Re: What's So Bad About Petroleum/Mineral Oil?

by LaToya28 16th November 2010, 2:13 pm

It's labeled as SD alcohol, SD alcohol 40, or denatured alcohol. It's ethanol (drinking alcohol) that's been made undrinkable. It's very drying to the hair.

Pump it up Spritz:

SD Alcohol 40-B, Deionized Water, Isobutylene, Ethylmaleimide, Hydroxyethylmaleimide Copolymer, Polyimide-1, Cyclomethicone, Diisopropyl Adipate, Panthenol, Caprylyl Pyrrolidone, Silk Amino Acids, D&C Red #33, Fragrance,

by PyreFli42 16th November 2010, 9:56 pm

I stopped using hair products with mineral oil and petrolatum in them when I was a kid. Not because of anything that I had read; simply because I found that most times that I used a product containing it, my hair would be a hard dry mess, and this is especially true for me with natural hair. To this day, if I don't (or mistakenly thought that I did) look carefully at ingredients, if my hair feels yucky in this certain way a day or two after using the product, I will check the ingredients and sure enough it will have mineral oil and/or petrolatum in it. The science just verifies what my hair is telling me.

by misskris 18th November 2010, 1:13 pm

@ PyreFli...that's interesting. And I think that it's absoluetly nuts that black hair care products keep using it. I bought some of that Cantu shea butter leave in repair cream and it has no MO in it so I will see what that's like. It smells good. I used a smidge on my girls' hair this morning but not on myself yet.

by PrincessRN 18th November 2010, 9:39 pm

maladud wrote:It's interesting to see all the info on MO which I had already known. But what I DON'T get is why do all these products I have seen listed as good to use on this site have MO in it??? And I also noticed that a lot (if not all) the conditioners I looked at last night in the store had alcohol in it. And these were also products that were listed in CN as good to use. Isn't that supposed to be super drying for hair, especially curly hair??? So I don't get it. What are you supposed to use if most of these products have MO and alcohol in it? I like Coconut oil because it's light and not greasy but what else is there? Other than the other natural 100% oils like EVOO.

I agree with you about the alcohols. Even the so-called "fatty alcohols" which are supposed to be "moisturizing" can still cause problems for some people. My hair is very sensitive and cannot tolerate these alcohols. They dry my hair out terribly. But for others, their hair loves products that contain these alcohols. As with any product, I think you just have to see how your hair responds and then make your decisions accordingly.

by Karyn 18th November 2010, 9:54 pm

i use a lotion with mineral oil in it (ponds dry skin cream), but i also have very dry & sensitive skin, so during the colder months my moisturizer keeps my skin moisturized. i'm pretty sure if i used something else, it would make me have extremely dry skin with those weird white flakes (gross).

tl;dr: i know mineral oil isn't "good" for skin, but it works well for me because i have dry and very sensitive skin. what type of moisturizers do you guys use for your face?

by naturallynola 18th November 2010, 10:47 pm

Aloe vera gel and Aquatanica Spa Sea Moisture Gel Souffle (full of marine ingredients such as sea kelp and sea weed - uber moisturizing)

I have sensitive skin and eczema on my legs. I drench myself in EVCO and I am good to go!

by Fleur 18th November 2010, 11:21 pm

Nola, I thought Aquatanica was discontinued a couple of years ago. I remember how mad I was when I found out. I love that stuff. Where do you get your Aquatanica from?

by naturallynola 19th November 2010, 10:04 am

Believe it or not, I stock piled. So, I am on my very last leg of it. I went to using it once per day to extend it. So, the search begins for a similar product! Crying or Very sad

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