What the heck is SLS?

So I have a lot of ideas for blog posts but I won't divulge them all at once... it was hard to decide where to start but I thought SLS was a good starting point since it's something that has had the biggest impact on my personal hygiene as of late....

Would you use a product that was a known skin irritant? Could create hormone imbalances? Irritate your eyes? Cause hair loss? How about something that was a non carcenogenic? Well I would assume most people would answer no to the above questions but if you don't know what SLS (and I didn't either until about 2 months ago) is then you are DEFINITELY using every single day!

What is it? It's stands for Sodium Lauryl (or Laureth) Sulfate. It's found in anything that foams so.... soap, shampoo, hair dye, bubble bath, toothpaste, mouthwash... and the list continues. Go take a look around your bathroom and cupboards on the ingredients list... It's normally the second ingredient and you'll be surprised!

I won't go into more detail about the ins and outs of SLS. Now that  you know what it is, information on it is very readily available online.  I just stumbled across it myself when I was looking into why the skin around my mouth, neck and back would become irritated (from toothpaste, shampoos and bodywashes most likely). So I've been striving to go SLS free..... here's where I've gotten so far...

Toothpaste: No more crest! Or any major name brands for that matter. They all have SLS. At first I went to a local health food store and got a tube called The Green Beaver the lady at the counter recommended it. I didn't really consider the flavour was Green Apple... kind of different. It took a big getting used to and one thing that I liked was it didn't leave a super minty taste in my mouth for morning brushings before breakfast. This could also be really good for kids. I finished it all but realized I liked the minty freshness before going out so the next tube I got was J/A/S/O/N pure natural & organic.  I just got it at Save On.. they actually have a pretty good selection of SLS/Fluoride free toothpastes (also known skin irritant). Next I think we are going to try and make our own toothpaste (moving towards zero waste) since toothpaste tubes aren't recyclable. I'll let you know how that goes...

Shampoo: Shampoo was a bit harder since I like using Salon brands and have used Redken for years... not anymore. My hairdresser said more companies are starting to go SLS free but the main one right now is Pureology. If you don't like shelling out that kind of dough on shampoo then I also found a a brand that Shoppers Drug Mart carries called Live Clean. I've been using the volumizing shampoo for a few weeks now and I like it!

Bodywash: Any health food store should carry a variety of SLS free bodywashes. I just picked one up from the store near Nesters in Squamish. However, once I'm finished that bottle I think I am going to switch to primarily using Rocky Mountain Soap products (http://www.rockymountainsoap.com/) they have a store in Whistler (but you can also order online) and have little to no packaging on their soaps. Plus everything is SLS free so it will be easy shopping and less label reading.

Anyway if you happen to try any other SLS free products (not just limited to toothpaste, shampoo or bodywash) then I'd love to hear what you think!

That is all!