Part 1 of 4: Parfum
Are you looking for a shampoo without harmful chemicals but feeling overwhelmed by the extensive list of ingredients you find on many shampoo and conditioner bottles these days? And by harmful, we mean harmful to the environment and your health. Some chemicals may actually be safe to use on our bodies but not so safe for mother earth, while others have been deemed unsafe or linked to various health issues.
If you’re like us, you prefer chemical free hair care and want to avoid products that aren’t eco-friendly OR human-friendly, we’re here to help! In this blog series, we’ll spotlight harmful chemicals we don’t want (or put) in our hair care products—silicones, sulfates, parabens and our first offender, parfum (fragrance)—and explain why you should avoid them, too.
What’s parfum and why should you avoid it?
Parfum (also referred to as fragrance) is comprised of a variety of chemicals that are combined to create, enhance or mask scents in beauty, personal care and cleaning products. Fragrance has long been considered a trade secret in the beauty biz, so manufacturers in Canada and other countries have not been required to reveal their “secret” recipes.
While Canada prohibits or restricts many toxic ingredients from being used in beauty products, the government doesn’t test every cosmetic and hair care product on the market. In the past, ingredients used in parfum have been linked to health and environmental hazards— from triggering allergic reactions and asthma to synthetic musks building up in the fatty tissues of aquatic organisms in the Great Lakes to chemicals that interfere with hormone function. Parfum is also often listed in natural products though the ingredient itself is not natural and could be masking other things. (Did you know brands promoting 97% natural often do this?!)
Don’t leave your – or the environment’s – health to chance
Purchase parfum free shampoo, conditioner, and other safe hair care products instead! Avoiding parfum in your ingredients list is a powerful way to keep potentially dangerous chemicals from making their way onto your scalp or into your body. At Urban Spa, we use natural essential oils for aroma in our salon quality hair care products, along with other natural ingredients and eco-friendly packaging that allows you to worry less about potentially harmful ingredients and helps ensure that what you see is what you get.
Keep an eye out for our next blog in this series as we continue to dive into the dos and don’ts of hair care ingredients!
Visit Urban Spa’s online store to purchase your chemical free shampoo today!
