Despite the widespread use of silicones in hair care and skincare products,
many consumers do not want to use them. Many people believe that silicones weigh the hair down, irritate the scalp, and over time may even damage the hair, making natural hair dry. Most of these claims do not have substantial scientific evidence to back them. Even then, many people insist that these claims are true and strongly advise to stay away from using silicones. Good news is that there are many natural alternatives to silicones and more keep coming. Before I list some of the alternatives to silicones, lets first find out how you can avoid them. To avoid silicones in your products, you are going to have to look through the ingredients very carefully. There are so many types of silicones, and they all have different names. The best way to avoid silicones is to buy products that specifically claim to be silicone-free (Awah Earth's haircare products are free of silicones). Otherwise, you would have to do a bit of searching before buying a cosmetic product. Usually, silicone names end in -cone, -conol, -col, or -xane. Ethoxylated or Propoxylated silicones will have PEG or PPG in front of their names. Following are some of the more popular silicones used in haircare and skincare products:
- Cyclomethicone
- Cyclopentasiloxane
- Dimethicone
- Amodimethicone
- Dimethiconol
There are a lot of positive things associated with silicones and marketers use them to attract customers. You should know and be aware of products that make those claims. Always read the ingredients to make sure that they are not using silicones. Silicones are:
- Vegan
- Non-GMO
- Palm free.
- Non-comedogenic (not pore-clogging). On the other hand, all plant oils
are comedogenic (pore-clogging) to some extent.
- Hypoallergenic.
If you are interested to know the natural alternatives to silicones, following is a brief list:
- Cetiol C5
- LexFeel N
- Floramac 10
- MIGLYOL Coco 810
- Dermofeel Sensolv
- Emogreen
- Ecosil
