Best Shampoos Without Harmful Chemicals

In a way, shampoos launched my carrier as a product ingredient researcher and manufacturer advisor. Indeed, it was my desire to find a safe shampoo for my son that made me start reading products’ ingredient labels. Now, twelve years and hundreds of shampoos and conditioners later, I can say that I know this industry pretty well. I can also say that while the market abounds in toxic shampoos with harmful ingredients that can cause skin irritation and allergic reactions as well as pose other serious risks to your health, it is possible to find a safe natural shampoo, too.

In this post, you will learn about seven best shampoos without harmful chemicals. I will give you a quick overview of their ingredients and potential performance, so you can decide which of them will work best for your hair type. In addition, you will get a gist of harmful ingredients to avoid in shampoos and other hair care products.

Best Shampoos Without Harmful Chemicals

After using a great number of shampoos and conditioners in the name of research, I have finally found ones I really like and use all the time. Actually, once, I decided not to take them with me on vacation to save room in my bag and regretted it big time! Indeed, my hair was flat and dull after I’d used the hotel’s hair care products. No more experiments since then!

The products I’m referring to are Supergreens shampoo and conditioner by Pure Haven. We will talk about these products later, but before that, I would like to make several important points about the Pure Haven company.

First, Pure Haven uses fully disclosed, natural, and safe ingredients, including only natural essential oils for their scented products. In fact, the company requires its suppliers to disclose all the ingredients and sub-ingredients as well as the details of how they were grown and/or processed. Moreover, Pure Haven requires their suppliers to do independent, third-party testing for ingredient purity and quality. And if they don’t do it for some reason, Pure Haven moves on. Additionally, they do their own third-party testing.

Second, Pure Haven makes its products in a USDA-organic certified manufacturing facility in small batches and operates with in-house formulations for full control over the manufacturing process. Also, they regularly test their incoming water for purity and contamination, and they control their machine cleaning and micro-testing of every single batch. 

That is why my personal choice is shampoo and conditioner by Pure Haven. However, I have included other non-toxic shampoos in this list so you can select one that will work best for your hair type.

All in all, we will discuss the following liquid shampoos:

• Pure Haven Sweet Orange Shampoo
• Pure Haven Supergreens Shampoo
• Pure Haven Charcoal Detox Shampoo
• Beautycounter Daily Shampoo in Bright Grapefruit
• Innersense Pure Harmony Hairbath
• Hairprint Amla Shampoo, and
• Evolvh UltraShine Moisture Shampoo (IREAD15 for 15% off).

If you would like to try a dry shampoo, please visit my Guide to Non-Toxic Dry Shampoos.

Let’s begin.

Pure Haven Sweet Orange Shampoo

Ingredient list highlights for Pure Haven Sweet Orange Shampoo:

Surfactant: coco-glucoside.

Preservatives: leuconostoc/radish root ferment filtrate, coconut fruit extract, lactobacillus, sodium phytate.

This non-toxic natural shampoo contains lots of beneficial ingredients, including organic aloe vera leaf juice, organic sweet orange oil, organic rice bran oil, panthenol, organic peppermint extract, organic horsetail leaf extract, organic nettle leaf extract, organic yucca root extract, and panthenol.

While it is a low suds shampoo, it cleans well and does not irritate the scalp. I believe it will be best for people with a sensitive scalp. Please note that it might not work very well if you have hard water and thick hair. As for the conditioner, it is light and easy to rinse off, so it doesn’t weigh down the hair. If you would like to learn more about each ingredient of this shampoo and conditioner, turn to my post The Best Safest Shampoo.

Pure Haven Supergreens Shampoo

Ingredient highlights for Pure Haven Supergreens Shampoo:

Surfactant: coco-glucoside.

Preservatives: leuconostoc/radish root ferment filtrate, lactobacillus, coconut fruit extract, sodium phytate, sodium levulinate.

With a much longer ingredient list than that of Sweet Orange shampoo, Supergreens contains tons of beneficial ingredients. They include organic aloe vera juice, pea peptide, organic matcha tea powder, organic spinach leaf powder, broccoli seed oil, hydrolyzed kale, carrot, and lemon proteins, spirulina extract, and panthenol.

Though not very sudsy in hard water, this is my favorite shampoo. It makes my hair shiny and adds volume. In fact, this is the only shampoo and conditioner that volumizes my hair so well. Plus, the mild scent of all the natural ingredients triggers positive childhood memories when we ran around and just played in the open air, soil, and water.

Be sure to use Pure Haven Supergreens Conditioner to achieve a maximum volumizing effect. In my case, I apply the conditioner on the length of my hair, not the scalp, which helps me go 3 days between washes.

Pure Haven Charcoal Detox Shampoo

Ingredient list highlights for Pure Haven Charcoal Detox Shampoo:

Surfactant: coco-glucoside.

