Screw You!: Nirvana Naturals Shampoo

I’m so irritated I am blogging from the work desk. Oh yes. This one couldn’t wait.

I’m always on the hunt for good quality shampoo and conditioner – its one of those things that I burn through since I wash my hair nearly every day (trying to cut down) but I find that certain ingredients, like evil SLS (Sodium Lauryl Sulfate) makes me itch like mad.

SLS is present it tons and tons of shampoos and cleaning products (it’s a foaming agent) take a look in your local drugstore or supermarket, a vast majority of the shampoos and body washes will contain it. 

Web definition: SLS (a caustic detergent useful for removing grease; although commonly included in personal care items (shampoos and toothpastes etc.) it can irritate skin and should not be swallowed).

So I did a Google search and a company called Nirvana Naturals came up.  Shampoos looked like they were free from Parabens, SLS, all the usual nasties and was very affordable at £5 with free shipping.  Too good to be true?  Sigh. It’s always true.

Shampoos arrived today and I am not impressed. At all.

No. 1 – What they said came with it didn’t

This is one of the shampoos I bought – nettle which is good for sensitive scalps apparently.  See how there’s some greenery inside.  Now, maybe I am just an idiot but since this was the image of the product, I presumed it had that thing floating inside was included.  Nothing on the website says that the image is just for graphic purposes. 

 Ok, you’re thinking, who puts live things in beauty products.  Er – Kiehls?

 Here is the actual bottle.  A rather unnatural shade of green? 

No. 2 – Classic faux pas – leaking bottle

Here’s the next annoying thing – it was leaking! if you are sending a liquid of any kind you need to be extra extra careful, seal the top with some sellotape and wrap it well. It was wrapped but I still got stickey fingers.

I had to take this with my phone – I don’t know if you can see, this is where it had been leaking (looks like a hairline crack) and it’s all stickey and nasty).  would be quite annoying if I had to carry it home on the bus.

No. 3 – It contains SLS, colour, parbens!

 At first, I was insanely peed off because I thought the shampoos were not supposed to contain SLS and Parabens and guess what – this stuff is full of it.  More on that later.

But I am not one to tell someone off without checking my facts, so I went back to the home page which had read:

All our products are naturally gorgeous and made with wholesome ingredients to an extremely high standard. Our Pure Nirvana Range is free from SLS,SLES, Parabens, synthetic colours and synthetic fragrances You can also be assured that none of our products have been tested on animals and don’t cost the earth. So go on…….(indulge yourself).

With further research I realised that the range of Shampoo’s they do are not SLS and paraben free, it’s only a range called Nirvana (which does body washes only) that is SLS/Paraben free.  Ok, so I didn’t read it down to the T. But on the homepage, they mention the SLS/Paraben free thing and have images of the shampoo – not of the body wash.  It’s all implication.

Plus on the page where you browse the shampoos, there is nothing there that tells you the shampoos are not included in the SLS free group.  The bar across the top of the page screams ‘SLS and Paraben Free Beauty Products’.

Nor do they list the ingredients of the shampoos on the site.  If that infromation would have been up, I would have avoided the products like the plague – I can buy SLS/Paraben rich shampoo for 99p anywhere.

On one hand it’s my fault for not reading every single word of the blurb, but I can’t deny that the fact that the google sponsored ad (which lured me to click on the site) and the website goes on about selling paraben and SLS free.  The don’t have a huge range, only 1 conditioner, a couple shampoos and some body washes, so they SHOULD very clearly mark out what products are SLS free or not, since this is their big selling point.

So the moral of this story is – well pay more attention (that’s my fault) but at the same time, double check when buying these so called natural products.  I always read the ingredients lists these days, and it infuriates me when something sells itself as gentle, scalp friendly, baby friendly, natural, organic etc. and then packs their product full of SLS.

I took a picture of the ingredients list (had to do the lavender shampoo as the green one is too hard to photograph) and it still looks rubbish. 

I am going to list some of the Nettle and Jasmine Shampoo (for scalp imbalance).

Remember their tagline: All our products are naturally gorgeous and made with wholesome ingredients to an extremely high standard.

Some of the ingredients include (listed in the order they appear): Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Parfum, Methylparaben, Butylparaben, Ethylparaben, Propylparaben, FD&C Yellow No. 5, FD&C Yellow No. 6, FD&C Blue No. 1

I am going to email them and ask for a refund, let’s see what happens!

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