To Jenna - what ingrediants in shampoos has your reading/research recommended to avoid?

Hey Maria!Taken from a post below that I wrote to Ally: I never use a product that contains: sodium lauryl sulfate (sodium laurETH sulfate is very gentle, though), TEA-lauryl sulfate, TEA-dodecylbenzenesulfonate, C14-16 olefin sulfate, sodiumC14-17 alkyl sec sulfonate and ammonium xylenesulfonate.Also, I try to avoid anything with "mint" like peppermint, or other things that may have a tendency to irriate the scalp like balsam, clove, lemon, lime, grapefruit, any citrus-type ingredients (natural products....{grin}), and coconut oil soap.I'm sure there are other ingredients that have a potential to irritate as well, but so far that's my list!Jena> Hi Jena :)> Like you, I read a lot of skin care and hair care> books, and also own a whole bookcase full of them. I> also (When I have time) enjoy doing research on these> particular subjects online. You mentioned your> research/reading recommends avoiding certain> ingrediants. Could you provide us with a list of them?> The only two I know off hand to avoid are sodium> lauryl sulfate and ammonium xylenesulfate. I would> love to hear what other ingrediants you have heard we> should avoid. Thank you so much!!> Looking forward to your posts as always!!> *Hugs*> Maria :)

> Natural acidic ingredients doesn't necessarily> irritate.Quite true! That's why they are potential irritants. Unless I can't find the other ingredients that I want in a product in any other way, I'd prefer to not take that chance.>I heard lemon> juice is an excellent conditioner though.It is good for oily hair, and I've used it! However, it also gave my scalp a burning sensation. Generally, the hair closer to the scalp is oilier than the ends, so that's where it should probably be applied. It unfortunately didn't work for me.>As for sodium> laureth sulphate, it is the alcohol form (ethoxylated)> of SLS.Slightly less irritating then SLS but may cause> more drying.Both are still possible carcinogens.Would you please clarify what the initials "SLS" signify?Where did you read that sodium lauryl or laureth sulfate may be a possible cacinogen? I've read that about other ingredients, but not those particular ones. However, in Paula Begoun's book, she suggests that several websites, including Mastey, Aubrey, and Neways created a mania over sodium lauryl sulfate, saying that it was a serious problem in cosmetics. As it turns out, a single researcher was totally misquoted and that there is no evidence that sodium lauryl sulfate is harmful to the body, other than being a possible irritation to the scalp. Bottom line: Follow up when a big "scare" surfaces and ask if the research has been duplicated or published.>In my> opinion,there could be different forms of sodium> laureth sulphate since some shampoos using this> ingredients are more drying on my hair compared to> other shampoos using the same ingredient.I'm curious to look into this. Is it also possible that there are other ingredients in the shampoos which could be causing the dryness, as well? How did you isolate the sodium laureth (are you sure it's laureth instead of lauryl?) sulfate? BTW, are you by chance British? I notice that you spell sulfate with a "ph" instead of an "f"!>I prefer> ammonium lauryl sulphate which is suppose to be the> mildest one.I've read conflicting things over this and am not sure what to believe!Jena

Hi Cora,Neways....oh boy...that was one of the companies that Paula Begoun mentions in her book as needlessly scaring people with false information and then presenting their own products as purely safe. I have absolutely no experience personally with this company, but I personally have a policy of not believing something until I read it in 3 different places by three independent sources.> I got the technical information from a direct selling> manual which claims to be honest with customersWell, no offense, what company would ever advertise that they weren't honest! Independent reviews and opinions would carry far more weight about a company's honesty than themselves, in my opinion.>They have a list of potentially harmful> ingredients like petrolatum and so on.Hmmm....do you ever use hand lotion? I'm not saying petroleum is great, but if there were truly a harmful ingredient, wouldn't large companies put an immediate halt of the ingredient in their production? The threat of liability is very real and can ruin a company.>As for SLS (sodium lauryl sulphate)it is> from my own experience.My hair has been damaged enough> from it.I'm curious how you were able to isolate that ingredient. Were all the other ingredients in the shampoos that did work identical to the ones that didn't work, with the exception of the sodium lauryl sulfate?I'm also curious -- where have you seen the word "sulfate" spelled with a "ph"? I've never seen it that way!>The laureth version is ok although the> commercial versions are worst.How many commercial versions did you try? What denotes a non-commercial version to you?I'm not trying to bombard you with questions, but I'm anxious to learn how you found out these things!Regards,Jena