Shampoo: A Hair Cleaner, without any proven benefit either with medical research or by valid and unbiased, dependable, market Research Results

The formulation practices / ingredients are questionable / dubious riddled with self contradictions, if I go by my study of some published Cosmetology books.

Practical Experience: Many hairloss and Dandruff sufferers have met me since 1993. All have used Shampoos at some time or the other. And in 18 years, I have not come across one, who has got any meaningful benefit.

I am against the use of Shampoos for years. I shout in vain. No one listens or thinks at first. That is a tragedy. But am I wrong ? No ! Study the Proof below and take care. Keeping up with Jones / blindly aping the rest will only harm the hair. Hitler had a Million Nazi members. Hardly 1000  / 0.01% were left, when he got defeated.

Should you be with the mass 99.99% or with the miniscule 0.01% is your choice. It it your hair, money and time.

 

The Proof > negating what they said for 40 years  - unethical and cheap		Hindustan Lever's Sunsilk conditioner's advertisement came on Star one TV channel on 7th April and Sony TV channel, on 6-4-2009. You may have seen / can watch them in the coming days Lever's Message: Shampoo cannot reduce hair fall and will make the hair rough. This confession by Hindustan Lever is in a way, summary of this page They sell Sunsilk Shampoo despite their own confessed weakness of a shampoo Hindustan Lever also peddles clinic plus, Ayush, Organics, Dove and their other brands. Can you trust them ? I would not.
fiddling with your hair		They say this now to promote Sunsilk Conditioner. "Use Sunsilk Hair Conditioner. The hair fall would come down to 2 from earlier 100 - in effect claiming 98% control efficiency" Silkiness has gone / will go out of the hair, if the above advertisement is true Why spoil the hair first and then assume to reverse it, with another product ?

 

Sunsilk Shampoo
Pervert humour		'Shampoos and boy friends are a bit similar in approach. They say one thing and do another. Can't fully bank upon !'. - Sunsilk Advertisement in Indian TV.  Hindustan Lever said that. If you still wish to buy Shampoo, go ahead, if the above quote does not annoy you. Why read this page further ?

 

The Supreme Court of India had ruled that
Duping the Public		" the object is to bring honesty and truth in the relationship between the manufacturer and the consumer" and held that " if the general impression conveyed is false, the  most punctilious and scrupulous accuracy in immaterial minutiae will not render the representations true."  [in simple terms, a lie is a lie, however decorated or whoever says it]

 

Hindustan Lever is a scoundrel - largest seller of Soaps and Shampoos in India
A man without principle is a scoundrel as per Chamber's Dictionary. Lever meets this criteria in my view
blatant and deliberate misguidance		What they say for Sunsilk conditioner contradicts / dilutes most of what all they said about the other Shampoos in their stable in their TV advertisements in the past If, what all they said were false or less than true, the public was duped. If what they now say is false, it is deliberate misguidance
check clinic plus  antidandruff shampoos fair n lovely  pH Toilet soaps  Unfair practices anti marks cream

 

Does any Therapy or Doctor say that daily intake of Laxative is necessary and Laxative mixed with nutritive additives can keep the Digestive System clean and the body healthy ? No ! But the Shampoo sellers say that for the hair and people fall for it. It is a fallacy of the Major premise, if I recollect my Logic lessons of 1960

Why Shun Shampoos / discard them to the extent possible, if addicted ?

 

Medical reason 1             Basic Weakness of Shampoo -  there is No Medical Support
		The Long Term impact of Shampoo on the Scalp Hair is a poorly Researched Area of Dermatological Studies in Allopathy That is, its impact on Hair life, premature greying, strength, itching, skin’s weakened suppleness, sebum production, hair growth, toxicity if any, et cetera are not categorically known to be safe or unsafe - a multi storied structure lacking a basic solid foundation
Public concern		The Medical fraternity keeps mum over many of the baseless claims that are aired in TV and the Print Media. Why ? Some claims overshoot Medicine by miles and miles without any proof. Why then the silence ? Is it cowardice or social irresponsiblity ? God alone knows

