Can you suggest some healthy shampoo brands?

[Anne100]

Suggestions for healthy shampoo brands available in Spain? I dehydrated some of my usual shampoos into a powder that I'll bring with me to use initially but the rest I'll have to buy along the way. I'm looking for something extremely gentle and non-drying. I'm also trying to avoid the usual crap they dump into commercial shampoos:

sulfates
propylene glycol
diethanolamine (DEA)
triethanolamine (TEA)
petroleum by-products
formaldehyde
alcohols
phthalates
parabens
-ones (ingredients than end in "one" or "one," e.g., methylchloroisothiazolinone)

 

[Anne100]

Do you mix it with vinegar, Lise? I have found vinegars to be too drying for my hair.

 

[jmcorrigan]

I've been using a bar soap, Savon d'Alep (that's a type, not a manufacturer) for both body and hair for over a year now. It's mostly Olive Oil, with Laurel Berry Oil (I use one with 40% Laurel, but that's hard to find), water, and lye. I have long hair and it has never been happier. So is my skin. I tried it because I was tired of being someone's chemistry experiment and wanted to stop applying any substance with ingredients with long, strange names to my body. I don't use any conditioner any more either. I don't need it.

This soap may be hard to get in the States, as it is manufactured in Syria's largest city, Aleppo, but you can find it in most health food stores in France (Bio-Coop and Biomonde stores). I can't speak to whether or not it is available in Spain. I have seen it on Amazon.com in the past, but it was very expensive. Anyway, I recommend it to you.

 

[lynnejohn]

I've used the Lush solid shampoos on the camino. There is a new one out "Gentle Lentil" with a minimum of multisyllabic ingredients that I will be trying out this time.

 

[Anne100]

I'll keep an eye out for it, jmcorrigan.

Thanks, lynnejohn; I think all of the Lush shampoos have several of the ingredients in my post in them, though.

 

[peregrina2000]

When I walk, I always wash my clothes with Jabon Lagarto. I buy it in Spain, a huge bar costs less than a euro and lasts for many weeks, it is an old fashioned soap that every Spaniard's grandma used. But many Spaniards have told me they wash their hair and their body with it because it is ph-neutral and "pure." But I don't know exactly what that means.

 

[MendiWalker]

When I walk, I always wash my clothes with Jabon Lagarto. I buy it in Spain, a huge bar costs less than a euro and lasts for many weeks, it is an old fashioned soap that every Spaniard's grandma used. But many Spaniards have told me they wash their hair and their body with it because it is ph-neutral and "pure." But I don't know exactly what that means.

Neutral pH is a chemical solution neither acid nor alkaline (has a pH of 7.0), such as water.
Btw it is what I carry on my Caminos. Great for body, hair & clothes.

Buen Camino!

 

[MendiWalker]

You can also make your own shampoo.

http://www.greenecoservices.com/top-15-homemade-shampoo-recipes/

Buen Camino!

 

[hecate105]

I have the same aversion to needless chemicals. I took Ecover washing Up Liquid. Ecover is a Belgian company that makes 'green' chemical-free products. Their products are available worldwide. I have bought it in France and Spain, most health food shops stock it, and it is often available in 'fill-your-own-bottle style.
A little goes a long way - I found out when I ran out of shampoo that it worked well on hair. I also used it for handwashing clothes and it was great. So when I went a' pilgrimage I took a small strong plastic bottle of it and used it for hair, body, clothes and dishes!! My local mechanic uses it for getting oil off his hands too!

 

[Irène Elisabet]

Search "no poo method" on the internet. There are also many videos on youtube explaining this hair cleansing method. I've been "no poo" (oy I dislike that term) for several months. Generally takes a month for your hair to adjust but for me I think it was more like 2. I'm down now to only cleansing my hair with baking soda in water every 4-5 days, rinsing with apple cider vinegar. Other days inbetween I shower and massage my scalp with just water. My hair is very clean and much healthier. My chronically dry itching scalp is GONE. I've been noodling how on earth to keep this up on the Camino next Spring....wonder if anyone has done this with success?

 

[Packinglight]

I've done the baking soda method, and have a tin with a perforated lid in the shower for when I feel like it. My hair likes it too. However I make my own soap which I use on my hair & body and usually it's sheer morning laziness (meh, the bar of soap's already in my hand, might as well keep going...) which keeps me from solely using the baking soda/bicarb

Where I live baking soda is sold in small tea bag-sized paper sachets (something like 4 gram packets) and I had the idea I could carry a bunch of those when I travel and just open one a day if I felt the urge.

FYI, for those who colour their hair, typically soaps will strip the colour faster, whereas I noticed that the baking soda didn't affect it at all.
Not that I dye my hair, mind. This is natural, I swear.

 

[Kiwi-family]

I'm down now to only cleansing my hair with baking soda in water every 4-5 days, rinsing with apple cider vinegar. I've been noodling how on earth to keep this up on the Camino next Spring....wonder if anyone has done this with success?

Me. Last time I took BS in a plastic container - this time in an effort to reduce weight further I'm double-bagging it. I carry a small plastic bowl (for eating from), but it's double-use....at shower time I put my BS into it and carry it to the shower with me, add water and I'm away. Stops the whole container of BS getting wet. Don't mind what people think;-)

 

[Irène Elisabet]

Me. Last time I took BS in a plastic container - this time in an effort to reduce weight further I'm double-bagging it. I carry a small plastic bowl (for eating from), but it's double-use....at shower time I put my BS into it and carry it to the shower with me, add water and I'm away. Stops the whole container of BS getting wet. Don't mind what people think;-)

Ok so the "no poo" can be done on the Camino! Great! Thanks, I will do the same although I think I will use my coffee mug instead of bringing another bowl, holds 16oz so should be good. For body wash I purchased some nice Lush solid soap.