I Avoid + I Look For

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What I Avoid and What I Look For

There are certain ingredients that I avoid and there are certain things that I look for in a company when I'm trying to figure out what to buy. You can read more below.

I Avoid Non-Curly Girl Ingredients

I hadn't used shampoo for years (it's not as bad as it sounds) and never used heat products or styling products. I co-washed my hair twice a week, brushed it, and did updos. That was about it. Hair changes and I realised that hormones had made my hair slightly wavy. I stumbled upon the Curly Girl Method in January 2017 and have been following it since. I still don't use shampoo or heat, but I do use styling products.

I know that I'll never get super curly hair and that's fine with me. My hair is 2B, low porosity, protein sensitive, medium thickness, and low density. In winter, I just give up, wear ear muffs, a hat, and a hood, and wait until spring. Since I follow the Curly Girl Method, there are certain ingredients in hair products that I avoid.

Ingredients can be hard to decipher. For example, sulfates aren't CG approved but behentrimonium methosulfate is allowed because it's not a sulfate. I highly recommend joining a group, such as the Curly Girls, to make sure your products are CG approved.

• Most alcohols (except for water soluble ones)
• Most silicones (PEG or PPG are ok since they're water soluble) I avoid them all.
• Most sulfates
• Most waxes (except for emulsifying wax and jojoba oil, which is really a wax)
• Non natural oils (such as mineral oil)

Other Ingredients I Avoid

Formaldehyde donors: These help with preservation, anyone remember dissecting animals in Biology? I don't want to use formaldehyde on my body.

Parabens: I know that some people say they're ok and others say they're horrible. The EU banned 5 of them in 2014 and then 2 more in 2015. I'm just not comfortable using them. They're limiting the amount used and say that children might be more vulnerable. With governments taking action, it makes me think that something is up. I feel like while they've been around for a long time, there are still a lot of unanswered questions about them and that's not acceptable to me, so I will avoid them.

Parfum / Fragrance with phthlates: Human exposure to phthlates is relatively unknown, however, they have had negative affects on animal's lungs, kidneys, reproductive system, and liver. Again, I'm simply not comfortable using them and they limit which products I can use. One of the first things I look for in a list of ingredients is parfum or fragrance. If they have that and it doesn't say phthlate-free, then I won't use it. I'm not sure whether it's good or bad, but there have been a bunch of products that have gotten rave reviews from people that I wanted to use that had parfum or fragrance, however, until their fragrances are phthlate-free, I won't use them.

Phenoxyethanol: this is a common ingredient in products. I've been told it is often used instead of parabens and it's cheap. You'll find some websites like Paula's Choice that says it's good and others like Truth in Aging that say that they'd avoid it. One brand that I particularly like for products is Moogoo. They used to use phenoxyethanol. Now they use other preservatives suxh as hops, citric acid, and piroctone olamine.

Pots, jars, open containers: I used to love pretty pots and jars, but now I'm trying to avoid them. First of all, sensitive ingredients should be kept away from light and air. Secondly, you can introduce bacteria into the product by using your fingers to get the product out. Lastly, if you're using a products in the shower, such as a deep conditioner or scrub, you're probably introducing water into the product, making mold and bacteria even more likely to happen.

What I Look for in a Company

Ingredients aren't the only thing I look at. While I realise that companies will tick all the boxes for what I'm looking for, here are somethings I like to see from a company.

Animal-friendly: I'm not vegan, but I do try to make a conscience effort to decrease the amount of animal-products I use. I also try to buy from companies that use themselves as guinea pigs instead of animals, like Moogoo does.

Ethically sourced products: Let's be honest, many people around the world get by on pennies a day. It's not uncommon for companies to take advantage of this situation. I look for companies that work fairly with local communities such as Rainforest Chica and Florihana.

Fair pricing: Nowadays, a company can buy something cheaply and jack up the price so that they make a huge profit. While the company and higher-ups profits, the regular employees and the consumers pay the price. This is one of many reasons why I avoid MLMs. I think all the companies I buy from have fair pricing. I can't afford to buy cheap crap nor do I believe that just because something is super expensive means it's quality.

Giving back to the community: Whether it's the local community or the global community, it's nice to find companies that give back. Edens Garden and Plant Therapy are two examples.

Good relationships: To me this means good customer service as well as good rapport with employees and suppliers. Plant Therapy and Moogoo are known for having fantastic customer service. 

Quality not quantity: Have you ever read The Paradox of Choice: Why Less in More? If you haven't, you should. Too many choices are overwhelming. In addition, I believe that when a company has loads and loads of products to choose from, the quality often goes down. I'd rather a company concentrate on making a handful of products absolutely amazing than have a ton of mediocre products to choose from.

Recycling: More companies are trying to look for ways to maintain the integrity of their packing materials, yet not be wasteful. Appalachian Valley Natural Products gets used boxes from the local high school and uses those to ship out orders. Moogoo says that they don't feel comfortable using bubble wrap or packing peanuts so they bought a machine that turns unusable cardboard boxes into packing material. It's super cool. You can check out their post about it.

Safety first: Blanket statements such as "it's ok to use this product on anyone or anything because it's a pure product," is not a safe statement. Nor is telling people it's ok to digest these products. Valuing safety over profits like Edens Garden and Plant Therapy do is a major plus in my book.

Small or family-run: I prefer supporting small companies or family-run companies. I feel like huge conglomerates are taking over the world and I'd like to do my part to support small companies such as Appalachian Valley Natural Products, Moogoo, Rainforest Chica, and Plant Therapy are a few examples. 

Sustainable sourced or wild harvested: This system takes ethics, social matters, and the environment into account. You need to meet the current needs without sacrificing the future. This might mean sacrificing company profit. Rainforest Chica and Florihana are two examples of companies that do this.