How to choose your shampoo? The Company of Senses

A shampoo is an emulsion, that is to say a homogeneous mixture, visibly, between a aqueous phase and an fatty phase, immiscible. One of the particularities of the shampoo is its high proportion of water: 70% on average in an organic shampoo as in a classic shampoo!

The fatty phase, for its part, attracts the hair towards the aqueous phase. Thus, the active ingredients will be able to act at the heart of the hair and scalp in order to wash and remove grease and pollution particles. The fatty phase consists of a mixture of surfactants, which will give the shampoo its active properties.

Surfactants, or surfactants, are used to keep the emulsion stable for a period of time. In fact, they reduce the surface tension between the two immiscible phases of the emulsion, which prevents your shampoo from turning into an unattractive vinaigrette...

These are the compounds that vary greatly between an organic shampoo and a classic shampoo. Due to the profusion of ingredients (and therefore raw material costs) in classic shampoos, manufacturers have made compromises, sometimes deciding to ignore the quality of surfactants.

This is how a shampoo can be made up of anionic surfactants* : they are characterized by a slight attraction to anions and will therefore be more detergent, or even too detergent. They are very cheap and foamy, but can get very itchy...if you want your scalp to itch, this is a good option ;-). Finally, these surfactants often come from petrochemicals, which are polluting and involve complex recycling... But that's another subject.

... Conversely, organic labels highlight the choice of amphoteric* surfactants of plant origin, which are gentler and eco-responsible. Their amphoteric nature allows them to have as much affinity with anions as cations, and therefore not to be repelled by one or other of the phases of the emulsion.

They are generally less foaming than petrochemical surfactants, but this problem can be solved by adding co-surfactants of plant origin, which will reinforce the action of the surfactants: no reduction in effectiveness (quite the contrary!) and a healthy and soothed scalp, while practicing eco-responsible behavior.

A smooth, creamy shampoo that flows well, we all dream of it! And these properties are made possible thanks to the use of texturing agents. The problem is that obtaining these agents is not always very ecological: in classic shampoos, the texturing agents are once again derived from petrochemicals. The “organic” designation therefore excludes most petrochemical ingredients from the composition of the shampoo, replacing them with organic or natural ingredients.

You will therefore only find very few texture agents in organic shampoos (which may explain why your hair gets tangled a little more with an organic shampoo!) but more natural agents based on vegetable gums, in order to 'obtain a shampoo with a viscosity adapted to consumer expectations.

Essential in a shampoo because of the high proportion of water which promotes the development of micro-organisms, preservatives are present in low concentrations (less than 1% in general).

Once again, organic shampoos stand out from their competitors by favoring natural preservatives, just as effective but less harmful to the environment and less aggressive for the skin than the preservatives used in classic shampoos.

Indeed, certain shampoos may still contain parabens* or no less irritating substitutes such as formaldehyde*. In an organic product, certain synthetic preservatives are authorized by the labels but natural preservatives are often preferred.

Like many people, you probably choose your shampoo based on its smell and appearance. This is why classic shampoos contain so many additives. The only thing is, although they smell good, these shampoos coat your hair with a whole bunch of synthetic compounds that are not very glamorous, and as a bonus potentially allergenic! While organic shampoos use natural dyes (or even no coloring at all!) and organic essential oils for perfumes. The smell of organic shampoos is therefore generally quite neutral, but nothing prevents you from adding a drop or two of your favorite essential oil.

You are now in possession of some reading keys to better understand the label of your shampoo and choose it wisely. You will also find other additives in low concentrations, reinforcing foaming properties or other specific properties thanks to active ingredients in trace form.

For certified organic products, the maximum proportion of synthetic ingredients in the finished product is fixed at 5 %.

This therefore leaves little room for all the compounds used in classic shampoos! Several regulations govern the production of organic cosmetics: we can find the Ecocert, Cosmébio certifications, the BDIH charter, or the Organic Agriculture label. In general, these certifications guarantee a minimum of 95% natural or natural origin ingredients, of which at least 10% come from organic farming.