Green People Quinoa & Artichoke Shampoo |

I am a little nervous and apprehensive about this next post as it isn’t food related but a beauty post, a subject that is completely out of my comfort zone. I have always loved beauty products and having been contacted by a few lovely readers recently asking me which beauty products I use and where I buy them from so I thought I would start a monthly beauty post on products I am using and enjoying! As well as eating the right foods that work for my body and make it feel well I think it is also vitally important to use the most health friendly products for your skin/ hair and nails too as the chemicals that we douse ourselves in are absorbed and can cause irritation/ infection and in some cases allergic reactions. The skin is the body’s largest organ and up to 60% of some of the chemicals we put on it may be absorbed into the bloodstream. We use a daily combination of lotions and potions day in day out, but how many people are really aware of what goes into these beauty products?

Green People recently sent me their newest hair care products to try Quinoa & Artichoke Organic shampoo and conditioner and as I have used several of their hair products before and had such good results I thought I should do a review (plus there’s a cheeky discount for you all too if you keep scrolling down!). I stumbled across the brand Green People a while back after I had decided to stop using sodium laurel sulphate (SLS) shampoos due to a period of persistent dandruff. I have since been a huge fan and will happily shout their green name at any opportunity I get as. The brand began seventeen years ago, with a promise to never use aggressive ingredients or synthetic chemicals such as sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS), parabens, phthalates, petrochemicals, alcohol (ethanol) or synthetic fragrances or colourants in our products, and to never test on animals. It is a UK based brand and sells anything from make up to sun screen to baby care products. All organic and allergen free and basically perfect for my ridiculously sensitive skin!

My hair history:

My hair has always been a nightmare to me. Thick thick frizz (and that’s on a good day). I tirelessly try to ‘tame my mane’ but the second rain / humidity hits it’s like a party trick and my hair can go from relatively glossy and controlled to resemble the mane of a lion in just seconds – which results me in scraping it up in to a pineapple on top of my head. Looking back at pictures when I was much younger my hair was glossy, long, dark and curly. All my mothers friends used to coo over it and say how lucky I was and how they wished they had thick curly hair like mine, but I hated it and wished for polka straight hair (the grass is always greener certainly springs to mind). Then in my teens I reached for the dreaded ‘sun in’ (to those that might not know ‘sun in’, it is basically the devil of hair products- it’s essentially bleach- most blondes use it to accentuate natural highlights – however on someone with coca cola coloured hair it did not work). Let’s just say whilst all my friends were swishing their sun-kissed surfer hairstyles, my hair represented every shade of orange, from dark to fluorescent. In teenage rage (tomboy phase) I then got it all chopped off up to my ears. My mother was mortified. Following this I dyed it back to dark, then at University I went blonde for several years and have since been back to my natural colour albeit for a few highlights. I have straightened my hair almost every day without fail, so for at least 15 yrs my hair has been well and truly punished!

I have a hate/love affair about going to the hair dressers. I hate them seeing the state of my dry hair and trying to drag a brush through it, with tears welling up in my eyes, but politely saying “no it doesn’t hurt one bit, keep going”. However I love seeing the transformation, how they can create this glossy mane from such a mess. I always leave thinking I’m going to do this all the time going forward, I get conned in to the expensive lotions and potions but the second I try to replicate it at home in my bathroom it’s disastrous… And even if I manage to blow dry the front of my hair nicely I still end up with a terrible kink, a bit like a skateboard jump at the back of my head! I am also under no illusion that the potions they use contain many toxic chemicals and the reason my hair probably feels so soft is for these reasons!

Green People’s Quinoa and Artichoke Organic Shampoo and Conditioner, the facts:

Quinoa protein nourishes each hair strand for soft, sleek shine
Artichoke smoothes the hair’s surface for frizz-free.
8 essential amino acids coat hair shafts for thicker, more manageable hair
Quinoa protein has been shown to boost shine by over 50%
Antioxidants protect and repair damage caused by exposure to UV radiation
Approved for daily use, for all hair types
No testing on animals, all Green People products are tested on human volunteers.

Results:

Whilst we were in Thailand I washed my hair with Quinoa & Artichoke shampoo and conditioner, it was perfect as it kept my hair nourished and added a beautiful shine to it, despite all the salt it was getting. For me I found that by shampooing my hair twice before adding the conditioner really helped to clean it and create shine, even the curls were more alive and had a bounce to them that I can assure you, they have not had in years. I found that I only needed to use a very small amount of both products to get maximum results and that surprisingly my hair was easier to blow dry too, which I never imagined I would ever be able to say, especially whilst in a hot and humid country! Since coming back and continuing to use the product I particularly notice how clean and “alive” my hair feels (even after a day in the grease and grime of London) and how long I can leave it in between washes (around 3-4 days).

As with anything organic / natural there usually comes a price tag and that of course goes for this shampoo and conditioner too, at £14.95 per bottle it’s certainly at the more expensive end. I’m not going to try to blind you with dazzling remarks that this will transform your hair in to some kind of Jennifer Anniston-esque bouffant … Because firstly what works for one person might just be down right dreadful for another. However, what I will say though is that having washed my hair with Green People’s SLS free shampoo and conditioner’s now for over 8 months it is a lot more manageable, softer and my scalp is in really good condition.

How to use:
Apply a small amount of Quinoa & Artichoke Shampoo to wet hair, massage and rinse thoroughly. For best results follow with Green People Quinoa & Artichoke Conditioner. For hair weighed down by a build-up of styling products (or sea salt!), shampoo twice before conditioning.

Ingredients that you will NOT find in GP’s products:

Green People Quinoa & Artichoke Shampoo is made without SLS/SLES, gluten, alcohol (ethyl alcohol, ethanol), parabens, methylisothiazolinone, methylchloroisothiazolinone, phthalates and artificial fragrances to bring you the purest shampoo that nature can offer.

What is SLS?

Sodium lauryl sulphate is an anionic detergent and surfactant found in many personal care products. There are two main reasons that SLS is such a popular ingredient in shampoos. Firstly, it is cheap as it is produced synthetically, making it ideal for low-cost brands. Secondly, it is a very effective cleansing agent and creates lots of foam when mixed with water.

However SLS is a too powerful detergent and not all of its effects are good which is why many people are now trying to find SLS free shampoos as it can cause scalp problems.

SLS is a known to be irritating to the skin so it is not surprising then that it can cause scalp problems when frequently applied as part of a shampoo. It is recognised as being the most irritating of the foaming agent used in shampoos. Its irritating effects can create an itchy, flaky scalp and in some people even premature hair loss and now more and more people are looking for a shampoo without SLS.

SLS has also been found to have some other undesirable effects. One such effect is its ability to penetrate the cornea of the eye and damage protein formation, even if absorbed through the skin, where it can accumulate and then be released slowly. This is particularly a concern for babies and children, where the effects are greater.

If you have an itchy or flaky scalp, one of the simplest things you can try is washing your hair with an SLS-free shampoo. An SLS-free shampoo does not contain the harsh and irritating ingredient sodium lauryl sulphate, which is a foaming agent (detergent) used by many of the big brands in hair care.

Finally…..

If you are looking for a great brand that has only your wellbeing in mind then I really do recommend Green People for all things beauty related. For more information or to simply follow them, check out the links below:

For 20% off type in SUPERFOOD20 at the checkout. (valid until 15 August)