Preservatives: leuconostoc/radish root ferment filtrate, coconut fruit extract, lactobacillus, lactobacillus/pumpkin fruit ferment filtrate.

Just as with the two previous Pure Haven shampoos, the Charcoal Detox shampoo is loaded with favorable ingredients. Thus, it features organic aloe vera leaf juice, organic rose water, organic argan kernel oil, organic coconut oil, organic jojoba seed oil, charcoal powder, organic peppermint oil, organic rosemary leaf oil, organic tea tree leaf oil, organic lavender flower oil, geranium oil, and panthenol.

In my opinion, this is a good shampoo to use occasionally to remove silicones from your hair, especially if you are transitioning to natural shampoos like those by Pure Haven.  Also, it is great to use from time to time if you have hard water to remove minerals from your hair that weigh it down. 

Beautycounter Daily

Ingredient list highlights for Beautycounter Daily Shampoo in Bright Grapefruit:

Surfactants: cocamidopropyl hydroxysultaine, sodium cocoyl isethionate, sodium lauroyl methyl isethionate, decyl glucoside.

Preservatives: caprylhydroxamic acid, sodium benzoate.

Some other beneficial ingredients include grapefruit peel oil, marula seed oil, hog plum seed oil, and panthenol.

This shampoo is very sudsy, which is what my husband likes about it a lot. The ability to lather so well is attributed to 3 additional surfactants listed above. By the way, the EWG rates cocamidopropyl hydroxysultaine at 1 and cocamidopropyl betaine at 1-5 depending on its purity. Yet, according to the Cosmetic Ingredient Review Panel, these two surfactants share the same potential impurities. That’s one of the reasons I don’t rely on the EWG Skin Deep for safety reviews.

Back to the point I was making, in my opinion, the allergenic potential safety of cocamidopropyl hydroxysultaine depends on its purity and your level of sensitivity. Yet, if you have very hard water and thick hair, you might have to resort to shampoos utilizing commonly used cocamidopropyl surfactants. To learn more about this, see my cocamidopropyl hydroxysultaine blog post.

Both the Beautycounter Daily Shampoo and the Beautycounter Daily Conditioner in Bright Grapefruit contain provitamin B5 (panthenol), which moisturizes and strengthens hair to help reduce split ends.

To learn more about my opinions about the Beautycounter cosmetic brand, visit My Honest Beautycounter Review.

Innersense Pure Harmony Hairbath

Ingredient highlights for Innersense Pure Harmony Hairbath shampoo:

Surfactants: cocamidopropyl hydroxysultaine, sodium cocoyl isethionate, sodium lauroyl methyl isethionate, caprylyl/capryl glucoside.

Preservatives: trisodium ethylenediamine disuccinate, sodium benzoate.

Some of the other favorable ingredients are shea butter, orange peel oil, lemon peel oil, eucalyptus, organic pumpkin seed oil, hydrolyzed quinoa, hydrolyzed rice protein, avocado oil, rice bran oil, organic green tea leaf extract, cucumber fruit extract, organic avocado fruit extract, and organic mango fruit extract.

In my opinion, this sulfate-free shampoo should work well for chemically colored, damaged, and curly hair. Actually, for curly hair, Innersense recommends their Hydrating Cream Bath shampoo. Note that all Innersense shampoos are highly concentrated and using too much can result in wasting the product and even stripping the hair of its natural oils. Thus, for better results, rub a small amount of shampoo between your hands before applying it to wet hair.

For me, the scent was too strong, and the shampoo felt drying. However, I know people who like Innersense shampoo and conditioners. Note that its surfactant composition resembles that of the Beautycounter shampoo.

If you would like to learn more about each ingredient in this shampoo, head over to my post Innersense Shampoo Ingredients Review.

Hairprint Amla Shampoo

Ingredient list highlights for Hairprint Amla Shampoo:

Surfactants: decyl glucoside, sodium cocoamphoacetate.

Preservatives: leuconostoc radish/cocos nucifera ferment, lactobacillus/punica granatum fruit ferment.

Some other favorable ingredients are amla extract, rose of Jericho extract, elderberry extract, evening primrose oil, Japanese bloodgrass, and gotu kola.

For your information, all Hairprint natural shampoos and conditioners share the same core ingredients. The main difference among the formulations is the botanicals they contain. I consider all Hairprint products safe and give my detailed review of them in my post The Non-Toxic Shampoo to Know About.

Additionally, Hairprint shampoos and conditioners have no proteins, panthenol, or quaternary ammonium compounds and are perfect for those who do not want the gentle Hairprint hair color restorer or henna to be blocked. 

