We know how important it is to eat natural and not overly processed foods. However, most of us still do eat processed foods from time to time. Who could resist the occasional blueberry muffin or peanut butter chocolate chip cookie? I know I couldn’t. I also know how important it is in life to have balance.

As much as we know that these rules apply to food and our general lifestyle, we often forget them when it comes to hair care and skin care. It seems as if everyone is glamorizing all-natural products, and no one wants to use silicones or sulfates anymore. But is there any truth to that? Are natural hair care products really superior to synthetic ones?

The truth is that if you use the right synthetic hair care chemicals, they won’t hurt your health or the health of your hair, and you WILL get better results. You should look for things that are mostly but not completely natural. Because as powerful as nature is, it could still use a little bit of help from science. So let’s go over the different perks and downsides of natural and synthetic haircare. 

Natural is often more expensive 

Most of the time, the price of hair care products depends on the quality of the ingredients that go into them. The high cost of using exotic ingredients from faraway places will be reflected in the price of a product. On the other hand, most synthetic ingredients will be much cheaper to produce in a lab. So just because a natural haircare product is more expensive than the synthetic counterpart, doesn’t mean that it will actually work better. 

Natural products can’t take the heat 

If you love to heat style your hair, then you know how important it is to use a good heat protectant. But you have probably already noticed that most heat protectants are synthetically made. Silicones and other synthetic materials form a protective layer around your hair and protect it from heat damage to up to 450 degrees. While natural ingredients can also protect your hair from heat, it’s often to a much lower degree. 

But by combining both natural and synthetic ingredients, you can get the best of both worlds. A heat protectant that also nourishes your hair. Silicones like phenyl trimethicone, dimethicone, dimethiconol, and cylcopentasiloxane work with natural ingredients like aloe leaf juice and argan oil to protect your hair from extreme temperatures, while adding shine and reducing frizz.

We need preservatives 

The organic products movement grew because people were worried about the safety of some preservatives in skin and hair care products. Most of the problems with preservatives come from parabens, which can mess with how hormones work and have been linked to breast cancer. But all products, whether they are organic or not, need some kind of preservative to stop bacteria, yeast, and mold from growing. 

The problem is that hair products may be even more likely to go bad because they are kept in hot, damp showers. Thankfully, there is a list of synthetic but safe preservatives like phenoxyethanol, ethylhexylglycerin, and disodium EDTA which can keep your products from going bad without messing with your hormones.