My Aveda Saga... and why we had to break-up

My introduction to Ayurveda and the sister science to yoga was ultimately through the Salon Spa "Aveda". While waiting in the trendy spa I read their Ayurveda book and discovered my "Doshas. Aveda's ingredient philosophy taken from their website claims: what you put on your body should be as healthy and natural as what you put into it (http://aveda.aveda.com/aboutaveda/green_ingredients.asp on January 7th 2009). They were a healthy, eco-friendly choice and continue to claim to be so.

Until I read "Ecoholic" by Adria Vasil and with increasing horror read the ingredients on the plethora of Aveda products (ridiculously expensive I might add!) gracing my bathroom. ACK! 

This is the ingredient list taken from Drugstore.com (since the aveda website doesn't provide a complete ingredient list and I no longer have any Aveda products...):

Aqueous Purified Water Extracts: Camellia Sinensis Extract, Citrus Aurantium Amara Peel Extract (Bitter Orange), Astragalus Root (Membranaceus) Extract (Milk Vetch), Schizandra Chinensis Fruit Extract, Pinus Tabulaeformis Bark Extract (Pine), Vitis Vinifera Seed Extract (Grape), Sedum Rosea Root Extract, Rehmannia Chinensis Root Extract, Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate, Disodium Laureth Sulfosuccinate, Lauramidopropyl Betaine, Cinnamidopropyltrimonium Chloride, Quaternium 80, PEG 7 Dimethicone C8-C18 Ester, Babassuamidopropyl Betaine, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Amyl Salicylate, Amyl Cinnamate, Lycopene, Lecithin, Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate, Tocopherol, Sucrose Palmitate, Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine, Glycol Stearate, Glycol Distearate, Polyglyceryl 10 Oleate, Polyquaternium 7, Fragrance, Cistus Ladaniferus Oil, Glycerin, Citric Acid, Disodium EDTA, Propylparaben, Methylparaben, Methylisothiazolinone, Methylchloroisothiazolinone

 

Ummm. I see some SKETCHY ingredients in there! WTF? The bolded black ingredients are just the biggies that I've come to look out for when checking ingredient lists. Every single bottle contained a version of these ingredients. This isn't healthy at all! Seriously I was so disgusted that the entire company that claims such spiritual and ethical superiority above other beauty products would be so misleading! sigh. What to do? Well after emailing Aveda and asking why they include ingredients such as parabens and Disodium EDTA in their products (with no response) and getting vague ambiguous answers from the Aveda Stylists- Aveda and I... we broke up.

I gotta say- Aveda does seem to be accomplishing some fantastic eco-endeavours above and beyond their run of the mill shampoos- they claim to be wind-powered, promoting sustainable plant and herb harvesting and supporting fair trade farming (they even have VIDEOS about this in their salons for you to watch while you wait for your... ahem... wax!).

But after the flagrant disregard for truthful marketing with their philosophy on ingredients and their obvious recalcitrance to be forthcoming- I'm now wary of all their claims... How do I truly know they aren't "greenwashing" their other eco-claims, just like with the ingredients in their products?

So- I went and found other amazing products that are cheaper, honest and forthcoming with the awesome green-nest :) 

Ayurveda (the actual science) on the other hand is still my friend :)