What's hidden in the components of a shampoo
What's in the ingredients of your shampoo
What we have discussed for surfactants and the need for regular DETOX to
remove
chemicals incorporated into gels What we have said about
surfactants and the need to regularly remove chemicals from shower gels
and shampoos applies to all components. The list of ingredients in an
'ordinary' shampoo is puzzling when you consider what lies beneath the
unintelligible names and lower-case E's on the labels:
- From to: a shampoo is essentially water, with the other components then mixed into this water.
- detergent: this is the active ingredient in shampoo, the surface-active product that cleans the hair by removing dirt.
- A surgent: as the detergent is too aggressive for the scalp (it removes the protective sebum) it is necessary to add a greasy substance which reconstitutes the sebum losses. This means removing the bad grease with the detergent while adding good grease with the oil booster. It's like the famous Coluche sketch about washing powder, but it's the truth.
- A foam stabiliser : it makes the foam compact, voluminous and stable.
- A foam softener: makes the foam soft and creamy, pleasant to the touch.
- A thickener: makes the shampoo thicker, so that it is not too liquid.
- A humectant: this is used to prevent the water in the shampoo from evaporating so that the shampoo retains the texture given by the thickener.
- An antioxidant: to prevent the shampoo from deteriorating when the bottle is opened.
- A bactericide: it prevents microbial proliferation within the shampoo, its fermentation.
- A colourant: a white and translucent shampoo is not sold, so a colourant is added.
- A pearlescent agent: the dye is not enough to make the shampoo look flattering, so a product is added that gives a pearly appearance.
- A perfume: this is used to mask the smell of all the components, which are all chemicals, while giving the shampoo a pleasant scent, in keeping with the 'treating' product.
- A shine: as the name suggests, it is used to shine the hair, so that it shines.
- The product known as "treatant": as it is necessary to give oneself a good conscience, one generally puts 0.5% (or 1%, sometimes 1.5%) ...of extract of some active ingredient, generally a medicinal plant, to make natural what is nothing but an addition of multiple chemicals.
Unfortunately, the distribution of such shampoos is still too
confidential compared to the enormous quantities of shampoos sold in
large-scale distribution and which justify DETOX cures to eliminate the
chemical particles which may have infiltrated the body.
