Going sulphate free

It seems like the beauty world is getting more clued up on sulphates recently. There are many more options in the shops for sulphate free shampoos now, such as the L'oreal Eversomething range and many others. I have mentioned the advantages to using sulphate free shampoos in my "Keeping unnatural hair happy" post but I have never really though about cutting sulphates out from the rest of my life. Until now.

For the last week I have been using a pretty strong retinoid. If you want to know more about retinoids then Skinacea is a great website to swot up, but in general terms, it is a prescription gel or cream (you can get weaker versions over the counter) that does wonders for acne and anti-aging. But it does come with some side effects. At first your skin can peel very badly, and you go through a stage of purging, where any spots or clogged pores that you have beneath the surface of the skin come to a head. That's what I've been going through the last few days, and I realised something whilst looking in the mirror. Pretty much all my spots are around my chin area. I knew I had clogged pores there, but I had no idea how many I had until I went through my purging stage. And how come there are so many in that particular place? And then it hit me, my toothpaste! One of the top ingredients in my (and many other toothpastes) is Sodium Lauryl Sulphate. It can cause ulcers, sore skin and irritation and clogged pores. Now don't get me wrong, it's not dangerous, and I have been using regular toothpaste with sulphates for all of my life, but I've alwyas wondered why occasionally my mouth gets sore in the corners of my lips, and now I think I've hit the nail on the head. I headed out to Superdrug and purchased some Sensodyne, which is sulphate free. I'll keep you updated on the progress!

Another thing which I wouldn't have even thought about was how I clean my make up brushes. I saw a post on the internet by someone who was having terrible trouble with her skin. She kept it clean and moisturised, she used gentle products, slept on clean pillows and washed her make up brushes regularly, but she said everytime she used her make up brushes they broke her out. Now that shouldn't happen. If you are using dirty make up brushes then yes, but clean ones? Then someone asked what she was using to wash her make up brushes and she replied that it was a regular shampoo. With sulphates! Now your skin may not be that sensitive to sulphate that you break out simply by using a brush that has been cleansed with a product that contains them, but it is worth thinking about. I think I'm going to switch from using cheap shampoo, to a mixture of washing up liquid and almond oil in the future.

Sodium Lauryl Sulphate is a foaming agent that is found in so many products, from hair care, to facial cleansers and toothpaste. While it's not bad for you (like I say, for many many years pretty much all of my products contained Sodium Lauryl Sulphate) it is kind of a unnecessary additive that can cause more negative side effects than positive. Do I really want clogged pores on my chin just so my toothpaste is more frothy? Do I really want my hair colour to fade quicker just because I can get more of a lather when washing my hair? With more people thinking more carefully about the ingredients in the products they buy, a lot more sulphate free products are available, and not really any more expensive, so why not try giving up sulphates for a while? See if you can see any difference.