As for the hair type, Hairprint hair care products should be a good option for coarse, dry, and naturally coiled dry hair. Hence, if you like the effect of light, fluffy, fuzzy, voluminous hair after washing, these products may not be for you. They tend to weigh the hair down and produce a greasy-looking effect. At the same time, many of my clients with thick and naturally coiled hair have praised Hairprint products because this is just the effect they want.

Evolvh UltraShine Moisture Shampoo

Ingredient highlights for Evolvh UltraShine Moisture Shampoo (IREAD15 for 15% off):

Surfactants: decyl glucoside, lauryl glucoside, disodium lauryl sulfosuccinate, cocamidopropyl betaine, coco-glucoside.

Preservatives: dehydroacetic acid, benzyl alcohol.

Some other beneficial ingredients include organic seaweed extract, sunflower seed oil, soybean seed extract, safflower seed oil, rose hip oil, wild pansy extract, sweet clover extract, apricot extract, ivy extract, organic chamomile extract, willow bark extract, cupuacu seed butter, and others.  

I have reviewed every ingredient in my post called How Safe Is This Sulfate-Free Color-Safe Shampoo?, so check it out!

What you should know is that Evolvh offers hair care products for different wants and needs: curls, color, volume, smooth, frizz, and repair. They use the same core ingredients across their products, including essential oils. Specifically, Evolvh UltraShine Moisture Shampoo is, reportedly, good for all hair types and grays.

Even though the company uses only essential oils, the scent was too strong for me. However, I’ve noticed that we all have different perceptions of scents. Thus, some people have reported sensing a strong scent even in products that had no ingredients whose purpose would be to create scent. In means, some of us have more sensitive noses than others.

Harmful Chemicals In Shampoo List

For my blog post Shampoo Brands To Avoid Today, in addition to the shampoos discussed above, I read ingredient lists of about twenty other popular shampoos. As a result, the ingredients I would be careful about are as follows:

• coal tar
• cocamide DEA
• ethoxylated ingredients (including polyethylene glycols)
• formaldehyde releasers
• fragrance
• iodopropynyl butylcarbamate
• methylchloroisothiazolinone
• methylisothiazolinone
• retinyl palmitate, and
• triethanolamine.

Let’s talk about them a little bit to see what kind of health concerns they arouse.

(As a side note, the list above contains no alcohol ingredients, e.g., cetearyl alcohol and stearyl alcohol. These ingredients are not “real” alcohols, such as rubbing alcohol or ethanol, that may cause dryness or itchiness. Both cetearyl alcohol and stearyl alcohol are waxy emulsifiers and emollients, used to soften and smoothen the skin and hair. They are nothing to worry about.)

Coal Tar

To begin, coal tar is a byproduct of coal processing and is sometimes used in skin care and hair care products to treat psoriasis and other skin conditions. It has been linked to some concerns as a potentially harmful chemical in hair dyes.

On the one hand, when you experience swelling, redness, itching, rashes, irritation, and scaling of the skin due to an autoimmune condition, it is understandable that you would turn to heavy artillery like coal tar. 

On the other hand, these symptoms are often caused by strong detergents in conventional shampoos. For instance, surfactants sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) and ammonium lauryl sulfate, while non-toxic, can be too stripping and drying, depending on the shampoo formula. In other words, it is possible that the shampoo you are using is causing itchiness and skin irritation. Thus, switching to a non-toxic shampoo with gentle surfactants and moisturizing ingredients can stop the symptoms altogether.

In fact, one of our Savvy Consumer Circle members, who used to suffer from dry and itchy scalp caused by an autoimmune condition, has found a shampoo with non-toxic ingredients that rid her of the symptoms. (You can find the name of this shampoo and her comments in our Savvy Consumer Circle.)

Likewise, when I used a “wrong” shampoo, my scalp was itchy, too. But since I started using a non-toxic natural shampoo, namely Pure Haven Supergreens, I haven’t had this problem whatsoever.

As a matter of fact, Pure Haven carries a leave-in Supergreens Scalp Treatment to help tackle dryness and itchiness of the scalp. It features nourishing ingredients like aloe vera and vegetable proteins, such as kale, carrot, and lemon. Additionally, it contains pea peptide and spinach, spirulina, and passion fruit extracts as well as rosemary and mint essential oils for a refreshing non-toxic scent.

Cocamide DEA

The function of cocamide DEA in a shampoo is to make it foam. While a well-foaming shampoo is appealing to many people, in 2012, California added cocamide DEA (cocamide diethanolamine) to the list of chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity. That is why I consider cocamide DEA a shampoo ingredient to avoid.  In my opinion, a shampoo that contains it should be considered a toxic shampoo.

Ethoxylated Ingredients

To clarify, the ingredients that start with polyethylene glycol (PEG), polysorbate (plus a number), and ingredients that have “-eth” at the end of the word belong in the group of ethoxylated ingredients because they are produced by the process of ethoxylation.

