Conditioner is a super important part of caring for your hair! Just through day-to-day wear and tear and exposure to the environment, the cuticle of the hair is worn down. Conditioner "fills in" those holes and damaged parts of the cuticle. It also coats the hair, strengthening and protecting it from breakage and damage, which lets it keep growing healthily, and sealing in moisture. In case you didn't know, the cuticle is the outer layer of dead cells on each strand of hair. It's a protective layer over the cortex, which controls your hair's appearance (color, texture, curliness, etc.). If you could change your cortex, you could change your hair's curliness or how it feels! The cuticle is made of overlapping "shingles" of cells that go in the same direction as your hair from root to tip. To tell how your cuticles are worn down over time, feel a strand of hair at the root, where your hair is at its youngest, then at the tip, where it's oldest and most worn. Your healthy-cuticled hair should feel slippery, soft, and supple, while the older hair might be tougher or even squeakier, depending on how much of the cuticle is left. The cuticle cells let certain substances in and out, so they regulate moisture coming into and staying in the hair. That process can be disrupted by cuticle damage and chemicals in hair products, leaving your hair dry. Conditioner also detangles the hair and makes it soft, shiny, smooth, and moisturized. Without conditioner, your hair will be more frizzy, tangled, harder to brush, and susceptible to breakage.
As important as conditioner is, most common formulas contain toxic chemicals that are linked to scary conditions like fertility issues and cancer. There are a lot of dangerous chemicals in conditioner, but one of the scariest ones for me is phthalates. These are often used to make conditioner creamy and fragranced, and as a preservative. One reason these chemicals are so harmful is that they can cause unnatural death-inducing signaling in cells. Normally, around a million cells in the human body die every second (and are replenished) through programmed cell death, which is done to kill old or damaged cells. But phthalates send the death-inducing signals to young, healthy cells, especially those in the testes, which makes them die prematurely. They're most harmful in males because they can lower testosterone levels. Changing hormone levels has full-body effects, but the reproductive system is harmed the most. In females specifically, phthalates can lead to early puberty (the amount of people affected by which has increased in recent years as toxin exposure has increased), premature ovarian failure, miscarriage, placenta abnormalities, and premature birth. In males, they can cause lower sperm counts, less mobile sperm, and damaged sperm, as well as reproductive birth defects. These toxins can also lead to hormone shifts, obesity, diabetes, lower IQ in fetuses, thyroid changes, and ADHD, in everyone. Studies have shown phthalates to cause liver and kidney damage, abnormalities and diseases in fetuses, cancer, cognitive or behavioral problems, allergies, and asthma. A recent study from October 2021 also found that phthalates are linked to premature death, especially by heart problems.
One of the most common ingredients in conditioner is silicone. It's a category of ingredients that, when listed, has names that end in -cone or -siloxane, like dimethicone, cyclomethicone, and cyclopentasiloxane. Silicones are plastics made from silica (the element silicon in its common form) plus hydrocarbons from fossil fuels. One of the biggest concerns specific to silicones in conditioner is that they leach siloxanes, which are endocrine disruptors that can cause thyroid and autoimmune disease, uterine tumors and other reproductive issues, possibly even leading to permanent infertility, and cancer. In synthetic conditioners, silicones are some of the major ingredients that fill in "holes" in the cuticles, making the hair slippery and shiny due to the buildup of plastic (although that shininess can fade and the silicone not come off, leaving your hair dull). However, this isn't a good kind of filling in. Silicone isn't natural for your hair, so it doesn't perform the same as the cuticle usually does. It prevents moisture from entering the hair instead of letting it in, leaving the hair dry and brittle, which could cause frizziness and breakage. The buildup of plastic can also weigh down the hair and even leave it feeling greasy, because silicones don't wash off easily. Silicone also doesn't break down in water, so when you do eventually get it off, it rinses out into the oceans and accumulates.
