[Nox]

Well, I think the basic idea of the article Ms.Cuppy.Cakes posted is to remind us that all the chemicals that we use in our toiletries and cosmetics, are exactly that. Chemicals. They are neither naturally occurring, nor did our predecessors have too many problems when they used products without those compounds. Those things are put there as:

1. Cheap substitutions for natural ingredients
2. Preservatives
3. Colorants (functional aesthetic)
4. Fragrances (functional aesthetic)
5. Soponificators
6. Foam enhancers (functional aesthetic)
7. Surfactants
8. etc......

Some of those chemicals "neat" (or pure) can burn the skin right off your scalp. And yet they are being added in. Why? Because the customer demands them. Customers want nice, sweet-smelling, foamy, pretty shampoo and conditioners. They wouldn't buy it any other way because the layperson does not know about what it takes to get it that way.

There will always be things in our products that are questionable in large amounts. That's just the world we live in. As a a former chemist, I would urge a lot of people to get more proactive about knowing what is in our products, and specifically the products we use on children and babies.

I used to work in a lab that banned the experimental use of a certain popular chemical that coats the inside of many cookwares because we know 100% that it is carcinogenic. About 75% of the labs in the US and 100% of European labs have done the same. It's not been made public because the FDA did not force them to do so, and people eat this stuff everytime they cook their food on it... :shudders:

Maybe it's because I know too much about all this that I went totally "hippy"/au naturel with my toiletries.