One of the common ethoxylated ingredients is sodium laureth sulfate. Be sure to differentiate it from sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) or ammonium lauryl sulfate, though, because they are not all the same. In fact, I do not consider sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) to be a very concerning ingredient, despite its “bad” reputation in the non-toxic community.

You do not want ethoxylated ingredients in your shampoo because they may have residues of carcinogenic ethylene oxide and 1,4-dioxane. The former is a chemical used in the process of ethoxylation, and the latter is a byproduct of this process.

As consumers, we cannot know whether the manufacturer has removed the residues of these chemicals. Personally, I avoid products with hidden ingredients like these and never promote them on my blog.

Formaldehyde Releasers

The ingredients called “formaldehyde releasers” work by releasing small amounts of formaldehyde. The latter may have both short-term and long-term health effects, such as skin irritation and cancer.

It is important to note that with long storage periods and high storage temperatures, the amount of released formaldehyde may increase. Consequently, the risk of allergic reactions to formaldehyde or to the formaldehyde-releasing preservative increases, too. In some people, it may even trigger hair loss.

Some examples of formaldehyde releasers are such preservatives as DMDM hydantoin and diazolidinyl urea. I suggest not using shampoos or any other cosmetic products with these ingredients. You can find a longer list of formaldehyde releasers in my blog post Hidden Ingredients in Cosmetics.

Fragrance

According to the European Union Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) synthetic fragrances (aka “parfum” or “aroma”) are associated with various kinds of allergic contact dermatitis. This is because they consist of numerous ingredients that have their own health risks. Some common ingredients in fragrance mixes are phthalates, referred to as “endocrine disruptors.” Please know that “natural fragrance” is not an exception, and the added word “natural” does not automatically make the fragrance safe. To learn more, read “Paraben And Phthalate Free Shampoo.”

Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate

The American Society of Contact Dermatitis lists this harsh preservative as one of the core allergens, even in concentrations as low as 0.1%. It may cause dermal irritation or contact allergy.  

Although preservatives are a must for liquid hair care products to prevent microbial growth, I believe it is possible to use safer preservatives.  

Methylchloroisothiazolinone And Methylisothiazolinone

Commonly used as preservatives in cosmetic products, methylchloroisothiazolinone (MCI) and methylisothiazolinone (MI) are known allergens and sensitizers. Thus, scientists have noticed a rise in the number of allergic reactions caused by MCI and MI or even MI alone.

Additionally, this study shows that prolonged exposure even to low levels of MI may have damaging consequences to the developing nervous system. So, I definitely avoid products with these preservatives, as well as with benzisothiazolinone.

Retinyl Palmitate

For starters, retinyl palmitate is a form of vitamin A. While vitamin A may have benefits in non-toxic anti-aging beauty routine, I would be careful with it.

To clarify, I would stay away from using products with vitamin A during the day to avoid sunlight exposure. And I would be careful about overdosing vitamin A, especially during pregnancy. Check out my Helpful List Of Chemicals To Avoid During Pregnancy.

Triethanolamine

Fortunately, out of the 20 shampoos whose ingredients I analyzed for my blog post Shampoo Brands To Avoid Today, just one shampoo contained triethanolamine. However, because it is suspected of damaging fertility or the unborn child (ECHA), I strongly recommend checking the ingredients of shampoos before purchasing them.

Summary Of The Best Shampoos Without Harmful Chemicals

I Believe It Is Possible To Find A Non-Toxic Shampoo Without Harmful Ingredients That Will Work For Your Hair Type.

In sum, although there are many toxic shampoos with harmful ingredients that can cause skin irritation and allergic reactions as well as pose other serious risks to your health, it is possible to find a safe natural shampoo.

Thus, the natural shampoos below are what you can consider switching to from conventional shampoos with toxic chemicals:

• Pure Haven Sweet Orange Shampoo (PURE15)
• Pure Haven Supergreens Shampoo (my favorite)
• Pure Haven Charcoal Detox Shampoo
• Beautycounter Daily Shampoo in Bright Grapefruit
• Innersense Pure Harmony Hairbath
• Hairprint Amla Shampoo, and
• Evolvh UltraShine Moisture Shampoo (IREAD15 for 15% off).

As for the ingredients to be careful about in shampoos, they include:

• coal tar
• cocamide DEA
• ethoxylated ingredients (including polyethylene glycols)
• formaldehyde releasers
• fragrance
• iodopropynyl butylcarbamate
• methylchloroisothiazolinone
• methylisothiazolinone
• retinyl palmitate, and
• triethanolamine.

Browse the I Read Labels For You blog for useful information on shampoos and other products and ingredients. Also, check out our Permanent Hair Color Rating List E-Book as well as other e-books. Plus, visit our non-toxic products shop and book a service if you need help with healthy living.