There are so many changes we have made to our lives, it’s hard to know what to talk about sometimes. Have you ever read the back of your shampoo bottle? your soap? Can you even pronounce half the ingredients? While buying a bottle of shampoo two weeks ago, I was consumed with label reading. I was surprised how many man made ingredients were in the odd bottle of shampoo. What was Sodium Laurel Sulfate and what does it do? Apparently it does A LOT! and not all of it is good. Apparently it can be dangerous and it’s in EVERYTHING. A quick Google search will show you articles that say there are no proven side effects AND articles that tell you it can blind children, cause skin damage, and causes gum disease…and yes it’s in mouthwash and toothpaste.
Sodium Laurel Sulfate (SLS) is part of those “inactive ingredients” that don’t do much for your scalp, teeth, or skin. It’s the part of the soap that is foamy. Now I don’t know about anyone else but if something MIGHT be dangerous, I’m probably not going to use it. I’m not willing to take the risk.
What really concerned me was that it can blind children even in small quantities. It’s rare but it does happen.
It was hard trying to find a soap, shampoo, and toothpaste without SLS. It was even harder finding organically made SLS-free anything! (Toothpaste also needed to be floride free as well, since we’ve recently discovered those dangers too!)We finally ended up at Trader Joe’s cause if anyone had it, it would be at Joe’s. We found shampoo, cream rinse, toothpaste, and castille soap that I’m using for everything! Castile soap is like an all purpose soap… It will wash you clean, and possibly the shower too!
I feel a little like screaming out “People! These things can kill you! Give you cancer! Make you sick!” but often I feel like I’m screaming into the wind. Someday we’ll be heard.