Indochine Natural is unusual
among manufacturers of body washes and shampoo in that our Australian
co-founder and Managing Director Dr. Mike Thair produces these products from
whole vegetable oils. However, the more common approach these days in body care
products marketed as “all-natural” is to use “plant-derived” chemical
surfactants.
For example, if you read the
ingredients on a mass produced “all-natural” shampoo you may find the
ingredient “sodium cocoyl isethionate (coconut derived)”…….aha you may think, it is derived
from coconut so it must be “natural.”
Lets look at how sodium cocoyl isethionate is produced. The first step
involves ethylene oxide and a bisulfite
salt being reacted in an aqueous solution to produce an isethionate salt. In a
second step the isethionate salt is reacted with a fatty acid (derived from
coconut) to form sodium cocoyl
isethionate. A point worth noting here is that the ethylene oxide used in this
reaction is a known carcinogen, and that traces of ethylene oxide can remain in
the product, along with carcinogenic 1,4-dioxane (Kosswig,
Kurt (2000). "Sulfonic Acids, Aliphatic". Ullmann's Encyclopedia
of Industrial Chemistry (Wiley-VCH)).
So
is it natural? You be the judge.
