I’m not a fan of fear-mongering, urban legends, or needless worrying. That’s why I chuckle about being constantly barraged with email chain letters reminding me of all the horrors ready to kill me at a moment’s notice. Not only do I not follow their advice, I happily deposit these messages directly into the trash, and I’ve never had my kidneys stolen, never encountered an alligator in the sewer, and never expected Bill Gates to send me a check for testing his email tracing program.
Every once in a while, though, a rumor seems just plausible enough to cause concern. Is shampoo causing cancer? One popular chain email claims that an ingredient in shampoo, sodium laureth sulfate, is a known carcinogen. Shampoo gets a lot of heat for being wasteful, unnatural, and ineffective, but could it actually be dangerous? Fortunately, the American Cancer Society and other reputable medical sources have debunked this urban legend, which they revealed to be mostly propagated by makers of natural and organic beauty products. Shampoo does not cause cancer, but even though it won’t kill you (unless you drown in a tub of it), it does have some secrets that the beauty industry wishes people didn’t know.
10 Percent Hair, 90 Percent Hype
The only ingredient in shampoo that’s truly necessary is a detergent. The rest of the emulsifiers, fragrance, emollients, preservatives, and other chemicals are added to make the product feel good in our hands, create a satisfying lather, and make our hair smell pleasant. In fact, even with all the additives, about 90 percent of each shampoo bottle is simply water.
The truth is that hair is dead, and no valiant efforts by shampoo can bring it back to life—no matter what products claim. Cosmetics companies try very hard to convince people that shampoo can fortify, nourish, or otherwise change hair, but sadly, it’s just not true.
Shampoos can’t permanently alter the hair shaft; the best they can do is chemically mask the signs of damage, making hair feel temporarily softer, more hydrated, and more manageable. Like many products, much of the hype around shampoo is just myth and marketing. There’s very little difference between shampoos for curly hair and shampoos for straight hair, and there’s almost no difference between drugstore brands and expensive salon products. Salon shampoos may contain ingredients to make them feel and smell more luxurious, but the extra cost is most likely due to exotic-sounding (albeit useless) ingredients like vitamin extracts, shea butter, and other natural oils.
