I recently went down the rabbit-hole of commercial liquid shampoos, trying to find one which would not give me a scalp rash. I’ve never had problems with plain coconut oil, but using a body cream with coco-nuciferos gave me a rash. Labs are extruding coconut oil into new substances, which may create new problems for those with sensitive skin.

Close examination of numerous bottles of shampoo at my corner drug store revealed that all of them contained basically the same ingredients, and many of them (why does shampoo need 20+ ingredients?). Allergic reactions can be caused by: coco-betaine; sodium lauryl sulfate; disodium laureth sulfosuccinate; lanolin; or linalool.

I finally found a dry shampoo with only one suspect ingredient, linalool, and it was last on the list. I’ve also purchased some multi-purpose dry soap flakes, which contain betaine, a natural plant substance, but not coco-betaine, which is a laboratory product. Online ordering is complicated by a lack of complete ingredient lists.

It is difficult to navigate our commercial world with chemical sensitivities. This problem is worse when every product uses the same ingredients, or variants thereof. Don’t believe the hype; most shampoos are basically the same, and not worth any extra money.