Clairol Professional – Beware

Last week I went to Sally’s Beauty Supply store in search to find hair products for bleached hair (specifically ones with a purple shampoo to take the yellow out).  Usually I use John Freeman’s Blonde shampoo…works well, but doesn’t look as white as when it is first bleached and tends to show yellowish tones.

I had previously researched on-line that Clairol Professional made a shampoo called “shimmering lights” for white/silver hair and was a purple shampoo.  So of course I was very excited when I found both their shampoo and conditioner at Sally’s.  I read the ingredients listed and I did not see anything I recognized to contain gluten.  I used the shampoo and conditioner the very next day, and my hair looked as if I just dyed it- turned out a very pretty white.  My skin felt itchy but I figured it was just dry skin from swimming a few days in a row so I just shrugged it off, just happy to have hair without the yellow tinge!

A few nights later I started to get horrible headaches and my face felt “hot” and I got some odd blisters around my hair line…which again I just shrugged out figuring it would go away and maybe it was something I ate.

Finally I decided to look up one of the ingredients listed as “hydrolyzed vegetable protein” (also known as hydrolyzed plant protein).  At first when I originally saw the word protein on the bottle I thought of wheat protein, but then when it was just the hydrolyzed vegetable protein I assumed this was safe.  It did not say wheat, and to be honest I had never heard of it?

After reading on-line I discovered that hydrolyzed vegetable protein is made from either wheat, corn, peanuts, soybeans,  or cottonseeds.  So after this discovery I decided to give Clairol a call to confirm whether or not their product contained wheat. Unforchantly I got the whole “Let me read you a statement about gluten” she then rambled off what gluten was and that it was ‘impossible’ for them to know if their products fragrances contained gluten…etc”.  None of this helped me with my question so again I asked if there was anyone else I could speak to about the hydrolyzed vegetable protein, and that I was not concerned about the fragrances in the product.  She then stated that they could not release that and again it would be “impossible” for them to know and that I should not buy their product.

So sadly there is another company that I would consider ‘not safe’ and not concerned about keeping a customer.  So if you are Celiac and are considering buying Clairol- Beware since their gluten statement was for their products, not just the one I was inquiring about.

Now to hunt for a new shampoo!