After Youtuber Bri Hall shared her thoughts about Eco Styler Gel, its ingredients, and side effects recently ~ the Natural Hair community drew up in arms.
New videos popped up on my feed left right and center. Then Twitter was a roar talking about ECO STYLER IS CANCELED and OMG EVERYTHING I'VE BELIEVED IN WAS A LIE.
Lol y'all
Eco Styler gel is/was/has been a popular holy grail product of many naturalistas (not I) for signature looks wash n gos, twist outs, edge laying etc.. and after Bri Hall's video the script officially flipped.
Big ingredient names like "Triethanolamine" and "Yellow 5" were all rumored culprits of the gel causing issues like
Hair loss
Major eye and skin irritation
Weakening of the immune system
& CANCER
Looking up Triethanolamine for one it is a commonly used pH adjuster and surfactant in many.. MANY industrial and cosmetic products such as skin and hair conditioning products. And much like MANY skin/hair products a multitude irritations may come as an aftereffect.
In terms of carcinogenicity from the pubchem source itself
"Not classifiable", "..inadequate evidence", aka don't believe everything you hear and run wild with it... Incidences may have occurred however this Group 3 class houses a whole lot of things even caffeine.
In the field of pharmacy we're educated on the fact that some treatments come at the price of their side effects. Varying on severity we just know that changing something the body perceives as natural will disrupt its natural flow. You weren't born with any form of chemical gels on your head in the first place sis.
Nonetheless if you wear anything with “fragrance” as an ingredient, there's a chance you're not going to know what’s in it. We take these chances all the time on everyday products and food as well. If you can't pronounce it you're taking a chance. If the first three items listed are unidentifiable there's a problem as well.
Triethanolamine (TEA) is quite common you guys... except in a lot of black hair/natural products *coughs in shameless plug***... As consumers especially of chemical products it's always important to read the ingredients and do your research. These are substances we're putting on and into OUR OWN BODIES, a vessel we only have one of.
ALSO it's 2018, at some point we're going to have to look things up and get the truest of facts by ourselves. At some point you guys we'll need to stop waiting for the token Youtube guru and Twitter tells us these things.
Here are some of my favorite rants on the matter..
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