Where Is The Herbal In Essence?

The words I am picking from the low hanging fruit today is “BEST SHAMPOO”.

So with these words I started thinking…nothing to strenuous but enough to make a wrinkle in my brow, what would make the best shampoo, what is the best shampoo? Why do I make the best shampoo? Well so far that last statement is an unproven fact, but I think I do, and that’s a fact! I would love to hear from you with your ideas on this subject, until then you’re just going to have to read my side of things about… “The best shampoo.” 

I have made shampoo for a living, I have depended on it, and I have people who depend on me making it!! Many of you reading this think it’s the best shampoo, my shampoo gets fan mail all the time, I enjoy reading them. I have even placed a couple of them in my journal because they touched me so much. Thank you!

 With a long history of actively working within the hair industry I have worked with many, many shampoo brands, some good, and some bad. I actually got in to the business of making shampoo by accident. You see, a decade ago I started to look at the beauty products I was using on my clients in a different way. I actually started to research the ingredients in them after two of my girlfriends and a co-worker became sick with cancer, I will always love and miss them every day.

 I’m not saying that this is what triggered there problems, but there problems made me second guess what I was surrounding myself with every day and I did not like what I found so I started to learn cosmetic chemistry one step at a time to prove to myself that we do not need harsh chemicals in hygiene and beauty products. They are not necessary and I did not have to use them on the people who I care about, and that’s people like you. I care about you; there I said it out load!

I know the subject is “the best shampoo” but for a moment I have to look at the other side of this, what makes a bad shampoo, do you know?  I bet you won’t have the same answer as the person sitting next to you?

I look at products differently now. It’s quite possibly a different opinion than yours?

 What makes a bad shampoo? is it that it does not smell like a summer breeze as the commercial stated or that it does not surround you with the rapture of a tropical forest every time you pop the cap? I would like to share with you what I think makes a bad shampoo and not the “best shampoo” and I am going to name names.

Head and Shoulders, Pantene and of course Clairol all have something in common, do you know what that is? Well, it’s not that they all make your hair squeaky clean with sudsy bubbles or that they share colors that Mother Nature would envy. No, they all contain a chemical compound, something called methylisothiazoline, or MIT. I don’t want to alarm you but I think it my duty to tell you that it causes neurological damage.  Is that bad enough for you? 

 This is only a scratch on the surface of the parody the beauty industry uses to brighten your day leaving you with a spotless shine.

If you thought that prescription drugs were dangerous, think again. Personal care products are used by virtually everyone on the planet every single day. We lather ourselves in toxic chemicals made by brand name companies that spend a lot of time jockeying for the best shelf position in your convenience store, grocery store and of course to be used by your favorite beauty service provider who enthusiastically recommends it to you for their usual 10% commission.

One of the problems I encounter when I talk to people about my all natural and healthy product is that they get lost in the words because the cosmetic giants are misquoting their products and actually making people believe they are using something good for them. We don’t know it as the consumer but we are given misquoted information most of the time.

 When companies like Clairol use the words herbal in there chemical based shampoo “Herbal Essence” to imply that this is actually healthy pisses me off. They are playing with words blatantly in our face and we don’t see it. Definition of ESSENCE. 1. a: the permanent as contrasted with the accidental element of being b: the individual, real, or ultimate nature of a thing. To me that quote means in layman’s terms for these products, well… it’s kind of like it but it’s not! It’s a contradiction almost implied. The power of words!

Herbal Essence shampoo by Clairol is generally purchased by consumers who don’t know any better. I’m not trying to sound like a snob, people like me who have taken the time to understand the true meaning of herbal products would not be seen anywhere close to the aisle where these ingredients are sold. This one product I just blabbed about is no different than 99% of the products on the market today. They all contain the main ingredients: water, sodium lauryl and sodium laureth sulfate. I’m not here to preach to you, I will leave that for someone else more devout than me on the subject, but I am here to tell you these ingredients are very bad for you, Google them, I dare you! 

The FDA allows all sorts of chemicals to be used in these products, and that includes chemicals that are known carcinogens and are contributors to liver failure and nervous system disorders. These are the products that we scrub into our body every day. The same products that contain ingredients that causes neurological disorders, birth defects, Alzheimer’s disease, breast cancer and a long list of sad truths. 

So I end today’s topic with a question. What is the best shampoo? Is it one that is full of vitamins minerals and wholeheartedly good for you such as the products I am proud to make? Made with real fruit and ingredients such as Cats Claw Bark, proven to help cancer and HIV patients strengthen their immune system. Or is it fake named products that will lead a future generation in to scorning us for their use?

 Do you want a real herbal shampoo? Watch this space and it will soon be just one click away.