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Post in Best Hair Ever
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Avoid these ingredients in haircare products.

Hello everyone on here. I wanted to share my knowledge of a few chemicals to avoid in hair care products, why they should be avoided and what they cause.  A little about me: I have fine hair, it is thin and it is dry and there's not a lot of it on my head. It is wavy at the roots but straighten out as it grows longer.  I'm Caucasian and my hair color is dark blonde.  I have bleached it blonde so it is now damaged too.  The longer it gets the more tangled it will become.  Yes I have burned my scalp with a straightener trying to straighten out those back of the head roots, at least it was not a bad burn, just enough to scare me and feel it good.

 

No one really reads the ingredients list on the back of the bottle, we just look at the marketing part in the front but all hair products use some similar ingredients and not all are good for your hair. I did some research and found a few popular chemicals that are actually harmful to your hair and scalp if used for a long period of time such as couple months or longer. It may be okay for a few uses and they seem to work but in the long run they do more damage than good. Hopefully this helps some people with some of their hair concerns and helps avoid chemicals to keep your hair healthier. If anyone know of any additional bad chemicals or any ingredients to avoid please reply and let us all know. The more knowledge the better. 

 

I myself used to use grocery store shampoo and conditioner. My favorite was Pantene ProV and Herbal Essences. Then I started the Organix brand.  As I got older I started using Redken and even decided to spend money on Kerastase. Nothing was helping with my dry and thin hair with bleach damage. This is why I decided to research on why these products were not working like they claimed to be.

 

If I see a hair product which lists any of these ingredients I do not buy the product.  This applies to all hair products. It applies to shampoo, conditioner, leave in conditioner, leave in hair oils and dry shampoo.  Also do not use shampoo bars, they are not good for hair no matter how natural they claim to be because the stuff that holds the bar together is not good for hair.

 

Also just a note as some might not know this, when looking at ingredients list on any bottle, the highest concentration of an ingredient, EX: water, will be the first one listed and the last ingredient listed on the bottom of bottle has the least amount of that ingredient, EX: Fragrance.

 

Avoid these ingredients / chemicals and why:

 

Alcohol Denat, SD Alcohol, SD Alcohol 40, Ethyl Alcohol, Denatured Alcohols, Isopropyl Alcohol - these are very drying to hair and if you already have dry hair you don't want to dry hair out even more.

 

Cocamidopropyl Betaine (CAPB) - causes irritation to scalp over time, some might be more sensitive to this than others.

 

Fragrance / Parfum - very drying to hair, this ingredient should always be the very last one listed in the ingredients list or as close to the last few as possible.  Yes this ingredient is almost unavoidable in hair products so keep it at the end of the list.

 

Phenoxyethanol - drying to hair, causes hair loss and is known to be toxic in higher concentrations.

 

Sodium Chloride / Sea Salt - salt is very drying to hair and scalp.

 

Witch Hazel - most made with alcohols, drying to hair and scalp and can cause irritation.

 

C14-16 Olefin Sulfonate (Sodium C14-16) - is a harsh sulphate replacement chemical used in sulphate free products.

 

 

Let's keep this list going!  Let me know any other ingredients you find to be harmful or if you have any questions.  I also looked through many ingredients lists on many products sold at Sephora and Ulta and there were few that I found which do not contain any of these bad ingredients but that is a whole different topic.  

Re: Avoid these ingredients in haircare products.

Hey! I agree with you. I'm new here and desperately trying to find a moisturizing shampoo for my terminally-dry, thin, fine, fall out, breakage, 65 yr old hair. Seriously considering wigs. I've cut back washing hair everyday without any significant results. I have tried everything available in the US; EU seems to have a couple things; Kerastase - perfect just the first time. Bumble&Bumble Moisturizing OIl for conditioning in amounts smaller than a dime; and DevaCurl NoPoo shampoo - also very good at first. Being 65 is no fun. Were you able to develop a list of products that do not contain these ingredients and actually clean hair without stripping it? I cannot blow dry my hair anymore = instant straw, heat shield/sprays dry out my hair, too. What to do? Please advise. Thank you for all your homework. I appreciate you! My friends call me Miss Kathleen btw.

Re: Avoid these ingredients in haircare products.

Thank you!  Will be looking a little closer at ingredients…….as well as cruelty-free

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