love it) and it’s awesome.
I’d like to see a shampoo that just crams every bloody fad extract and additive into one bottle.
“New Spurt Plus, now with ylang-ylang, jojoba, shea butter, bacon salt, natural fruit essences, vitamin E, pro-vitamin B12, ultra-vitamin beef, tea tree extract, beer, vodka, sour cream, extra-virgin olive oil, powdered lioness ovum, oregano, iron oxide, lightning, tomato soup, Diazepam, volcanic ash, Texas mud, wood beetle larvae, and the bitter envy of lesser brands of shampoo! Your hair will love it! And then it will devour you.”
I have a feeling no additives are tested, and many are apt to be unsafe.
They found out that lavender bath oil is harmful to infants, contains an enzyme or hormone or something. If anyone has tested kiwi and grapefruit and those other things they add at random Iwould be surprised.
It sounds ridiculous, I know. But it’s not just marketing run amok. Sugars are very hydrophobic, and they actually draw water out of the hair to keep your hair feeling soft and hydrated. In cosmetic-speak, they are “humectants”, along with glycerin, propylene glycol and possibly, although probably not, honey. (Honey’s too expensive to use in active quantities - that one really is there for the smell and the “gotcha!”)
Salt is there to thicken, and it’s mostly used in cheap shampoos which can irritate your eyes.
No, they *are *tested, but sometimes companies put things in that aren’t exactly what the label says. The “lavender” in Johnson’s baby products that was found to irritate the skin was not from the lavender plant we all know and call lavender (Lavandula angustifolia), but from a close cousin, lavendin (Lavandula hybrida). Lavendin extract is well known as an irritant and actually worsens burns and eczema, unlike lavender, which has a long history and plenty of scientific study backing up it’s safe and effective use as a soother and promoter of skin healing. Somehow, they got approval for “Lavender” without specifying which species, and the fuckwits chose the cheap ouchy one instead of the still pretty cheap soothing one. I could rant about that all day, but I’m busy boycotting Johnson’s until they get their act together.
Just a quick correction–sugars are hydrophilic, as are glycols and glycerine (glycerol). I would think they would work by drawing water INTO the hair, making it “full.” The same things can be found in a lot of hand/body lotions, which is why (especially cheap ones) go on nice, then feel almost wet after a few seconds. They’re pulling moisture out of the air. Obligatory link.
ETA: Yeah, I wouldn’t be too happy to find “wild stallion semen” in my shampoo.
