DreadHead Products Ingredients
After seeing how entertaining and informative the rest of the site is did you really think you’d just find a list of ingredients? We chose the best ingredients available for our products and we want to tell you all about them - especially the ones that are often confused with other ingredients. For those that are allergic to something and are checking to make sure it’s not in our products you’ll find the list at the bottom, but if you have a second please take a look and see what we’re about.
How are Dread Head’s ingredients chosen?
When choosing ingredients for new products you have two options.
The first and most popular is to avoid all ingredients that have ever had a negative word uttered about them, regardless of the source. Even if one knows for a fact that a particular ingredient is perfectly safe and all negative claims are propaganda, the ingredient is still avoided just because of it’s "unpopular" status.
There is one advantage to this method, which is, the list of ingredients sounds spectacular and since no one objects to any of the ingredients they can be used to market the product. Unfortunately many of these products do a vastly inferior job because their active ingredients have been replaced by essential oils, extracts and other more marketable ingredients which don’t appear on any of the famous top ten lists.
The environment also suffers because rather than using a large variety of safe ingredients manufactures choose from a limited handful of popular ingredients that are perceived to be safer. The unusually high exposure and ever increasing demand for these few ingredients is much more detrimental for our environment.
The second option is to find out what ingredients do the best job and research them thoroughly to be certain they are really safe. The obvious advantage of this method is that all ingredients that are safe and effective can be used, not just ones with friendly sounding names. The result is a much more effective product that out-performs its competition and quickly develops a strong following. The only disadvantage is that some potential customers will never try the product because it contains a perfectly safe ingredient they’ve been told to avoid.
So, when it’s your choice, which path do you choose? Obviously the approach that one must take is in many ways determined by how you see your customer. If you believe your customers to be incapable of thinking for themselves and unable to discern a product that works form one that doesn’t, choosing ingredients that "sound good" is probably the way to go.
On the other hand, if your customers tend not to follow the crowd, and don’t mind learning, you have the option of using the best ingredients for the job and then providing information about the true nature of the ingredients. This will allow you to offer superior products which, in the long run, makes your customers happier and has less impact on the environment.
I’m going out on a limb here, but I’m willing to bet that because you are interested in dreads enough to get them, you’re not like everyone else, and you’d probably rather have a product that works over one that just smells good. And the fact that you’re sitting here, reading this now, lets me know that you are willing to do a little research to find out the truth about the ingredients and products that you choose to use.
Please take a minute to review our ingredient list. If you find any ingredients that you have reason to believe are undesirable for any reason please use our contact form to send me any information you have, especially data that cites specific, verifiable research.
The following is the list of ingredients for each of our products. Ingredients that have received a lot of attention are links.
Please click on each of these highlighted ingredients to learn more about why we chose them and any interesting myths that surround them.
Please note all products have been certified as safe cosmetics in the United States and European Union
Dread Wax-
Beeswax, Microcrystalline wax, Mineral/White Oil, Hemp Seed Oil, Vitamin E.
This combination of ingredients was chosen to give our wax superior locking properties. It is not gooey, wet or slippery. In fact, if you find another wax that can match or beat it's incredibly strong, yet flexible, hold we will refund the cost of the product.
Dread Soap-
water, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, cocoamidopropyl betaine, sodium chloride, sodium glycolate, 7-ethylbicyclooxazolidine, cocoamidoproply dimethylamine, tetrasodium EDTA, 4,4-dimethyloxazolidine, mixture of 5-chloro-2-methyl-isothiazol-3(2H)-one and 2-methylisothiazol-3(2H)-one with magnesium chloride and magnesium nitrate
Locking Accelerator-
Sea Salt, Guanidine Carbonate, Yucca schidigera
Lock Peppa-
Zinc oxide- Provides white color and assists drying, also used in sun-screen and food supplements
Silicone Dioxide- Another drying agent, also used in food/ diet supplements
Methyl Salicylate-enhances the fragrance - used in vapor rubs and other products
Rosin- Naturally derived from pine trees- increases friction
Bentonite- A mild clay -increases friction
Wintergreen Mint-Naturally derived mint flavoring
Earthlocks Organics Dreadlocks Shampoo-
Purified Water, Organic Potassium Cocoate (Derived from 100% Organic Coconuts), Organic Potassium Oleate (Derived from 100% Organic Sunflower Oil), Laruyl Betain (Coconut derived surfactant), Organic Eucalyptus Oil (100% Organic), Organic Glycerin (100% Organic), Benzyl Alcohol (preservative for natural ingredients), Potassium Palm Kerneleate (derived from palm kernels), Palm Kernel Acid (derived from palm kernel oil), Decyl Glucoside (mild glucose-based surfactant), Potassium Citrate (potassium salt of citric acid-food supplement)