A Chemical Confession

I'm officially a sellout and a hypocrite. Yesterday I walked right into an Aveda store with my credit card practically leaping out of my wallet. After endlessly searching the inventory on Aveda's website and cross-referencing it to www.cosmeticsdatabase.com, I still weirded out the sales girls by reading the ingredient list of every item in the store at least once (and it turns out some of the products have been made cleaner since they were put in the datatbase) before making my choices.

Don't get me wrong, I love the one truly natural hair care line that I believe in: Morrocco Method. It's incredible! And I will still recommend it first and foremost. But as my hair grew longer, I literally couldn't afford to have enough of it shipped to me. So I ventured into the land of health food store shampoo with little success. After trying a few different brands, my hair still felt dry and was so prone to tangling that I felt like a little girl again having to sit still and not squeal while my mom ran a comb through my knotty locks.

So I gave up on the "low hazard" options and returned to the realm of "moderate hazard" green-washed hair products that occupy the shelves of serene "concept stores" rather than the fluorescent lit aisles between the canned goods and the vitamins, reminding myself that hair care will be the one and only place I break the rules a little bit. The result? Few to no tangles, smoother, shinier hair, and just a little pang of guilt.

I still chose options that did not contain parabens or phenoxyethanol in their long lists of other crappy ingredients. But I can't help but think of what my Dad used to say- "Do as I say, not as I do."

Despite this transgression, I still feel qualified to continue this blog about natural beauty choices for women; though apparently I value silky hair over my health? Vanity wins this round.