Parabens are used as a preservative to keep out mold and bacteria. These are also endocrine disruptors, so even a small amount can absorb through your skin (parabens enter the body really easily!) and act as a hormone. Just a small amount of a fake hormone can upset the delicate balance of your real hormones, which can lead to a chain reaction of negative effects all over your body. Studies have found that parabens often mimic estrogen, which causes the body to produce less real estrogen because it thinks the parabens are the real thing and therefore already fulfilled its "order," resulting in the body not receiving the quantity it needs to function correctly. This can cause reproductive issues as well as full-body effects because your sex hormones are important for all parts of your body, sleep for example. Parabens can also cause more estrogen to be produced or trigger estrogenic effects when the body doesn't need it in that quantity. Cancer (especially breast cancer), allergic reactions, fertility issues, and hair and skin damage have all also been linked to paraben exposure. And unfortunately, parabens have been found in over 90% of Americans, including teenagers and newborns (their umbilical cord blood). These chemicals often appear with the suffix -paraben on ingredient lists.
Seeing either the word "fragrance" or "parfum" on an ingredient label is a big no-go. Fragrance is an umbrella term for over 4,000 different chemicals. This is a tactic to hide the true ingredients from a consumer and likely means it's a very toxic product. Lots of the dangerous toxins found in fragrance are included in the EPA's Hazardous Waste List. It also contains many carcinogenic chemicals, neurotoxins, lung irritants, petrochemicals (which have been linked to cancer, neurological disorders, autoimmune issues, asthma, allergies, infertility, miscarriage, and behavioral disorders such as hyperactivity and learning impairments in children), endocrine disruptors, and more. The chemicals in "fragrance" have been linked to everything from cancer and reproductive issues to migraines and heart problems. Oftentimes, phthalates are in fragrance, so all those bad things I just said about phthalates? They apply to fragrance, too.
And that's only a few of the toxic chemicals found in conditioner! So there's a very good chance the conditioner you're using right now is harming your body. Luckily, there's a great option for a non-toxic conditioner, although it took a bit of searching to find. Low-tox conditioners are surprisingly hard to come by! My favorite alternative is Carina Organics' Unscented Daily Light Conditioner, although their Unscented Deep Treatment Conditioner is also safe. The Daily Light Conditioner is meant for regular use, while the Deep Treatment is for repairing hair that is dry, chemically treated, or damaged. Below are the ingredient lists, with the organic ones bolded:
Unscented Daily Light Conditioner: Filtered Aqua, Cocos nucifera (coconut) oil, Cetyl Alcohol (fatty alcohol from Coconut), Olea europaea (olive) fruit oil, Cucurbita pepo (pumpkin) seed oil, Pinus elliottii (pine) extract, Pinus banksiana (pine) extract, Matricaria chamomilla (chamomile) flower extract, Urtica dioca (nettle) leaf extract, Taraxacum officinale (dandelion) leaf extract, Trifolium pratense (clover) flower extract, Acetic Acid (Apple Cider Vinegar), Magnesium Chloride (Magnesium Oil), Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (guar/cluster bean) gum.
Unscented Deep Treatment Conditioner: Filtered Aqua, Cocos nucifera (coconut) oil, Vegetable Cetyl Alcohol (fatty alcohol from Coconut), Olea europaea (olive) fruit oil, Pinus Elliottii (pine) extract, Pinus banksiana (pine) extract, Matricaria chamomilla (chamomile) flower extract, Urtica dioca (nettle) leaf extract, Taraxacum officinale (dandelion) leaf extract, Trifolium pratense (clover) flower extract, Acetic Acid (Apple Cider Vinegar), Magnesium Chloride (Magnesium Oil), Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (guar/cluster bean) gum.
All of the ingredients on both of these lists are non-toxic and most of them are even from plants!
This is an extremely safe conditioner that I've found works really well. I only recommend the unscented conditioners because Carina Organics' scented products include non-organic essential oils, which add a potential for irritation and don't have certifications ensuring that the oils are pure and uncontaminated. This isn't automatically bad, it's just an additional risk of reaction that you don't need to take. You can buy the Daily Light and Deep Treatment here and here. Carina Organics' Unscented Conditioners are some of the best safe, inexpensive, and well-working conditioners out there. Conditioner is really important, and avoiding the toxic chemicals often found in it is super important too, so I highly recommend that you try this one!
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