Top-selling products for naturally beautiful hair

July 28, 12:44 PMGreen Living ExaminerRebecca Lacko

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Convenient shopping list for toxin-free hair

Our well-meaning attempts to tame our locks with expensive shampoos and conditioners are, unfortunately often thwarted by the products' own synthetic ingredients. Sadly, the culprit of dryness, itchiness and aggravated oil production are often common ingredients found in the beauty products we've purchased to alleviate exactly those irritations. What's worse, many of those ingredients are also known carcinogens, toxins and neurotoxins.

We are what we eat and, essentially, so is our hair. Projecting from the epidermis, our hair sprouts from follicles deeply planted in our largest organ, our skin. What we feed it, therefore, greatly affects how it grows.

Take an eye-opening tour of your bathroom cabinet with Skin Deep,  the online cosmetics safety database created by Campaign for Safe Cosmetics partner the Environmental Working Group (EWG) to help fill safety gaps left by the unregulated cosmetics industry. This searchable database matches the ingredients in more than 25,000 shampoos, makeup, deodorants, sunscreens and other personal care products with 50 toxicity and regulatory databases allowing consumers to find products free of carcinogens, synthetic fragrance or contaminants. For a quick list of worst offenders, see Chemicals to avoid in beauty products.

Shiny, beautiful, healthy hair is within reach. Below is a comprehensive list of top selling natural and organic hair products, formulated without:

• Parabens
• Sulfates
• Synthetic Fragrances
• Synthetic Dyes
• Petro-Chemicals
• Phthalates
• GMO (Genetically modified organisms)
• Triclosan

This helpful list also includes suggestions for cleansing hair after swimming, tinting/coloring, maintaining tint/color, healing a chronically dry or itchy scalp, and giving yourself (or your beloved!) the ultimate treat: a scalp massage.

Shampoo

• Carol’s Daughter Rosemary Mint Herbal Shampoo
• Carol’s Daughter Khoret Amen Herbal Shampoo
• Korres Juniper and Olive Tree Shampoo For Normal and Dry Hair
• Aubrey Organics Egyptian Henna Shine-Enhancing Clean Rinse
• Keys Mangrove Foaming Shampoo
• Solay Shine Organic Green Tea Natural Shampoo

Conditioner

• Carol’s Daughter Black Vanilla Leave-In Conditioner 
• Mangrove Natural Concentrated conditioner
• Surya Preciosa Henna conditioner
• John Master’s Organics lavender and avocado intensive conditioner

Dry shampoo: The market for dry shampoo (sometimes called hair powder) has started to grow, reports Euromonitor International, a company that tracks product trends. As women opt for going longer periods between shampooing, a dry shampoo keeps oil production under control so locks look their loveliest. If you're in a pinch, simply apply a tiny amount of cornstarch using the same technique for any dry shampoo. Just be sure to avoid using talc, which contains a chemical that is similar to asbestos and can increase the risk of  certain ovarian cancers.

• Klorane Gentle Dry Shampoo With Oat Milk
• Hair Fix Not Your Grandma’s Dry Shampoo

Post-swim C=chlorine treatment

• California Baby shampoo & bodywash Swimmer's Defense 
• California Baby Swimmer's Defense conditioner

Dry scalp treatment

• Carol’s Daughter Lisa's Hair Elixir
• Solay Shine Organic Green Tea Natural Shampoo

Hair color/tint and maintainence shampoos

• Phytocitrus Restructuring Shampoo - Color-Treated Hair
• Nurture My Body Fragrance Free Organic Moisturizing Shampoo SLS Free for Dry, Color Treated Hair
• Clairol Loving Care Hair Color Creme Lotion, 73 Light Ash Blonde (mysteriously, this particular color received EWG's blessing. You can find it at most drugstores.)
• Aubrey Organics, Color Me Natural, 100% Natural Permanent Hair Color
• Light Mountain Natural Hair color
• Tints of nature
• Eco Colors

Scalp Massage In her book, Gorgeously Green, Sophie Uliano offers these tips for giving yourself a scalp massage: “My hair has gotten thickersince doing a daily scalp massage for two minutes. I like to do it at night because my hair doesn’t always look its best after a particularly vigorous massage. Scalp massage increases the oyxgen supply to the brain, improves circulation of cerebrospinal fluid, which stimulates brain development and relaxes nerves and muscles. If scalp is dry, add a few drops of lavender to fingers before massaging. If scalp is greasy, as a few drops of rosemary essential oil."

You can also try Suki hair/scalp conditioning oil .