chemicals on your skin=chemicals in your body.

Okay. We all know by now that many common beauty products, like shampoo, conditioner and facial cleanser, don't really help us in the beauty department...in fact, they may be the source of our beauty frustrations in the first place.  For most people, that's plenty of reason to find other options, like going no-'poo or using oil to clean your face.  But some are very routine-oriented or product-loyal, and may need more convincing.  So I'm going to outline some of the reasons we need to be cautious. And while I'm assuming the people interested will mostly be women (and women are generally at greater risk), all of this applies to men, too...who also use personal care products like shampoo, body wash, hair gel, aftershave, cologne and deodorant. At least we can only hope.

Just a disclaimer: I'm not an scientist or an alarmist, and I'm not saying we're all going to die tomorrow. Some people have a lot of doubts about this stuff.  But hopefully, as you click on my links throughout, you'll see that I'm not making this stuff up. I didn't link you to places like the Mossy Hippy Meadow of Earth Mother Beauty.  I've done my homework.

You might be thinking (and people have actually said this to me), "If we believed everything they say, we'd think there's poison everywhere, and we're not all dead, right? So how could there be a problem?"  Of course I'm not advocating running in terror from everything in the world.  We all need to be careful and do our research about which "scares" are valid.  But, it's obviously not true that that the more risks there are, the less likely ANY of them are to be valid.  I'd also point out that many harmful chemicals have been around for only a few years, so there's no way long-term effects can be studied. But there are plenty of concerning health trends, most with no apparent cause: more kids with autism, decreased sperm count/quality, more heart disease and diabetes, deformed male genitals, earlier onset of puberty, more breast cancer, more lymphoma, more birth defects, etc.  Of course there are many causes for these conditions, including our less-than-responsible food system. So yeah, we're not all dead. But maybe we're not all fine, either.  Read the studies and articles I've linked to below. The only thing anyone can ask is that each of us makes an informed, rational decision, and not be ignorant on purpose.

Why I Stopped Using Shampoo, Why I Started Again, and What I've Learned Along The Way

I know a lot of people who are interested in living a more natural life, getting away from unnecessary chemicals and skin irritants. They've told me about their own health concerns and their relation to commercial products they were using.  In general, the idea of using fewer products is attractive to many of us who are a) exhausted with trying to keep up with current beauty standards and routines, and/or b) alarmed or concerned by the way these products are affecting us.

So, while I've told you all about my olive oil skin care (and received overwhelmingly positive feedback), I've also been eager to share my shampoo-free experience for some time now.  Honestly, I was hoping it would work beautifully and I'd have another naturally effective, safe and frugal practice to recommend to you.  Alas, at least for me, it was not to be.

But, while the no-shampoo thing didn't quite work out for me, I discovered a lot of really legitimate problems with popular commercial hair products.  Based on what I've learned, I'll never, ever go back to Pantene, Herbal Essences or even my beloved Redken leave-in conditioner.  And, my husband and my future kids will never use them, either. They all contain the same garbage, and it all screws up your scalp and hair (to say nothing of the water and sewage systems and the damage done to the environment).  Which, as I'll get into in my next post, is really the least of our concerns.