There’s just something off about the idea of using chemicals to clean your hair. As a matter of fact, your bad hair days may not have anything to do with your hairstyle, but more so with the products that you use in your hair care routine. This partly explains why the demand for natural and organic hair products has been on the rise in the past couple of years. Natural hair products are packed with ingredients that are both kind to the hair and gentle on the skin. If you are trying to switch to using natural and organic hair care products, you’ll be pleased to know there are lots of benefits to using products made from naturally-derived ingredients.
No Chemicals
The main reason for the increased demand for natural and organic hair care products is the fact that they are healthier for the hair. Despite the promises to keep your hair perfectly clean and shiny, chemicals do long-term damage to the hair – stripping it of its moisture. Sulphate and paraben are common chemicals found in most shampoos, however, they can easily irritate the scalp and cause severe hair damage. Organic hair products contain exclusively vitamins, proteins, fruit extracts and essential oils that are gentler and kinder to your skin. Coconut oil, biotin, and keratin are some of the natural ingredients that are commonly found in organic hair care products. They have the power to enrich the scalp, leaving your hair healthy and shiny, and not weighed down from chemicals and their residue.
Protect and Repair
If you colour your hair, you already know it is especially prone to hair damage. The harsh alkaline ingredients of hair dyes remove the scalp’s protective layers and directly affect its health. Aside from making it hard to grow healthy hair, a scalp that isn’t in its best health will make it even harder to generate any hair at all as cell damage at the scalp prevents the growth of new healthy hair at the root. Using high-quality organic products can help reverse the damage caused by traditional hair care products and strengthen the hair. If your hair is coloured, using organic shampoo and other natural products can help extend the colour’s life by closing the hair cuticles to lock the tone in. The best organic shampoo will replenish the hair’s moisture, eliminate the damage-causing free radicals, repair broken bonds due to chemicals and processing, and reverse the damage to the scalp, giving you literally a clear head.
Good for Your Hair and the Environment
In addition to causing a dry scalp, dandruff, and lacklustre hair, traditional hair care products are also absorbed by your skin, which can be only damaged from the silicones and sulphates used to clean the hair. And just as your skin absorbs these substances, they are also absorbed by the environment as they are washed down into the drain contaminating the water and soil. Because natural hair products are produced using organic farming methods, you don’t have to worry about damaging the environment. Moreover, many organic hair care brands are cruelty-free, which means no animals are harmed in the production process either.
Better for Overall Health
Regular non-natural hair products aren’t only bad for the health of your hair and scalp, they are also known to affect your overall health. When you apply a product to your hair and scalp, it gets absorbed by your skin, making its way into your body. Ingredients like phthalates and parabens have been linked to health concerns like breast cancer due to their ability to imitate hormones. Switching to natural hair products will help prevent health problems associated with such ingredients.
Animal Friendly
Unfortunately, animal testing is still carried out on a number of products in the hair and beauty industry. When using natural hair care products, there’s a good chance that you also might use cruelty-free products. Still, make sure you check the packaging of the product for the cruelty-free label before buying.
An Investment in Yourself
It’s true that natural hair care products are often more expensive than those containing harsh chemicals. But as is with everything, you pay for what you get, and in this case, you pay for quality. Non-natural products are generally mass-produced for a low price using cheap ingredients. Natural products, on the other hand, are for the most part, ethically produced using quality goods. By spending a little more on natural hair products, you’ll be investing both in the eco-friendly market as well as in yourself. Your hair, skin and body will all benefit from going organic and natural, preventing a number of unwanted health conditions from developing.
Healthy hair is something that many of us desire, but not everyone has, especially when using products that contain harsh chemicals. While it can take a good few months to reap the benefits of using products made from natural ingredients, making the switch will seriously up your hair game!