Searching for a natural shampoo

I mentioned a few posts back that I was excited to get some "organic" and "natural" shampoo. I didn't read the ingredient list because the brand name was Nature's Gate Organics. Surprise! Small print reads: made with certified organic botanticals. Well, that's true, but besides the organic ingredients there were some other things including methylparaben and propylparaben. While there are reports that say parabens are ok , there are also some that question their safety. My take on it is that if I can avoid them, I might as well. Better safe than sorry.

The lesson I learned is that a company can put organic on the bottle if it has just a couple organic ingredients and who knows what the rest is. So from now on I'll be reading the labels much more closely.

So I'm looking for some gentle, natural shampoos. Even something seemingly friendly as Suave has Methylisothiazolinone in it which seems pretty yucky- NIH (National Institute of Health) uses the words toxic more than once in their evaluation of it on the National Library of Medicine's Toxnet site.

Has anyone has any luck with shampoos that are nice and natural? I want to find something that isn't so chemical. Please post if you have any suggestions!

Deodorant vs. Antiperspirant

Most people use the terms deodorant and antiperspirant interchangeably, when in fact they are quite different. Most products are a combination antiperspirant (stops the perspiring) and deodorant (stops odor).

In the past year, I have switched from the good old Lady Speed Stick to an aluminum free, paraben free deodorant.

The switch was not so much for environmental reasons, but for health reasons. About a year ago I had a lymph gland infection. This kind of infection occurs when bacteria gets trapped in the pores under your armpits. Antiperspirants contain aluminum which basically plugs up your pores to prevent sweat from coming out, and in my case, bacteria as well.

The infection took A LONG TIME to clear up and I had to take some nasty hi-test antibiotics that caused me some very serious negative side effects. The infection and subsequent side effects from the antibiotic made me decide to stop using a product that contributed to the likelihood of getting this infection ever again.

For a few months I used no product at all, but when warm weather approached, I decided to switch to something that is deodorant only, no antiperspirant. I have been using Tom's of Maine most recently, but I have also used the Trader Joe's brand and something called Herbal Clear Naturally. They all work about the same for me and I like all three equally.

If you are interested in products that are also paraben-free (there are lots of conflicting studies about parabens and whether they are dangerous or not), all three of these deodorants also happen to be paraben free.

Most of them are a little more expensive that the regular stuff, but keep your eyes peeled...I found the Herbal Clear marked down to 98c at Target a couple weeks ago, and CVS had some Tom's of Maine products at 75% off.

Do any of you use products I haven't mentioned that your happy with? Leave a comment!