 

Shampoo is a crafty, baseless, overblown, gradually destructive product for hair !
It is just  a cleaner		My views as an inventor,  haircare researcher, post graduate in Chemistry and Business Administration, an user of shampoo for over 25 years and a listener of the woes of many hairloss sufferers. I have gone though umpteen books between 1993 to 1997 - Bibliography. I learnt the contents of this page in a hard way, in 1991, at the age of 48. You can learn it early and gain. Shampoo means a cleaner / washer as per Chambers Dictionary. The attributes imagined / coined and blared / brayed by a seller for a hair shampoo are invariably a sham - shampoo / wash them away About SLS based shampoo read below. The Shampoo makers and not SLS is the real culprit, if you analyse.

 

CSP against Shampoos
		Do we shampoo our nostrils, which with  a few hair and sticky gum, help us breathe till the end ? They filter out unwanted things / Pollution till our last breath. If  we do not shampoo them, think for a minute. No need to read this page or buy a shampoo. Plain Water is safer, without which no shampoo can work ! Yet, if you wish to read my analysis, backed with Medical and Scientific details, proceed further

 

Shampoo,  Detergent and Soap
Detergent - not good for the skin		A shampoo may contain about 10% detergent, 90% water, and 1% perfume. Detergent is not supposed to be safe for skin / used in Toilet Soaps. Is the head, made out of Teflon ? Detergent is a synthetically made Chemical Compound. It is normally a more powerful wetting / cleaning agent / surfactant compared to soaps and normally cheaper than soaps. Soap: For hair / skin purposes, salt of a vegetable Fatty Acid. Vegetable Oil can be classified as Glyceryl Fatty Acids. 5 parts of a vegetable oil like Coconut, Olive or Palm Oil, reacted with 1 kg of Caustic Potash, dissolved in water, can give minimum 5 kgs of Soap / salt and Glycerin. Glycerin is normally removed. refer Toilet Soaps page for more

 

Medical Reasons: 3 more;   Just common sense Plus / CSP analysis  You do not have to read Medical Books
		2.  What is the exact feed / nutrient for the welfare and growth of the hair is not medically proven, well researched or established beyond doubt in Allopathy. If that was known, all hairloss problems would have got solved long back 3.  Even if accepted as known, the feed mode is unknown. Hair is not connected to the blood route. With all these unknowns, it is an unwanted rash exercise to allow Shampoos to reach the hair roots. 4.  The hair outside the skin is dead, composed of non dividing cells. Dirt / Dust, Pollution or Vitamins cannot adhere to that easily and strongly. Hair roots are the only live part of the hair. They can be damaged and not nourished with shampoos, if we look at the depleting heads and increasing Sales. When Medical Research still struggles to 'pin point' say even 3 to 4 nutrients for nourishing the hair, on what basis, the Cosmetic Industry guarantee solutions, with some fancy ingredients ?

 

Some other Medical / Scientific drawbacks
		5.  The natural, skin produced  Vitamin D washed away by Shampoo It is produced by the Skin with Sunlight. It is needed for the skin and the bones.  6.  The Natural Body Shield, sebum, is removed Sebum is an Oily / Greasy Phospho lipid, which makes the skin, supple and water Resistant. Shampoo removes the Sebum / the Essential body oil as well  7    Gradual Bleaching of the Hairs The total application of Shampoo, during one's life time will be, say 3000 times on an average, for twice a week application for 30 years. If we go by our experience with clothes, we have to make provision for hair bleach due to shampoos. Indian TV viewers can recall the Ariel and Surf ads claiming that the colour does not fade after 40 washes. They did not go beyond 40 washes is a relevant point. With hair, minimum 3000 washes have to be accounted

 

