When I first started “Not Stepford Wives”, one of my friends asked me to help her find and review paraben free products. Parabens are thought by many to cause cancer, and lately they’ve been getting higher and higher on my “avoid” list. It was originally thought that parabens were very stable and safe because they are derrived from natural sources. But upon further investigation and following some long term studies, the story is changing. Nearly all (like 99.9%) of parabens used in cosmetics, beauty supplies etc., are synthetic, not natural, and that is what is causing the controversy. It is still commonly stated that parabens are metabolized quickly and therefor should not be a concern, however, they have been found to act like very weak estrogen in your system. Some estrogens are known to drive the growth of some cancers- THAT’S where the whole “parabens cause cancer” thing comes from…
In short, parabens are a type of preservative, that’s why they are in SO MANY of the health/beauty supplies we buy. Finding paraben free products IS getting easier, but you still have to do a lot of ingredient reading. Besides that, many paraben free products are also organic, I’m sure you can hear the dollars sucking out of your pockets as we speak…
Well, I’ve found a really great shampoo and condtioner combo that is paraben free and affordable! It’s called Nature’s Gate. I’m always on the lookout for this kind of thing when I am in the natural food section of my grocery store. This is always an expensive place to shop, but some things are worth it. My struggle, as of late, has been terribly dry hair and scalp. Since Rick and I moved to a different part of the city (further from the gulf), our water is harder. Rick seems to be doing ok, but my skin is dry, and my hair is always frizzy. I had been using Design Line Olive Oil Shampoo because I thought that the olive oil would help, and it probably would have! The thing is, the Design Line shampoo doesn’t have much olive oil in it, and it’s got loads of other crap in it… I saw the Nature’s Gate shampoo and conditioner on my most recent trip to the store. It was on sale (that’s probably part of what drew me to it in the first place). My grocery store regularly retails Nature’s Gate 18 oz bottles for $7.99. That’s not TOO bad, but it’s a little on the high end for me. I got the bottles on sale for $6.99… it was more than I wanted to spend, but it was worth trying while it was on sale…
Anyway, I grabbed it, and have been using it now for 4 days. I have noticed a marked improvement in my dryness problem. My hair is also much less frizzy, and you can actually see the curl in it again! It smells lovely, it’s sweet and fruity. I like this stuff. I don’t know if I’ll use it forever, I guess that depends on how much my hair heals… I have looked into getting the stuff cheaper, just in case I become a permanent convert.
Amazon.com sells the stuff starting at $3.96!! (that’s just over $4 of savings from the grocery store) but can be an ever better deal if you order enough products at the same time to get a free shipping deal. If you can’t do that, Amazon.com sells cases of the stuff, which can ABSOLUTELY a deal over the grocery store- even after shipping!! (be sure you read the Amazon listings carefully, some that look really expensive are actually selling items in bulk- ESPECIALLY in the health/beauty categories- check the listings, some are selling 3 bottles, some up to 8 bottles) You can pick from shampoos and conditioners that hydrate, protect color and fight scalp itch. One is even specially marketed to protect henna dyed hair. If you are interested, you should also check out Nature’s Gate’s other products, which do include an organic line. ALL of them are available for steal-type-deals on Amazon!
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