Is your shampoo safe?

[Jesus Malverde]

Here’s another environmental concern to be aware of: Your shampoo or body wash may contain a cancer-causing chemical called cocamide DEA.

Oakland’s Center for Environmental Health has reached legal agreements with Colgate-Palmolive, Saks Inc., Walgreens and 23 other companies to stop using the chemical in their shampoos and other personal care products.

Read More: http://blog.sfgate.com/chronrx/2014/05/06/is-your-shampoo-safe/

List of products: http://www.ceh.org/cocamide-dea-companies/

[longship]

1. Mine just says "Lather, Rinse, Repeat"

I don't worry too much about it.

(Confession... More often than not, I don't Repeat -- MY BAD!)

[Warpy]

2. I don't wash my hair every day, the horror of it all

I've known about the nasty stuff for years, but since I don't eat the shampoo or inject it into my veins, I'm not terribly concerned about something that sits on my head for less than a minute before I send it down the drain.

I use cheap Suave shampoo. It has the advantage of not breaking my scalp out and having me dig at my hair like I've got lice.

[pnwmom]

7. My dermatologist told me to leave the shampoo on my scalp for five minutes.

I stopped using the shampoo when I noticed it was leaving a film on the shower ceiling. If it could get there it could get into my lungs.

[Ron Obvious]

12. Those ARE the most dangerous ones

Many a computer programmer has been found dead in his shower clutching a bottle with those instructions.

[Paulie]

3. I looked. Mine have cocamide MEA

Which is not toxic unless inhaled in quantity. Not gonna happen.

[pnwmom]

5. Shampoo can get inhaled when taking a shower.

The reason I know this is because my old shampoo used to collect in a brown film on the shower ceiling. I asked my chemist husband what that stuff was, and he said it was from our tar shampoo. So I cleaned the ceiling and threw the shampoo out. If it could collect on the ceiling, it could collect in my lungs.

[Paulie]

6. In this case though. MEA is a solid while EDA is a liquid

I meant snorting the stuff.

[2naSalit]

4. Thanks!!

I found it in a couple products in my bathroom, they're headed for the land fill in their containers. I already have a mild form of skin cancer, don't need any help making it worse.

[Silent3]

8. I think so, but I'll increase its security detail just in case. n/t

[JesterCS]

9. My dad worked for a company

that made the base soap product for many other companies. Some of the chemicals involved are highly toxic.

Sulfur Di-oxide ( SO2 )
Sulfur Tri-oxide ( SO3 )

One time he had a tiny amount spill into his chem suit and it burned the shit out of his arm. He still has the scar.

When I was younger. My brother and I used to run through that plant all the time visiting my dad. This was Pre-OSHA standards

He'd even take us into the lab and mix chemicals that changed colors just to amaze us.

HE worked there over 10 years... and had the worst chronic bronchitis and sickness from the place. Ever since he left he has been in better health.

[Luminous Animal]

10. I stopped using shampoo 2 years ago and my hair has never been healthier.

Many of the women that I know have also stopped. My 24 year old daughter stopped using shampoo, too. She always had limp thin straight hair. Since she stopped shampooing, her hair has waves and body. The transformation is remarkable.

I do still wash my body with soap but with Dr. Bronners.

[oregonjen]

11. Do you use any product in your hair?

I wash my hair with shampoo to get the sweat and styling product out of my hair. What do you use instead of shampoo?

[Luminous Animal]

15. I don't use any product. I use to use curl enhancer but I don't need it anymore.

I just use water and scrub my scalp vigorously with my fingernails.

I've always had good hair but now, at age 56, it's lush. I also stopped dying it 10 years ago. It's crazy how silky and full it is. It feels great to run my hands through it.

[SheilaT]

13. I wash my hair. Just not every day.

I condition it every day. And it's remarkably healthy. Perhaps you were simply using a shampoo that wasn't good for your particular hair.

I shudder to think that you're not cleaning it at all.

I also suspect that your daughter was absolutely over-conditioning her hair, because that can readily leave hair limp and straight.

When I look at old movies, especially pre-1950, it is so very obvious that back then people didn't shampoo their hair very often. It often looks quite dirty, weighed down by dirt and whatever other products they used on their hair. Men typically used some sort of gel or cream to keep the shape they wanted.

Some years ago a hair dresser told me that the reason elderly women back in the day had yellow hair was that they so rarely washed it. I can tell you that these days I have very long hair, and I do understand why women wouldn't have washed their very long hair without running water in the house. And not when it was cold out and no central heating. Or in a humid climate where it would take forever to dry by itself.

[Luminous Animal]

17. I wash it regularly with water. I just stopped using shampoo.

I used good to excellent products and my hair generally looked great but now it looks and feels even better. My scalp feels better, too.

As for my daughter, she has had limp straight hair her entire life. As does my sister. I convinced my sister to stop using products on her hair and, after 55 years of hating her hair, she now loves it. She had the same results as my daughter. For the 1st time in her life, her hair has body and volume.

[frazzled]

14. Safer than crossing the street

Honestly, folks ... there are more important things to worry about. Like the safety of weird stuff coming out of your computer and wrecking your eyes. Or, as I said in my header, walking across the street.

If crappy shampoo were really all that harmful, we'd be seeing a lot more people dropping dead in their tracks than we do.

This idea that people should stop shampooing their hair makes me kind of crazy.

[KT2000]

18. Dropping dead is not likely

and that is not the concern. What we are witnessing is a rise in chronic illnesses, starting at younger ages, a rise in autoimmune diseases, especially among women and a rise in childhood cancers. Removing chemicals that are known to be bad for health and can be inhaled and can be absorbed through the skin is a good thing. This chemical is often found in products made for babies.

[kentauros]

16. Not a problem with my shampoo :)

Organic Vegan Hemp Shampoo Bar

Old-fashioned shampoo bars based on Old-World recipes. Thanks to the generous amount of organic hemp oil in the shampoo bar, there is no need for a separate conditioner — the omegas and the chlorophyll in hemp soil are legendary for conditioning, softening, and smoothing hair for a fresh, clean feeling after each use.

Ingredients: Saponified oils of certified organic hemp, coconut, olive, and palm, jojoba, apricot, sweet almond, and aloe vera, grapefruit seed extract and lavender stone ground pigment. With grapefruit, clary sage, sweet orange, and bergamot infusions. (Kaffir Lime has kaffir lime instead of orange; Luscious Lavender has lavender as the primary essential oil.) (Unscented Vegan Purity has no essential oil component at all.)

I've been using that brand for at least ten years, and before that a similar yet different brand that was also in the form of a bar. Can't remember the brand name now, but it was pretty much the same, ingredients-wise. Great shampoo, by the way!

[jberryhill]

20. Yes, mine is safe

I keep a gun in my bathroom, so if anyone comes after my shampoo then, BAM, I'm on that shit faster than Oscar Pistorius can get off the starting blocks.

No shit my shampoo is safe. Just try it.