Sea salt hair sprays are great for styling and if you’ve been looking for a holistic, non toxic alternative, you’re in the right place.
There was a time I too used to buy a mainstream brand salt texture spray for my hair. It’s awesome stuff for wavy hair to help it look ‘done’ rather than lazily ‘let go’. As I get older with more greys, I find my hair getting crazier and a salt spray helps crazy hair look cool rather than, well, crazy.
I thought I’d head back and look at the spray I used to use and run it through some chemical research papers on the ingredient list.
I think when really getting a fire in our bellies to change the stuff that’s not so awesome in our lives, if we take a little second to truly understand what’s not so great about something, moving on is more motivating and purposeful – and that’s the best kind of change we can hope for. It’s the lasting kind.
So here’s the old “no-name”… blow-by-blow ingredient list.
Exhibit A
Water
Sodium Chloride
Glycerin (Derived from animal, maybe GMO, maybe palm oil derived; may irritate skin, not assessed for safety in cosmetics)
PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil (petroleum derived; not safe for use on injured or damaged skin – most scalps have a nick or two here and there so, um, no thanks!)
Polyquaternium-11 (lung irritant)
Parfum (fragrance. When not specified as natural, it is the gross majority of the time a synthetic fragrance and in synthetic fragrance/parfum, it is commonplace for hormone-disrupting ‘phthalates’ to hide – they’re used to make fragrances ‘stick’ and last longer but they’ve been found to be sex-hormone mimicking (Read more on hormone disruptive chemicals HERE )
DMDM Hydantoin (synthetic; eye/skin/lung irritation, releases formaldehyde, suspected immunotoxicity)
Disodium EDTA (maybe petroleum derived; allergic reactions, skin/mucous membrane irritation)
Phenoxyethanol (petroleum derived; eye irritation, headache, tremors, and CNS depression, suspected reproductive and developmental toxicity. Banned in Japan for personal care products)
Methylparaben (petroleum derived; contact dermatitis, endocrine disruption)
Butylparaben (petroleum derived; allergic reactions, dermatitis, endocrine disruption)
Propylparaben (petroleum derived; contact dermatitis, suspected endocrine disruption, suspected skin/sense organ toxicity)
Isobutylparaben (may be petroleum derived; allergic and hypersensitive reactions)
Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone (synthetic; CNS disruption, possible human toxicant, suspected environmental toxicity)
Benzyl Alcohol (may be petroleum derived; Allergic reactions, liver/immune/and neurotoxicity)
Benzyl Salicylate (may be petroleum derived; Associated with endocrine disruption, skin irritation)
Butylphenyl Methylpropional (restricted in EU cosmetics, allergic reactions, contact dermatitis)
Citral (synthetic; allergic reactions, eyes/skin/lung irritation, suspected liver toxicity)
Citronellol (plant derived; not common but sometimes allergic reactions, irritation to skin and mouth, sensitisation)
Coumarin (synthetic; allergic reactions, suspected carcinogen, suspected cardiovascular and liver toxicity)
Geraniol (plant derived; possible but not probable allergic reactions, contact dermatitis, skin/eye irritation)
Hexyl Cinnamal (synthetic, restricted in EU cosmetics; allergic reactions, skin irritation)
Hydroxycitronellal (synthetic; allergic reactions, skin irritation)
Limonene (plant derived; possible but not common skin/eye/lung irritation)
Linalool (plant/synthetic; possible facial psoriasis, allergic reaction and skin irritation)
SHEESH: What the hey now, right?
Don’t panic. What we didn’t know, we didn’t know. We just have to take a deep breath, find a better way and move on from this weirdness. A lot of the skin irritant potential ingredients only affect sensitive skins, so it’s really the hormone / endocrine disruptive ingredients as well as the lung irritants, unsustainable palm and petroleum we need to ditch here – so, yeah… basically the lot 😉
Now we cover every aspect of low-tox hair care and every other day-to-day choice across 22 topics, extensively in my start-anytime E Course GO LOW TOX.
BUT, if you just want to deal with this AHA, then I am delighted to share great go to brand many low tox peeps use and a very simple DIY, cheap to make, low tox natural texture spray right in your own home.
BUY IT
So many people use and love this in our community and if you aren’t a DIY’er then go for it and give that Noosa Basics a go.
DIY HAIR TEXTURISING SPRAY
What you need
1 cup boiling water
2 tbsp epsom salts
1 heaped tsp quality salt (adds the ‘hold’ to the waves. Use 1/2 if you want looser, zero stiffness waviness)
50ml aloe vera juice (optional but nourished and tones hair – available online or at your local health shop)
6-8 drops of your favourite essential oils (I’ve done a blend of 2 drops vetiver, 3 drops balsam fir and 2 drops peppermint from Young Living oils, which smells ridiculously good but you can literally blend what you fancy or leave the oils out altogether. I can help with a wholesale oils account if you need one; otherwise, grab your own from whichever brand you enjoy.)
What to do
Drop the oils if using, into the epsom salts so that they emulsify in with the water once mixed.
Then dissolve the salt and epsom salts into the boiling hot water.
Add the aloe vera juice and stir well through
You’re done. Pop in an atomiser of some kind (I rinsed out the old texture spray bottle, or an apple cider vinegar bottle works well with a new spray top screwed onto it)
To apply, just spray a few sprays on your hair, especially middle and ends so it doesn’t get weighed down at the roots and scrunch it up to give the definition to the hair.
This is my favourite thing to use when I’ve let my hair dry naturally and need to make it look like ‘it was on purpose’, if you know what I mean.
So there you go!
Low Tox Hair. Yeah yeah (anyone else remember that hilarious Ashley Martin hair ad from the 80s? Just me then? Moving on…)
FEATURE IMAGE PHOT CREDIT: From the Hello Giggles blog.
