Take 5 shampoos
Get glossy, party hair for Christmas with our pick of natural shampoos
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- The Body Shop Honey Moisturising shampoo
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- Natural Empathy Zing shampoo
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- Neal’s Yard Nourishing Lavender shampoo
Natural Empathy Natural Zing Grapefruit and Rosemary Shampoo
£12 for 200ml from naturalempathy.com
We applaud Natural Empathy for its use of local suppliers and organic, responsibly sourced ingredients. Its newly launched shampoo, although a tad pricey, is wonderfully refreshing and the William Morris inspired packaging adds elegance to any bathroom.
Team with Natural Empathy Pure Luxury Jasmine and Lavender Conditioner.
The Body Shop Honey Moisturising Shampoo
£8 for 400ml from Body Shop stores and online at thebodyshop.co.uk
You have to work hard to get up a good lather with this one but the aroma of the Community Traded Kenyan honey was irresistible. Left my hair soft and smelling great. Best for dry, damaged or chemically treated hair.
Team with The Body Shop’s Honey Moisturising Conditioner.
John Masters Lavender and Rosemary Shampoo
£16 for 236ml from johnmasters.co.uk
Made of pure coconut soap with herbal infusions of periwinkle, sage leaves and chamomile flowers. The rich auburn colour of the product was reminiscent of treacle but the subtle lavender scent was true class. Gave a great shine. As expensive as it feels.
Team with John Masters Organics Rosemary and Peppermint Detangler.
Aveda Shampure Shampoo
£9.50 for 250ml from Aveda stockists at aveda.co.uk
A mix of 25 pure flower and plant essences. The quickest to lather of all which left me suspicious about the list of chemicals on the bottle. The shampoo had a pleasant professional salon smell and gave a good sheen. Gentle enough for daily use on all hair types.
Team with Aveda Shampure Conditioner.
Neal’s Yard Nourishing Lavender Shampoo
£10 for 200ml from Neal’s Yard stores and at nealsyardremedies.com
Containing 85 per cent organic ingredients, this shampoo is bursting with a delicious English lavender scent. Its purpose is to add volume to fine hair. I wanted to love this but it weighed down my hair rather than adding bounce. But if you are fighting the frizz, maybe this one is for you.
Team with Neal’s Yard Nourishing Lavender Conditioner.
Reading the ingredients on the bodyshop shampoo it has parabens in it which are not exactly green.
There are lots of shampoos and conditioners out there that have far greener credentials – albeit that lots don’t work very well. There are a whole range of natural, mainly organic and fully organic shamppos on the market form really trendy like cowshed to more reasonably priced Waitrose own. My personal favourite is the Daniel Galvin Junior Melon range. I find their new orange blossom which has a greater % of organic ingredients doesn’t work well with my hair. With respect to the Aveda shampoo – did it contain SLS (sodium lauryl/laureth sulphate? If so this is definately not natural and would explain the lather. It is a shame that a little more effort wasn’t put into this artical to make sure the facts were correct.
Hi Veryan
Thank you very much for opening the debate on what constitutes an ‘ethical’ beauty product. At Daisy Green, we recognise that there are differing opinions about this but the idea that a product we feature must have at least one ethical element to it fits well with our view that, to make it achievable, moves towards ethical living can be taken one step at a time. We are currently in the process of putting together a page about what constitutes ‘ethical’ in our view. Obviously, our favourite products are those which feature as many ethical elements as possible, as well as being effective and desirable.
In the case of the Body Shop shampoo, I was aware that it contains parabens. However, it also contains community traded organic honey and the Body Shop has done a tremendous amount to champion fair trade. You are right that SLS is a paraben. This was not present in the Aveda product. However, chemical ingredients like methylchloroisothiazolinone and disodium laureth sulfosuccinate were included, hence my comment. But sustainably farmed, organic plant extracts were at the top of the ingredients list suggesting they were in the greatest quantity.
You can read more about our line on parabens in our glossary. Fundamentally, more research is needed on the subject. Any further contributions towards this debate are very welcome. And thanks for your shampoo recommendations I shall definitely be looking out for them.
Sallyanne Flemons, Beauty Editor
Thank you for replying Sallyanne. I think the issue of natural products is an interesting and complicated one as each company has a different take on what makes their product “green”. My main issue is with SLS as I have read that is can/is carcinogenic, however as a lather producer it is used in so many products – even toothpaste. I have become even more interested in finding green products since the birth of my son – like many mums. (There are still some products I can’t live without though!)
My main bug bear is that products claim to be green when the are not. Take for example Tescos BNatural range – the showergel contains SLS yet the rest of the range at first glance seems ok. Of all the Bodyshop shampoos a quick look today shows that the one you mention above is the only one without SLS and Bodyshop are an automatic look at when it comes to “greener” products as you rightly mentioned because of their efforts with fairtrade. Even Weleda have only just removed it from their shampoos.
We all live such busy lives and checking ingredient list isn’t always easy. I can’t wait for the day when companies are more open about what is their products and make it easier for us to make an informed decision.
I feel that Daisy Green has an opportunity to help consumers make more informed choices about what they are buying and to aide us in decifering the small print. Most people don’t have the time to check everything they buy which is why articles like this can be so useful, we all see something in the magazine and go out and buy it. I have high hopes that future recommendations will be clearer in their objectives and can help us all to make better and more informed choices.
I look forward to reading future articles.