Do you carry organic shampoo?

This was a question that I heard from a customer in one of the stores. Organic shampoo? I’m aware of what organic means at the grocery store, or at least I think I am, but I had no idea what it meant in a shampoo or beauty product. So, I did some research. Here is what I found out.

The term “organic” as it applies to food is regulated by the US Department of Agriculture, which has a set of standards that are uniform for all foods with the label “Certified Organic”. Cosmetics and other beauty supplies (shampoo) are regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration. Currently, USDA standards for organic are much more lenient. This means that an “organic” beauty product may have water infused with organic plants, but still has the same synthetic ingredients and preservatives as non-organic products. For more information, visit Organic Consumers Associates.

We as consumers really want gentle products for ourselves, gentle farming practices, environmentally sustainable products, or something along those lines. So, I’ve put together some information that focuses on different aspects of sustainability. I challenge you to ask yourself what it is that is really important to you, as a consumer, when you are shopping for beauty products. Is it organic ingredients? Animal testing practices? Packaging or carbon footprint? Below are some options for these and more concerns.

*Toxic Aware means that ingredients are picked for health reasons, not just performance.

*Privately Held Corp means that the original owners are still steering the company and not stockholders.

Here are some other interesting facts I learned about some of these companies. Paul Mitchell was the first company to oppose animal testing in our industry. They also fund the planting of trees to offset the carbon emissions of their Tea Tree brand. They have their own Awapuhi farm in Hawaii that is sustainably farmed and solar powered.

Enjoy is still a privately held company. However, 30% of the company stock is employee owned through their Employee Stock Ownership Program.

Since 2008, AG has built a school each year for girls in Africa. Moroccan Oil also promotes education in Morocco, is fair trade, and practices sustainable harvesting of the Argan forest.

Joico installed two wind turbines at its Geneva, NY facility making it the only professional hair care line that is generating its own power on-site. They also have a program where they offset their other carbon footprinting.

This is by no means a perfect list, or a complete list. Some of this information was harder to find than you might think. I may have left out an aspect that you would find really important. This is a start, however, to conscious shopping in the beauty industry. As it turns out, our industry does have a soul.

Let me know if there is something important to you not mentioned here. Hopefully, we can grow this list and add more companies as they become more aware. As always, thank you for shopping with us.