Is Your 2 or 3 Day Hair Giving You Cancer?! — Find Out How to Make Sure You’re Using the Best Products

Photo by Tamara Bellis on Unsplash

Okay no, not washing your hair for a couple of days won’t give you cancer, but the products you might be using will.

Scientifically, it is actually really healthy to not wash your hair every day. The more you wash your hair, the more it strips the natural oils present, which leads to dry, brittle hair, more likely to break off.

I used to wash my hair every day, sometimes twice and it definitely caught up to me. My hair became so dry that it would break off and feel stringy and brittle to the touch. It became my personal goal to revive my hair and figure out how to keep it healthy.

Now, I try to wash my hair only once a week, but most of the time it’s 1–2. To keep my hair looking fresh throughout the week, I use different products in order to keep it clean and healthy.

The most common product that people use, me included, in-between hair wash days is dry shampoo.

It’s something easy to put in your hair that gives it an instant refresh. As a college student, I feel like I’m always rushing around, so dry shampoo is the perfect product.

Unilever United States has recalled popular dry shampoo aerosol products due to possible elevated levels of the carcinogen, benzene. (Courtesy/FDA)

Dry shampoo has been around since the 1940’s. It has evolved throughout the years, starting as a bar you rubbed in your hair, to now, aerosol containers that you spray into your hair.

There are tons of brands of dry shampoo that say they leave your hair better than before, or make you look freshly styled, when in reality they can lead to something much worse.

There has been a recall of over six brands of dry shampoo that have elevated levels of benzene, a carcinogen, that causes cancer in living tissue.

Benzene is most toxic through inhalation, orally and through the skin. It mostly causes leukemia and blood cancer of bone marrow.

Here is the list of potentially harmful dry shampoos:

• Suave Dry Shampoo Hair Refresher
• Suave Professionals Dry Shampoo Refresh and Revive
• Tresemme Dry Shampoo Volumizing
• Tresemme Dry Shampoo Fresh and Clean
• Tresemme Pro Pure Dry Shampoo
• Bed Head Oh Bee Hive Dry Shampoo
• Bed Head Oh Bee Hive Volumizing Dry Shampoo
• Bed Head Dirty Secret Dry Shampoo
• Bed Head Rockaholic Dirty Secret Dry Shampoo.
• Dove Dry Shampoo Volume and Fullness
• Dove Dry Shampoo Fresh Coconut
• Dove Dry Shampoo Fresh and Floral
• Dove Dry Shampoo Ultra Clean
• Dove Dry Shampoo Invisible
• Dove Dry Shampoo Detox and Purify
• Dove Dry Shampoo Clarifying Charcoal
• Dove Dry Shampoo Go Active
• Nexxus Dry Shampoo Refreshing Mist
• Nexxus Inergy Foam Shampoo

So what’s the answer? Do we wash our hair every day and cause breakage and unhealthy hair? Or do we use dry shampoo and risk cancer?

Well, I have some good news, there are some healthy brands and alternatives to dry shampoo that keep your hair looking fresh for as long as possible.

There are some dry shampoos on the market that come just as powder, with no aerosol can.

Brands like: The Earthling Co., Prose, Hairstory, Kristin Ess, The Hair Lab, etc. all make clean, powder-form dry shampoo. Just make sure you do your research before buying products and look at their ingredients.

After learning about the recall, I quickly ran to Ulta in search of a new option. I came across the Kristin Ess powder dry shampoo. I have been using it for a month or so and I can attest that it works just as well, if not better than the products I was using before.

If you’re scared to buy dry shampoo at all, I understand, here are some alternatives that achieve the same thing:

• Baby Powder
• Cornstarch and Cocoa Powder
• Blotting Paper
• Apple Cider Vinegar
• Salt and Cornmeal
• Arrowroot
• Oatmeal and Baking Soda

If you want to find out more on how to use these alternatives click here.

There are tons of other products on the market that also have harmful effects. You need to be able to read haircare and skincare product labels alike and understand what's in them.

Photo by Become.co

Here are some tips I use when shopping for haircare products:

1. Look for products with the smallest list of ingredients: this leaves little room for fillers and chemicals.

2. Look for ingredients you know are good: deionized water, biotin, keratin, coconut oil, castor oil, essential oils, jojoba oil, shea butter, etc.

3. When reading an ingredients list, it goes from largest amount to smallest: look at the products at the beginning and make sure they’re friendly, like some of the ones listed above.

Now for skincare, this is very similar to haircare:

1. Again, make sure the ingredients list is short in order to avoid unknown additives.

2. Here are some good ingredients: Hyaluronic acid, Ceramides, Retinol, Argan oil, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Vitamin B3, Green tea, Algae extracts, etc.

3. Again, make sure the largest ingredients are ones you trust, like those listed above.

I hate wasting money, especially as a broke college kid, so making sure you get something that works and is healthy is really important.

Every shopping trip I make, I have a list prepared with things I have already researched and read reviews on to make sure I’m buying a reliable product that actually works.

Be careful with the products you buy and use daily! I once bought a moisturizer without looking at the ingredients and reading reviews and it completely wrecked my face. Leaving breakouts and dry patches everywhere.

I hope these tips and tricks can help you find some new favorite products the next time you’re stuck, not knowing which to buy.

I hope you have a better understanding of what to look for and hope you stay healthy as possible!