If you think it's important to use an organic shampoo that's SLS-free, it’s nothing compared to what traditional non-organic conditioners contain. For decades, making hair soft, smooth, and manageable has been achieved with various plastic types and even toxic substances.
Raw materials we would never use in our organic hair conditioners
Carbomer – The industry uses these as thickeners in recipes. Its origin is a synthetic polymer derived from crude oil.
Styrene/Acrylates Copolymer – If you find this in your ingredient list, it might as well say plastic! These plastics are added to conditioners to create a film around the strand and give an artificial shine.
Cyclic Siloxanes – Chemically, this is a group of silicon compounds and is mostly used in shampoos but can also appear in conditioners. Unfortunately, they are very common in makeup removers. The reason to avoid cyclic siloxanes is that they persist in the water environment and disrupt microorganisms for a very long time. Look for ingredients such as D4, D5, and D6.
Mineral oil remains a highly popular raw material that we at c/o Gerd say no to! Mineral oil comes from fossil fuels and, simply put, from crude oil. Mineral oil is frequently used in skincare products, sewing machine oil, and motor oil. To identify it on the ingredient list, look for names like paraffin, white mineral oil, paraffinum liquidum, vaseline, medicinal white oil, oleum petrolen, oleum vaselini, araffinum, vaselin oil, E 905, paraffin oil, liquid paraffin.
Parabens were banned in 2015 for use in cosmetics due to their safety concerns. Some are still permitted. At c/o Gerd, we do not use parabens and work with other ecocertified preservatives that are safe.
PEGs are derived by condensing with ethylene oxide. Ethylene oxide is a solvent from the petroleum industry. This term was widely used from the 1960s onwards and is considered to have a dirty manufacturing process in the green industry. Today, we can extract components from raw materials in a safer and completely environmentally friendly way. c/o Gerd's products are PEG-free!
Polymers are another type used by the cosmetics industry to create silky formulas. They are often listed as Styrene/Acrylates Copolymer in the ingredient list and are essentially plastic!
Now that we have discussed what we don’t want in a conditioner, let’s turn the page and take you on a journey into what you WANT in your conditioner. An organic conditioner should be made from natural ecocertified raw materials that do not negatively impact the environment.
Many people have a prejudice against organic conditioners that they are not conditioning enough – This is not true! Today, green beauty has evolved to achieve fantastic results, and it's only a matter of getting the right advice and the right product to achieve the desired result.
In organic hair conditioners, the conditioner emulsifier is the base – c/o Gerd’s conditioner emulsifier is an ecocertified raw material that binds oils and fats together.
When we provide a hair consultation, we always explain the importance of seeing conditioner as a natural aftercare! If you have had a color treatment and paid a lot of money for it, you want it to look as good as possible for as long as possible! Here, organic conditioners are especially good because they don’t dry out the hair but provide a natural boost and are color-preserving! Whether you have chemically treated hair or completely natural hair, you need a conditioning product that binds moisture.
Many ask the question – which organic conditioner is good for thick hair? c/o Gerd’s organic conditioner called Deep Impact Conditioner has two active ingredients that together provide optimal results for thick, frizzy, curly, or straight hair that needs moisture.
We use a natural quinoa protein. It contains 17 different amino acids and all essential amino acids. The protein contains both cationic and anionic amino acids – the effect on the hair is a conditioning whole.
Cationic amino acids act like a magnet, attaching to the hair and binding moisture and conditioning agents to the hair. Among other things, we use blueberry seed oil in our organic conditioner.
Anionic amino acids create a barrier around the hair strand, providing excellent protection against external factors like sun bleaching and other stressors that hair is exposed to.
Overall, amino acids provide a beautiful shine to the hair and better preserve chemical color treatments.
Another common question from those with typically Scandinavian fine hair – Do organic conditioners weigh my hair down? The short answer is no! Not if you use the right conditioner. In our conditioning organic conditioner for fine hair, we use a rice protein. Lab tests show that a strand swells up to 32% when using our organic conditioner with rice starch. We’ve chosen to name the product Shine & Volume for its rice starch content.
Like quinoa, rice starch binds to the strand and carries with it the conditioning agents from the natural proteins as well as the seed oil from cloudberries that we have used in this formula.
For a long time, there has been a global trend called Curly Girl. You may recognize the conditioner method as it is also known. It simply means not using shampoo and only products that do not contain any synthetic ingredients. The result is that you care for your natural curls and get less frizzy hair – As we mentioned earlier – Happy Curls! All our conditioner products are approved for use in the Curly Girl or conditioner method.
Regardless of your hair type, your hair benefits from using an organic hair mask, also known as an organic hair treatment. When you choose one of our various organic conditioners, simply let it sit for at least 10 minutes. If you have organic jojoba oil at home, you can add up to one pump to your organic conditioner – mix it in and then apply it to your hair.
Beloved child has many names;
Organic conditioner, Organic conditioner, ekobalsam, natural conditioner, non-toxic conditioner – no matter which name you feel comfortable using, we at c/o Gerd have worked hard to develop some really good formulas that meet the standards for hair, eco, and environmental reasons!
