I'm natural. Do I need to detox?

Q: Hi! I've been natural for 6 years, do I need to detox? I use a natural co-wash conditioner that I got from a health food store, so I should be ok, right?

A: 

It doesn't matter if you've been “natural” for 6 days, 6 months, 6 years, or 60 years – the term “natural” is unregulated and therefore means nothing. It is easy for any company or corporation to put the word "natural" on a product, because there is no qualification of that term legally. This is why we are a USDA certified organic company. Our hair wash falls into the "made with organic ingredients" category because there is a good bit of clay in the hair wash, and since clay is an inorganic substance (a mineral), it cannot be called "organic." That being said, all ingredients of every USDA certified organic product must comply with the National Organic Program's list of Allowed and Prohibited Substances. So no random, toxic chemicals can be put into an otherwise "organic" product. Also, the clay we use is not irradiated (treated with radiation) or chemically treated in any way. Remember, with USDA organic products the actual ingredients of the products and also the method by which the product is made must comply with the national standards.

If you want to learn about the different labeling categories of USDA organic certification, check out this post on our Organic News Blog.

If you want to see the National Organic Program's list of Allowed and Prohibited Substances, thisis the link to it.

If you want to see a comprehensive list of USDA certified organic companies, see thiswebpage from the USDA National Organic Program website.

Something else you may find helpful is our own Healthy Person's Guide to Personal Care Ingredients. This web page helps identify commonly found chemical ingredients in lots of conventional shampoos, conditioners, styling products, etc. These are the things you want to avoid!

Last, but not least, you should pick up the bottle of the conditioner you are using and look at the ingredients label. Check to see if any of the nasty chemical compounds from the webpages above can be found on it. Also, see if the actual conditioner itself is certified by an organic certification company (a company can label ingredients as organic without the end product being considered organic). Also, not every product from a company may be certified organic, so you have to inspect each product individually and carefully to ensure its safety for your health and the health of those around you. If the conditioner is not certified organic, then it is not organic and therefore not "natural." Remember, if you need help conditioning or styling your hair while using our hair wash, our Pure Earth Hair Wash is compatible with only USDA certified organic oils and butters. So if that conditioner you are using is not a USDA certified organic product (remember, the USDA is a government agency), then yes, you have to go through detox.

Also, it's important to note that health food stores do not carry exclusively organic, or even truly natural, foods and products – especially in the body care section. So I still highly recommend that you get out your "natural" conditioner (remembering that the word "natural" has no real meaning since it is not regulated) and read the label to see what is in the conditioner. As we say here: "If it doesn't have the [USDA organic] seal, it ain't the real deal!" Our hair wash is compatible with only USDA certified organic styling products, so you can't use other products with it unless they have the official USDA organic seal on the label.

I am including here two more links. One is to our online Hair Wash instructions that are more in depth than the ones sent with your package. The other is to our Hair Help Blog which has lots of great information about detox, hair styling, and conditioning. When using our hair wash, you do not want to use any chemical dyes, conditioning, or styling products. It doesn't matter if you're going through detox or if you finished detox. No matter what, no chemicals should be used on your hair because then you will have to detox again. Remember, the steps outlined in our hair wash instructions (outlined as day 1 wash your hair this many times, day 2 wash it this many, etc.) is just the beginning of detox. Detox, depending on your personal hair history and how often you wash your hair, can last from two weeks to longer. At no point should you revert back to a chemical conditioner because then you'd have to start detox over again.

Will the Hair Wash strip chemical dyes out of my hair?

Q: Will your Hair Wash strip chemical dyes out of my hair?

A:

We cannot provide you with a definitive response as we are not manufacturers of chemical dyes or chemical products. We cannot predict the stability of chemical dyes. We can say, however, that for the past 16 years, many people have reported to us that they regularly use our Hair Wash  on their dyed/bleached hair with excellent results.

We do not recommend the use of chemical hair dyes for a number of reasons: chemical hair dyes are toxic for the environment when they are manufactured in industrial chemical factories, unhealthy for you (and the salon workers) when they are used, pollute our waterways/drinking water, and are toxic to wildlife when such volumes of chemicals are washed down the drain into our waterways.

True, pure botanical henna powder hair coloring (often blended with indigo, walnut shells, beet powder, etc) when blended with water, black tea, or lemon juice, provides a wide range of completely natural and lovely shades of reds, coppers, browns, burgundies, mahogany, to black. It is also considerably less expensive at $10-$14 per box compared to $100+ visits to the salon. As an added bonus, when henna paste is rinsed from the hair and the used vegetable matter goes down the drain into our waterways, the henna compost provides FOOD for wildlife and microorganisms!

To learn more about totally natural botanical henna hair coloring see: http://www.te-helpmyhair.blogspot.com/search/label/hair%20dye

Henna Facts: Useful and Educational!!

Q: I was interested in trying your hair wash, until I discovered it isn't recommended for color-treated hair. I saw where you recommend henna hair dyes, so I did a little searching, since I've never used henna. I learned through a website that:

There is no such plant as "blonde henna", "brown henna" or "black henna". The plant, henna, lawsonia inermis, has only one dye molecule, and that molecule is red-orange.

Chemicals, metallic salts or other dye plants must be added to henna to make any color other than red. These mixes are termed compound hennas.

