Shampoo your hair only if you trust the manufacturer. Otherwise, to avoid hair loss, skin and scalp irritation, and sometimes worse, you’re better off just leaving your hair alone. What’s in your shampoo? The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics wants to know and you need to find out why. Does your shampoo play a starring role in hair loss and other consumer health problems?

The list of chemicals and ingredients in cosmetic preparations numbers over 10,000. Currently, the Food and Drug Administration does not test consumer cosmetics before manufacturers put them on the market in the United States. They have no authority to do this, regardless of the country of origin. If there are enough consumer complaints, the FDA steps in, after the fact. The Cosmetic Ingredient Review is an FDA-sponsored project. In 1976, CIR started collecting available study data on cosmetic ingredients intended for human use. Their aim is to make it possible for the FDA to be proactive about cosmetic ingredients.

To date, the FDA has banned only nine chemicals from cosmetic usage. Studies on over 100 more have been inclusive. They have been certified neither safe nor unsafe for skin application by consumers. Among these are sodium laurel sulfate and some common coloring agents widely used in shampoos. Parabens and diethanolamine (DEA), suspected carcinogens that turn up in shampoos, also lack a government safety rating.

European countries have already banned many of the ingredients on the inconclusive list. Why can’t we share the knowledge? Perhaps, we should buy their test results and get the ball rolling. Maybe our government wants to conduct its own tests for good reasons. In the meantime, consumers wind up being guinea pigs in the unofficial tests that cosmetics manufacturers conduct by putting questionable products on store shelves.

Some cosmetic manufacturers participate in the Compact for Safe Cosmetics. They have voluntarily signed agreements to eliminate unsafe ingredients from their products. Their shampoos and conditioners are good alternatives to ones that still have a long list of unpronounceable and potentially harmful ingredients. Many consumers turn to the Skin Deep database to find data on chemicals in popular brand name shampoos and conditioners.

Eliminate preventable hair and scalp problems. Protect your hair and body by reviewing the labels on the products that you use for grooming. If you can’t find suitable replacements for chemical-laden shampoos, you can always make your own. It’s not rocket science. To make a shampoo with ingredients that you can trust, all you need is glycerin, soap flakes, and common herbs like chamomile or rosemary. Look up herbal hair cleansing formulas at your local library and natural living websites.