Essential Tips for Proper Hair Care on Vacation

While bathing your head in various brightly-coloured gooey hair products, have you ever wondered what they are made of?

Sure, they look cool, smell amazing, and make us look our best, but what exactly are they made of? and is it healthy to soak our brain-holder in this all of this fantastic yogurt-like goop? Well, that depends on whether the products you use contain any…

1) Parabens

These cheap preservatives are widely used for their antimicrobial properties and their ability to extend shelf life. Parabens have known toxicity to humans – they are endocrine disrupters. Which sounds like a weapon straight out of a space movie.

(Source Dvice)

In all seriousness, endocrine disruptors aren’t very healthy for you. Also, they are unhealthy for animal and human hormone balances. They have also been found to be present in breast tumours, although no link between parabens and cancer has been officially established. So in the end, its not like parabens are pure carcinogenic poison, but their not exactly vitamins either.

Be careful when reading the ingredients list as well, as parabens come in a variety of flavours, such as: Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Butylparaben and Ethylparaben.

2) Sulfates

Sulfates, as seen on bottles as Sodium Lauryl Sulfate. It is an additive in hair products and is dreadfully avoided by hair colourists. This is the case because SLS is a harsh detergent that is typically used in floor cleaners and other cleaning products. This chemical is great if you want to strip the natural oils out of your hair. As an added bonus, the chemical will also break down the colour in your hair over time. We feel like this would make a funny commercial.

Scared yet? If not, check out 2 More Hair Product Ingredients You Want to Avoid