Hair Loss: Choose your shampoo carefully

You should choose your shampoo carefully, to reduce hair loss.

Although clean hair is desirable and even necessary for the maintenance of healthy hair, excessive shampooing can strip vital minerals like calcium, phosphorus, nitrogen and iron from the hair. This is particularly true when using commercial shampoos.

Most commercial shampoos contain formaldehyde as a preservative. To disguise the presence of formaldehyde it is listed in the ingredients as Quanternium-15. This substance can be carcinogenic (cancer-causing) and poisonous to the entire system.

Unfortunately for those who suffer with dandruff, anti-dandruff shampoos are some of the most dangerous shampoos on the market. Selenium sulfide is the main ingredient in most dandruff shampoos, a substance that has shown to cause degeneration of the liver. Other toxic chemicals such as polyvinyl pyrrlidone plastic (PVP), which is a proven carcinogenic, and creosol which has been proven to be highly toxic are commonly found in dandruff shampoos. This is why it is very important to correct this condition as quickly as possible through natural means.

Natural shampoos normally found in health food stores are a much better choice. Even with natural shampoos, be careful of the ingredient Sodium Lauryl Sulfate which can strip away too much oil from the hair, causing shampoo residue to be left behind.

Ingredients that have proven useful in shampoos are cocamides, Panthenol Pro-B, vitamins, aloe vera, sage, nettle, burdock, chamomile, chaparral, horsetail and rosemary. Also look for shampoos that contain keratin, the protein substance that hair is made of, or amino acids. This will help seal breakages in the cuticle.

Choose a shampoo with a proper pH balance; a level of 5.5 is ideal. The pH scale runs from 0 to 6.9 for acids and 7.1 to 14 for alkaline, with 7 being neutral.

Although generally conditioners are good for hair provided that they do not contain the previously mentioned harmful chemicals, shampoos with conditioners included should be avoided. Shampooing and conditioning serve two different functions and the effectiveness of both are diminished by combining the process.