New and Improved Project
In chemistry we sent a letter to company of our choice to improve a product of our choice. This project took about three weeks, to gather research and it took me additional two days to find someone to send my letter to. In our letters we are supposed to take a product look at thier chemical ingredients and change the ingredients to overall improve the product. I have chosen Herbal Essence hair product particulary their "Hello Hydration" line. I have done some research on the ingredients used in the product and i have found out that their are some very chemical ingredients that not only contradict the products purpose but has caused even more serious issues to the user. I have sent this letter to Sharon Woods, suggesting that Herbal Essence makes a switch with their ingredients and instead uses more natural healthy ingredients. Now i have asked myself, why use these harmful chemicals in the product anyway? And from more research i have found out that these harmful chemicals make the product more foamy and when the user has more foam they believe the product is actually working. So in other words Herbal Essence is trying to trick you by making their product more foamy they use harmful chemicals and you buy more into the product, I guess when it all piles down to what is really important its always going to be money. I have learned this from the project.
If i could go back and change anything i would most likey change my whole product choice because when doing this project i am now more imformed and well thats both a good and bad outcome the good outcome is i am safe and i only use natural hair products now, the bad outcome is i have realized that not only Herbal Essence does this but many other products out there are just as if not more harmful for you, and this knowledge has limited my product choices by a lot.
I have learned that it is always better to do research before trying anything out, do the research learn about the ingredients and get the facts before you let youself be succesible to a harmful chemical that can potentially play a major role in your over health. I have also learned some basic researching skills.
October 30, 2011
P&G Chemicals Americas
Sharon Woods Technical Center
11530 Reed Hartman Highway
Cincinnati, OH 45241
USA
Dear, Sharon Woods:
My name is Alicia Armstrong I am writing you in regard to your product Herbal Essences shampoo specifically the “Hello Hydration” product. “Hello hydration” is a product you have created to help dry hair become moisturized and to prevent the hair from becoming more dry. I’ve done some research about the ingredients you have put in this product and I have found out that a lot of the chemical compounds have a lot of negative health effects on the users. These effects include internal organ abnormities, hair loss and cancer. Because these ingredients don’t really do what the product says it does, I feel by putting these harmful ingredients in your shampoo you are contradicting your product and its overall purpose.
To be specific I have made a list of the chemicals that are currently in the product and their negative effects. Here are the current dangerous ingredients in the “Hello Hydration” product. Ammonium lauryl sulfate, ammonium laureth sulfate, sodium chloride, cocamide mea, ammonium xylenesulfonate, disodium edta, propylene glycol, and methylisothiazolinone. Each ingredient is known to be harsh to the skin and cause redness to the scalp. The redness is a result of dryness that causes the scalp to flake, dandruff. The ingredient Methylisothiazolinone has been known to affect the nervous system when tested on rats it also caused them hair loss and it’s been known to effect the neuron communication. And cocamide mea had cocamide dea which has been linked to cancer and misscarriages when tested in the laboratories at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Ammonium lauryl sulfate was tested on rats and it caused them skin irriation along with hair loss and redness, it’s been known to also cause the user itchy skin and sore eyes. I also found out that none of these chemical ingredients actually help the hair their main purpose is not to help the skin at all, but to help the product produce more foam.
Now that I know what each of these harmful ingredients has been known to do, I am very reluctant to use any of your products ever again. You can fix this however, by simply replacing these harmful ingredients with natural organic ingredients that have been known to help hair. Here are some examples: purified water (pure water) helps the hair contain moisture and keeps hair from losing moisture, saponified oils of coconut (organic) helps moisturize the scalp and keep hair follicles strong and prevents breakage, olive oil (organic) is an organic root stimulator and serves to help hair retain moisture and prevents breakage, jojoba oil (organic) not only does jojoba help moisturize the hair but it also develops new hair cell growth and it kills bacteria in hair that is harmful, rosemary (organic), lemongrass (organic), guar gum (natural tree gum), aloe vera (organic) all of these ingredients have been known to not only smell very nice, but also to hydrate and fix dry damaged hair, which is the purpose of your “Hello Hydration,” product so why not use them instead!
As a student I am curious to know why you use such harmful chemicals opposed to natural organic chemicals. Is it an issue of money? Do the harmful chemicals cost less than the organic ingredients? Or is it because the harmful chemicals produce more foam, which we all know when our shampoo foams we believe it to be working and therefore we use it more. Whatever the reason is I suggest that you stop using the harmful chemicals that damages the hair and switch to other organic compounds that have been proven to have more positive results. With that I want to thank you for taking the time to read my letter and I really hope that you take my suggestion into consideration for your next hair products.
Sincerely
Alicia Armstrong.