The pursuit of the perfect hair is an endless one- it involves looking at product after product, each promising to give you the hair you want. These products promise to make your hair fuller, lighter, heavier, thicker, silkier, smoother, straighter, wavier or curlier. What most women desire and truly yearn for is to find the product that will give them the type of hair they have always envied. No matter what perfect style you are looking for, hair care companies are always promising to deliver. However, a deeper understanding of what will truly benefit (and harm!) your hair is the key to understanding hair care. At Aubrey, we are confident that healthy, natural hair products will work miracles.

The Truth about Hair

Hair is not a separate entity from your body, although sometimes it may seem to have its own little quirks. Among other things, hair is affected and influenced by genetics. Your hair type is often inherited. Environmental factors play a large role in your hair's health, as well. Also, do not forget that your lifestyle – diet, exercise and general treatment, as well as aging, also affect how well your hair is able to live up to being healthy and beautiful.

Regardless of the many factors playing into the health and texture of your hair, there are still many steps you can take to improve your hair's health and lustre. It is a matter of finding products that:

• Do not mask problems

 

• Are not harmful to the hair over time

 

• Actually clean safely without unnecessary (and even questionable) ingredients

 

• Make your hair feel like it is living up to its potential natural beauty

This is best accomplished by relying on products that do not make empty, bloated promises. Healthy hair can be achieved by turning to natural hair care products.

Basic Information on Natural Hair Care Products

Both natural and synthetic hair care manufacturers realize that hair comes in many different types. Hair may be wavy, straight, frizzy, curly, heavy, light or any variation on the above. Most companies also understand that age, lifestyle and environmental factors can have a huge impact on how your hair is performing. To address these issues, they create specific products designed to address each problem. While most hair care products (both natural and synthetic) agree on these many factors, natural hair care companies believe that there is a better solution to achieving beautiful hair.

Many ingredients in the best natural hair care products are:

• Organic

 

• Natural – herbal or plant-based

 

• Free from questionable and often harsh petrochemicals

 

• Healthy for all hair

 

• Safe to use (many synthetic detergents are believed to be harmful to the skin over time)

In particular, for hair care products such as shampoo, this means no sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) or any comparable ingredient. This chemical is added solely to provide the lathering we have come to associate with the act of cleansing. Although SLS gives your hair that sudsy, bubbly feel in the shower, it can be very drying and irritating to the hair and scalp. Stripping the hair of its natural oils with this harsh ingredient can lead to brittle, straw-like hair and flaky scalp. All the foaming in the world will not produce healthy locks- hair requires a cleansing agent that effectively cleans while retaining natural beauty.

Natural hair care products replace chemicals with organic, gentle and soothing plant extracts and oils. For shining hair, rosemary, nettle and/or chamomile may be used– depending upon hair type. SLS can be effectively replaced with natural soaps made of non-GMO corn, beet, and coconut extracts that purify the hair without stripping it dry. Conditioners may contain hydrating aloe, jojoba or shea butter. Dandruff products may contain tea tree to cleanse the scalp without drying the skin further. By adopting these ingredients, organic or natural product companies are able to provide hair with the best care possible without any of the potential damage from synthetic and harsh chemical additives.