Rosemary Mint Essential Oil Shampoo Recipe
Ingredients
- 3⁄4 cup aloe vera gel
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1⁄2 cup baking soda
- 25 drops rosemary essential oil
- 12 drops peppermint essential oil
Instructions
- In a small bowl, mix all ingredients together.
- Store in a glass or BPA-free plastic bottle.
Over the past few years, savvy consumers have been wising up to the toxic dangers contained in personal care products sold in the typical grocery, drug, and department store.
These dangers include a range of harmful chemicals found in the body washes, shampoos, deodorants, hair dyes, cosmetics, and every variety of lotion and potion we’ve been applying to our bodies on a daily basis for years.
While it’s a challenge for the average consumer to know what’s safe to use and what isn’t, fortunately, there are some groups you can turn to for help.
The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics is a coalition of groups working to eliminate harmful chemicals in personal care products in the U.S.
One of their founding members is the Environmental Working Group (EWG) which maintains an online safety database called “Skin Deep” that provides extensive information on the safest and least safe personal care products and brands.
You can visit http://www.ewg.org/skindeep to check the safety score of tens of thousands of personal care products. EWG even has a Skin Deep mobile app that you can download on your smartphone for instant access to this important information while you shop!
Avoid Shampoo with These Ingredients
One of the personal products that most of us use weekly, if not daily, is shampoo. As it turns out, many shampoos contain chemicals that are harmful to your health.
The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics includes the following 5 ingredients on their “Red” list for shampoos. These are the worst chemicals found in shampoo products that you need to avoid to protect your health.
- Ethanolamines (cocamide DEA and others)
- Parabens (e.g. butyl paraben)
- UV filters (Octinoxate, Oxybenzone)
- Formaldehyde-releasing preservatives (diazolidinyl urea, imidazolidinyl urea, DMDM hydantoin)
- Sodium Laureth Sulfate and other -eth compounds, which can be contaminated with 1-4-dioxane and ethylene oxide
Make Your Own Shampoo for a Cleaner Alternative
The very best way to know what’s in your personal care products is to make your own. Here’s an easy essential oil shampoo recipe you can mix up at home in only a couple of minutes. It uses two essential oils that are known to benefit hair health. You can discover more about the best essential oils for hair here.
Thank You!
I used the website that was referenced (EWG) to look up a few products. It's interesting to me that (when I looked up Tom's toothpaste) SLS itself had a green rating of 1. So the sodium laureth sulfate is somewhat dangerous, it only had a rating of 3, but the sodium lauryl sulfate is safe? I've always heard advise to stay away from all SLS. Any thoughts?
Toms was bought out years ago by Crest
Actually, Crest is a P & G product. Tom's was purchased by Colgate-Palmolive