To be honest, that sounds pretty gross. I'm not a redhead, and have no desire to go red. My natural color is an blah, muddy brown with a whole lotta gray. I went blonde for many years, and recently went back to a medium chestnut brown. Is there a natural henna product that will duplicate that color without all the icky stuff added? Is it safe to use henna after having done chemical coloring in the past?

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A: One of the oldest and most well-established companies that we have found, Lotus Brands, produces reliable and consistent 100% pure botanical and henna powder blends of hair coloring products. Two well-regarded products made by Lotus Brands are their "Light Mountain" or "Color the Gray."

The beauty of using 100% natural plant powder blends to dye hair is that the plant dyes gradually wash out without the problems with "roots." Another big plus is that the plant powders are not damaging to the hair, non-toxic to humans and wildlife, sustainable/renewable agricultural crops, and not harmful to the environment and our waterways when they are washed down the drain. In addition, pure plant dyes are totally
compatible with our Hair Wash!

The information that you found was not accurate. Just as there are hundreds if not thousands of plant dyes that can dye wool (the hair of animals), or silk or cotton fibers, there are many plants that can be used to dye human hair darker colors in many various colors. So, too, as there are many varieties of apples, there are many varieties of henna that produce varying shades of brighter reds to brownish reds. When henna powders are mixed with other pure botanical plant dye powders, one can achieve many unique and rich and natural shades: bright red, dark red, auburn, copper, light, medium and dark browns, chestnuts, burgundies, mahogany, and even black. The Lotus company blends henna
plant powder with other botanical plant powders such as indigo and black walnut shells to get a wide range of colors.

When mixing the Lotus Brands plant powders at home, instead of using just plain water, one can mix their henna with coffee, black tea, chamomile tea, lemon juice, or other herbs or spices for even greater variation and penetration of color.

(However, it is true that there really is only simple botanical method of minimally lightening the hair when sitting in the sun -- applying lemon juice or rhubarb.)

To view the Lotus Brands products and to get the company's contact info for your hair coloring inquiries, take a look at the following useful links:

http://www.light-mountain-hair-color.com/
http://www.lotuspress.com/ltmtn.htm

We do offer their hair colorings in our store and you can order them when you place an order through our web site by requesting a particular coloring brand and color in the comment box of our shopping cart's order page, before submitting your order.

If you have any questions about the henna and its application on previously chemically-treated hair, we do suggest contacting Lotus Brands as they are the henna/botanical hair coloring experts.

Want More Information about Henna??

More information about henna hair coloring

Q: You mention organic henna colorants on your web site but don't offer them. Which do you recommend?

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A: The Light Mountain brand of pure botanical and henna hair colorings that we offer in our store is an excellent nontoxic hair coloring option. We have searched for nearly twenty years and still have not found a reliable source for an authentic USDA certified organic 100% pure botanical henna powder product...yet. The Light Mountain brand is the best completely natural hair coloring product that we have found. While Light Mountain hennas do not contain synthetic chemicals and are pure botanical products, the line is not certified organic. The Light Mountain hair coloring product is a box that contains simple combinations of ground plant powders that you can mix with organic lemon juice or water, and/or other organic herbs and spices (if desired) for unique coloring effects on different hair types.

For specific questions about the Light Mountain henna hair coloring product, we suggest directing your questions to the manufacturer, Lotus Brands.

By the way, the Light Mountain product is easy to use and gives excellent results for many different hair types. It can also be a fun and creative experience as well. Just follow the instructions and experiment!

PS - We recommend washing the henna out of your hair while in the shower as it can be messy and requires a bit of patience to remove the botanical plant material from one's hair.

Using Hair Wash with Colored Hair?? It's Possible!!

Information about using our Hair Wash if your hair has been color-treated

Q: I am very interested in switching over to Terressentials. I have read through your site and my only concern is that my hair was recently colored in an effort to take it back to my "normal" color. I don't plan to continue coloring it but it will be quite some time before the colored hair grows out (my hair is below my shoulders). Should I wait until the colored hair is grown out? Or can I start using your Hair Wash sooner than that?

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A: You can certainly start using our Hair Wash now -- no need to wait! First, though, do be sure to read through all of our excellent, detailed and highly informative Hair Wash article to learn about how our Hair Wash work: what to expect, selecting the proper hair cleansing formula for your hair type, speeding the detox, the special deep cleansing Body Wash treatment, conditioning the hair, etc.

Please also do note that the longer and thicker one's hair, and/or the more chemically-processed, the longer the detox.

Our recommendation? Read and follow the Hair Wash detox protocol instructions, be patient and enjoy!

Henna: A Safe Alternative to Chemical Hair Dyes

Information about henna hair coloring products

Q: What henna do you offer and which color would be best for my hair if I just want to make the gray a little darker but not completely like it used to be, but don't want the gray looking yellowish or another icky color.

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A: We don't make the henna that we offer in our stores. We offer the Light Mountain Brand, and we are not experts in the use of henna. We suggest contacting the henna's manufacturer, Lotus Brands, for their expert advice on the use of their henna coloring product to cover the gray on different hair types (and on chemically-treated hair if this is the case). The company also provides another product line for use if you'd like to color your hair but don't have gray hair.