Shampoo and gel

Gels and shampoos contain water, detergent and components with other functions. We should look for the products with the simplest, most natural formulas.

How we can do it

Within so-called natural cosmetics, ingredients of natural origin (mainly plant extracts) are used as much as possible because they are neither alien to the environment nor the body and because they are very safe, in the sense that both the damaging and positive effects on the body are well known. Also, in order to simplify the chemical formula and minimise the consumption of natural resources, ingredients with more superfluous functions, such as colourings or thickeners, are usually avoided.
Some brands of natural gels and shampoos are sold in different Mediterranean countries, particularly on the northern shore: Santé, Món Deconatur, Dr. Hauschka, Logona, Annemarie Börlind. If we buy from manufacturers of natural hygiene products, we help to make it possible for a clean cosmetic industry to be developed and we cease to collaborate with the oil economy.
According to what is written on the labels, all products are the most natural thing in the world, but in many cases these claims are false ones. The marks we can find on some products can help us to identify the most natural ones.
There are some brands that use plant extracts, typically essential oils for perfume, but also many synthetic and even problematic ingredients. These are products we might call pseudonatural. On the following tab, we will see how to identify whether a gel or shampoo contains problematic ingredients.
We can find both natural and pseudonatural products at herbalists, diet shops and green product shops.

In both conventional and natural products, we should look for the most advisable components and avoid the less advisable ones.

How we can do it

Glucose-based detergents are the least aggressive for the skin and the least polluting for aquatic ecosystems. The products with the word glucoside highest up the ingredients list will have the highest proportion of glucose-based detergents. This type of detergent is little used because it does not make lather and we do not like this.
As well as acting as perfume, plant extracts can have other functions: relaxing, stimulating, promoting skin pigmentation, purifying, activating the circulation, making the hair shine, etc. We will recognise them by plant names in Latin (rosemary, for example, is Rosmarinus officinalis), but be careful: if they are followed by oil this refers to essential oils and these can set off allergies.
The function of colourings is only to give a gel or shampoo a particular appearance. They are almost all synthetic and some are classified as dangerous. If we want to get rid of them, we should look to see that the letters CI (followed by a number) do not appear on the ingredients list.
Here we can find brands of body hygiene products on sale in this country for which no animal experiments have been carried out in the manufacturing process.
In the thousand varieties of products we are offered for the hair, body and hands, 90% of the formula is common to all of them. There is nothing special about the ones sold in chemists (although if they are sold under prescription there is, because these are formulated specifically for particular disorders). Products for children are less aggressive for the skin.
On the next tab we will find the most problematic ingredients for health.

Making soap is environmentally less costly than making gel because the formula is much simpler and it is totally harmless. But if we use soap too often it dries our skin, because it is alkaline, as water usually is (because of the chalk it contains), while the skin is slightly acid. To wash our bodies, if we do not wash ourselves too often, we can use soap instead of gel.

How we can do it

Most bars for hands are made of soap.
On the Internet (for example here) we can find recipes for making soap at home.
If we wash ourselves with soap it is more likely that chalky residues will be left on basins, showers and baths. To remove them, we can rub them with a cloth moistened with vinegar.

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Data d'actualització: 03/01/2012 - 14:05