As the household cleaning thread was turning into shampoo

I can't use any chemical ones. Tried fruit-based ones & I came up in a rash - GP told me they are often really harsh, so not much better than the chemical ones if you have sensitive skin. And I'm allergic to alcohol & to floral scented things - you try finding a shampoo which doesn't contain chemicals, fruit, alcohol, or something like lavendar!!

Used Simple shampoo for a while (still have some, just in case) but it's not great - and some of their range has some nasty chemicals in, so you have to be careful which one to get.

Now I have Avalon organics peppermint shampoo, which I love - really hard to find though - can only get it from one tiny health food shop which is miles away & only open about two days a week

Juliet try these folk - they are stockists! - mail order. ?

Tree of Life UK Limited
Coaldale Road
Lymedale Business Park
Newcastle under Lyme
Staffordshire
United Kingdom
ST5 9QX

Telephone: +44 (0) 1782 567100
Fax: +44 (0) 1782 567199
E-mail:

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Thanks Flo - problem with mailorder is usually that I only want one thing & the postage costs double the price - but will contact them if I stop being able to get it from the shop.

Doesn't anyone else use shampoo then?

I can use cheep stuff and get away with it but shower gel and stuff like that make me itch. Also I am super sensitive to smells (dont wear perfume, scented anything, dont use fabric cond).

I use shampoo from 'green people', even their soap can be used as shampoo

Found the article that started it all off for me....

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oh, and that : Along with pharmaceuticals, personal care products are now some of the most ubiquitous pollutants in our waterways. Washed down the sink or toilet, they fl ow into sewage systems and are discharged into our water supply
and onto the land. Municipal sewage treatment plants have no technology in place to check for or remove these chemicals. The risks posed to aquatic organisms (by continual life-long exposure) and to humans (through long-term consumption of minute quantities in drinking water) are essentially unknown. There are major concerns about these products promoting microbial resistance and hormone disruption, and the consequences of daily exposure to other chemicals
that are carcinogenic, mutagenic, teratogenic and neurotoxic remain unknown.

I'll get my coat

No need to get your coat, Dom - think everyone should know about the dangerous chemicals in these things - you keep telling 'em !

Baggy - might be worth having a look what's in your cheap shampoo - Parabens (potentially carcinogenic); SLS (irritant); Parfum (could be anything - industry shorthand for any kind of synthetic fragrance, many of which are known allergens) and all sorts of other rubbish gets put in shampoo.

If you're sensitive to smells you may have a mild form of MCS (if you had it severely (like me!) you'd know - and you wouldn't be able to use cheap shampoo!) - more info. here

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The smell thing is something to do with my brain surgery and my subsequent epilepsy I am told. Smells just bug me. Spent all morining saying to OH ''Can you smell cheese on toast?'', which he couldn't as there wasn't any. Other smells give me a crashing headache or can trip a seizure. Borrowed a t-shirt from a friend when i stayed over and couldn't work out why I felt sick all day. It was the fabric cond. That's why I stick to the cheep (ish) ones. Can't use anything with herbs, lavendar, fruit (just too sickly) and menthol. Used to get on ok with the old brown vosene but they changed it and it smells funny now. Used to do ok with a nicky clarke one for blonde hair (when it was bleached) but now just use frequent wash for red heads.
Admitidly I prob am washing all sorts of shite down the drain but I will stick to this one for now knowing that it doesn't affect me and make me feel sick (until they change the recipe).

Gosh that's interesting - for me the smell thing is to do with my ME (which is also neurological) - I don't smell things which aren't there, like the cheese on toast, but if someone comes round with fabric conditioner on their clothes it's overwhelming - have to sit other side of room & I still have headache & sore throat by the time they leave. When R goes out & travels on public transport he has to strip off as soon as he gets back so his clothes can be washed. I'm OK with the herbs & menthol but not citrus or lavendar or any floral scents.

It's a pain when they change the recipe, isn't it?!

I used to go to a posh hair salon and they thought I was a right weirdo when I used to ask to have a sniff of the shampoo and conditioner before they used it. It got so overwhelming to sit and have my hair done - with all the other customers having 'stuff' put on (ok with colours, bleach and perming lotion smells work that one out) that I now have my hair done at home and use my own stuff. Cant have anything that is an aerosol either as the propellant rather thatn the contents make me barf.

I'm always sniffing things too - I open bottles in shops & have a sniff to see whether they'll effect me - sometimes I really wish I hadn't! I gave up going to hairdressers ages ago - can't even sit there for five minutes while they trim my hair now - have to get my mum to cut it for me instead. Can't go to dentists either - they keep cleaning everything with chemical stuff & last time I went I was really ill afterwards. Dunno what I'm going to do if I get toothache

Thought I'd enlarge the thread title a bit ...

... what soap or shower gel or whatever do you use?

I can't really find one I like which doesn't set off the allergies. I've got Lakeland Limited Eucalyptus & Tea Tree oil handwash for handwashing but can't use it in the shower (it has a few chemicals, though not the particularly nasty ones). I have Simple Soap for the shower but it's horrible gooey stuff - would rather have something which knows whether it's a solid or a liquid.

it's all here

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Um ... did I mention I'm allergic to aloe vera?

The good thing about shampoos and mouthwashes is the current trend to save money by removing the emulsfier. You know the shake it to mix and 'activate' the great ingredients.

Charging me more for less, but a less that I'm pleased about cos its less uneccesary additives just to make something look pretty! It just sprang to mind cos my Lynx showergel now needs shaking before use...

Taste horrible but your teeth sparkle

Well I did tell you theb foaming at the mouth was nothing to do with being mad <humph>


AND my teeth have no dandruff so there......

Ah, but does your hair have plaque?

Course not! I wash it in toothpaste