Chemical / Scientific reason:              Detergents in Shampoo - Questionable safety
		Shampoo is normally a detergent based, thick, perfumed, convenient cleaner for the outside hair. There are umpteen detergents / surfactants available in the World. Any substance that reduces the surface tension of water is surfactant / detergent. Detergents can be anionic, cationic, non ionic or amphoteric After 1970, SLS, Sodium Lauryl Sulphate, an anionic surfactant, was loud mouthed as a safe detergent for Shampoo. On what basis, [ tests, researched results etc ] it was selected was not clear in any of the formulation books or science journals. [ Detergent here means anionic surfactants like SLS, LAB, SLFS et cetera. These detergents are also used in washing powders / detergents for clothes and floor cleaners. They cannot work well on hard water. Now Lever advertises that they have improved with a detergent that would work on hard water also. The point is that they used a wrong, cheaper detergent for years ]
		In 2007, it is openly said that ethyl alcohol and  SLS stunt hair growth - that is, for 30 years, public have paid for SLS based shampoos and unethical advertising / money power of some companies

 

Duping the Public
Another Market Proof		Ms Marino - Paras Pharmaceuticals - TV advertisements during December 2005 ODI Cricket Matches Message:  It is immaterial what shampoo you use. It will make the hair dry and harsh. After Shampoo, use Ms Marino to keep your hair soft and healthy.  This advertisement message has not been challenged by any Shampoo maker
		Can companies like Colgate, Lever and others can do undesirable things check  Unfair practices
belated		Cigarette Companies fooled American Public - damage charges, only 140 Billions
Public concern - the penalty		Some Pharmaceutical Companies do routinely indulge in price cartels. Some united to fight CIPLA of India from giving anti AIDS drugs below 1000 Dollars per annum dose - in pan Sahara countries. When they could not win, some even started giving the medicine Free - that clearly exposed  their earlier, mercenary approach to public health / social welfare. refer patent misuse page

 

Do we need Shampoos ?   No !
		1   We do not shampoo  the nostrils ! 2   A Lady in Ahmedabad has about 7 feet long hair. She does not use any Shampoo. She uses natural products to clean the hair 3   With 500 mesh hair cluster at the top, it is difficult for dust, dirt or other outside materials to enter the hair holes / roots  4   Hormone containing Shampoos may lead to premature puberty as per New Scientist, April 2002. The research is not conclusive yet

 

Some precautions - in case of  addiction
		Use a Mild Shampoo. Gradually reduce the dosage and usage. 1]   Mix a small quantity of vegetable oil, to tone down shampoo's alkalinity. Or, oil the hair a bit before or after shampooing. Reduce gradually the usage and the dosage 2]   Use a bit of dilute lemon water to neutralise the left out shampoo / alkalinity and wash well. The hair would feel a bit silky. [ Lemon is slightly acidic. Do we not use finger bowls / lemon in warm water to wash our hands in air conditioned, eating places ? ]  3]   Use a Natural product like Shikakai powder or similar product that your grandmother would know, to wash your hair. She has her reliable experience to share with you

One Note: Medicine is an inferential science and not a definitive science like Mathematics. From tests, one can only say that a medicine is suited for 99.9% and not 100% of the people.

Some people may not suffer at all despite daily use of Shampoos. That does not negate the above points. I am a smoker now for 40 years. That does not nullify the links between Cancer and Tobacco. Again, while sellers sensationalise the news, some basic limitations are ignored / purposely ignored. The research was focussed on persons smoking 40 or more per day. Do not non smokers get cancer ? I may / may not get cancer in the remaining years but I have decided to continue with it. Likewise, it is your hair and you have to decide

Other points /  elaboration of the above points for those who wish to read a bit more

 
A self certified modern man is not comfortable without the morning load of trash - printed and sold as newspapers. Yet, on occasions, due to festival holidays, there are no newspapers for a day or two. Has anyone collapsed for the lack of it, in the last 60 years ? No

Likewise no one will suffer for lack of Shampoo. Did not our forefathers or for that matter, others in the rest of the World survived in 18th and 19th Century, without Shampoo ?  Hundreds die in India every year for lack of food and in many parts of the World.