Why is conscious hair care important?

“Green-washing” is a term that is becoming widely known among consumers attempting to find sustainable, eco-friendly items across the beauty and fashion industries. This marketing tactic is used by companies to gain market-share and is completely unregulated as these and other words, “green” and “eco,” have no enforceable definitions. What does that look like when you are shopping for hair care? As you walk down beauty aisles, you are seeing more and more products labels touting the words, “Clean”, “Green” and “All-Natural” that actually contain ingredients that are toxic, endocrine inhibitors and carcinogenic. This causes confusion and shopping paralysis among those just trying to make healthy choices when it comes to their beauty products. So do we all just throw up our arms and give up? No way. This is your health after all. To help you, here are some common questions and what North Authentic is doing to make your life easier.

As terms “Clean, “Green” and “Eco” have become widely used, without much behind them, our Founder, Natalie Palomino, chose the term “Conscious” Haircare for North Authentic’s main purpose. Conscious hair care means that every product we carry has been evaluated and tested to ensure that it meets our strict value system of clean, non-toxic ingredients and high performance. We understand that reading labels, outside of the grocery store, is just one more task to add to your day and no one wants more on their plate. This leads to many consumers blindly trusting product labels that say “All-Natural”, in an effort to make healthier choices, whilst not realizing that the product actually contain harmful ingredients. A conscious choice would require digging deeper (i.e. reading the ingredients and researching what all those ingredients actually are…there are 5 terms alone that mean parabens). Oy vey!

While most are becoming aware of the importance of clean beauty (e.g. makeup, skincare), the hair care industry has been left behind. After all, what you put on your hair doesn’t really touch your skin, right? Wrong…your scalp is actually one of the most absorbent parts of your body – more than your face, legs and arms so basically your scalp is a sponge that sops up whatever you put on it (i.e. it is entering your bloodstream). It is also your most sensitive skin and it extends all the way down to your eyes. So, what happens when toxic chemicals from your hair products are touching your body, hanging out in your blood stream, and making pit stops in your organs? Well, it depends on the chemical. See our Barred Ingredient List to learn more about each chemicals’ effect on our bodies.

We put in the work so that our guests can make a conscious purchase on what they put on their skin and hair without having to read the label or do the research, whilst still getting gorgeous, manageable hair styles that meet their hair goals and tackle their hair concerns. Read about our Hair Crimes List.