What are Parabens and Sulfates?

Sulphates are cleansing foams that are mainly in shampoo and soap. Sulphates give that foaming effect to cosmetic products. They clean your hair and skin from sebum and dirt. Sulphates come in different forms; from mild to very aggressive. The two most common sulfates are Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) and Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES).

Are sulfates good or bad for your skin and hair? Sulfates extract grease and oil leaving the surface thoroughly clean, so that's good. Unfortunately, they also remove your natural oil layer. These natural fats protect your skin and hair and the (main) skin needs to stay healthy and supple. Without this natural protective layer, your skin becomes dry and irritated, your hair dull and dry. As compensation, more sebum is produced, with a disturbed natural balance and skin irritation as a result.

Fortunately, there are also natural alternatives to sulfates. These are mild and not harmful to your skin and hair. They do not affect your natural protective mechanism so that your (main) skin becomes and remains healthy. This is reflected in radiant skin and shiny hair.

Therefore always use one of course soap for cleaning. You can even use this on your face, one natural facial cleanser is mild but super effective. Also the best sulfate-free shampoos are those in 'bar' form natural shampoo bars.

Parabens are used in medicines, foodstuffs, household cleaners and certain types of ink, glue, paint and in cosmetic products such as shampoo and cosmetics. Here too, parabens act as a preservative. Preserving cosmetics is important; If shampoo or cosmetics are contaminated by bacteria, this is at least as harmful as chemical substances. It can cause allergic reactions or acne. Fortunately, there are also natural ingredients that can be used as a preservative. We at Flow prove it with ours cosmetics not inferior in effectiveness and results.

There is still debate about the dangers of parabens. Some claim that they are not harmful to health and the environment. There are studies that prove otherwise, such as that of Reading 1. That is why environmental defense already came up with the campaign fifteen years ago “you lubricate non-toxic? ”. But more recent studies 23 also show that parabens are worse than is believed. Also is demonstrated that parabens affect the fertility of laboratory animals.

It should be remembered that such studies use a much higher concentration of parabens than we put on our skin and in our hair. So whether the parabens in cosmetics really pose a direct health hazard to your health is still unclear. In any case, they fall under the category endocrine disrupting substances. All in all, enough reasons for us to keep the entire Flow cosmetics range free of parabens!

Paraben free products

One way to find out what substances are in cosmetics is the INCI list. This is the International Nomenclature for Cosmetic Ingredients where the ingredients are described in the same way in alphabetical order. This way you can easily recognize harmful substances such as parabens or other harmful substances such as sulphates.

The ingredients of our facial products are wild grown or certified organic, appear naturally in essential oil or are Ecocert or COSMOS approved. Not only good for your health, but also for the environment. With cosmetic products without parabens, sulfates or other harmful substances beauty really becomes clean.