Is your Baby Shampoo & Detangler Hazardous? Creating a DIY Detangler

I have been buying Johnson's No More Tangles Spray Detangler for my little girls fine, tangly hair for over 2 years now. At $6.99 a bottle I was curious if there was a less expensive and chemical free alternative. Firstly, I wanted to know what was in the spray and then find a simple, green and inexpensive DIY formulation. Here are the ingredients listed on the bottle: 

• Behentrimoinum Methosulfate
• Sodium Benzoate
• Dimethacone
• Hydroxyethyl Behenamidopropyl Dimonium Chloride
• Polysorbate 20
• Trisiloxane
• Ceteth 10
• Laureth 4

I decided to research the ingredients one by one which turned out to be a tedious and confusing process. Then I found EWG's Skin Deep Cosmetics Database (http://www.ewg.org/) and searched for the spray. The site rates tons of cosmetics including makeup, shampoo, conditioner, nail care and even sunscreens.  Skin Deep pairs ingredients in more than 25,000 products against 50 definitive toxicity and regulatory databases, making it the largest integrated data resource of its kind. The small nonprofit created this big project because the FDA doesn’t require companies to test their own products for safety! Nowhere on Health Canada's website do I see that either! All products listed have a health hazard score. The hazard range hones in on products containing cancer containing agents, allergens & immunotoxicity, developmental & reproductive toxicity...all obviously hazardous. The score is defined by the EWG from 0-10 with:

(0-2) Green - Low Hazard
(3-6) Orange - Moderate Hazard
(7-10) Red - High Hazard

It turns out the ingredients listed above although large and unknown are not too bad. The spray has a health hazard score of 1. The shampoo and detangler products I use on my children (Johnson's No More Tangles and Johnson's Natural Shampoo) are ideally rated with a low hazard. For the Johnson's Natural Shampoo it was not in their database but you can create your own report on the site by entering in all the ingredients. Very easy! Some other low hazard rated products were Burt's Bees and the local NB company Olivier Soapery. However, scarily some of the baby shampoos and detanglers were moderately hazardous!

Here are the reports:

http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/product/279017/Johnson%27s_No_More_Tangles_Detangler_Spray/
http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/product.php?prod_id=395741

Even though the detangler is not toxic why even buy a detangler and spend money and generate extra garbage when we can make our own greener detangler with natural products less expensively!

Here is my DIY Detangler and what you  need to make it:

• Empty spray bottle (an old detangler or hair spray bottle works)
• Add 1 part all-natural/organic hair conditioner to 4 parts water.
• Shake well and it is ready to use.

Tip: The small amount of conditioner that is left in the bottom of the bottle (turn bottle upside down to get it out) is usually perfect.

Cost Savings: 4 bottles of $6.99 spray = $28 per year
Using conditioner at $8.00 a bottle more than lasts 1 year. That is a $20 savings.

In the end I highly recommend everyone have knowledge on what is in the products they use everyday and to find ways to reduce garbage and waste from our beauty products. More to come about what I found out about what is my beauty products!

Health Canada - List of Prohibited and Restricted Cosmetic Ingredients ("Hotlist")
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/cps-spc/cosmet-person/indust/hot-list-critique/index-eng.php#a6