I have to agree with Anky. There are NO STUPID QUESTIONS at LHCF! One thing I've loved about this Board, from its very beginning (and subsequent remorphings), has been the generosity and kindness of its members in sharing good information that has gotten my hair to grow longer than it's ever been in adolescence or adulthood - and all this good advice is for free! (except for the little donations I give whenever possible, to keep the Board up
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Plus, I'm a little annoyed by those "Chicken Little" the-sky-is-falling/"every chemical compound is bad"-type lists floating out there on the internet. Yes, what they say may be true but it's what they *don't* say that makes it misleading: such as, there are different "grades" that separate what is considered "cosmetic grade" alpha hydroxy acids (or AHAs) and whatever industrial strength grade is used to tan leather or to make cleaning solvents. Without that material bit of information, a reader could foreseeably think that the AHAs s/he is using are too strong for her skin since the very same chemical is used as a cleaning solvent and to tan animal hide.
I am not overly confident in the FDA (our federal government's Food & Drug Administration), given some of the recalls in the past, but I can reasonably expect that it will not allow a company to sell AHAs for cosmetic use if the AHAs are strong enough, at that grade, to tan leather! The FDA insures, among other things, that the cosmetics we use are safe, and requires that any over-the-counter cosmetics claiming to alter the structure or function of the body be reclassified as "drugs," and subjected to the FDA's more rigorous testing and labeling standards for drugs. Although I've selected AHAs, the same applies to hair product ingredients.
I wonder how much of a "service" such authors ostensibly intend to provide with such lists...as opposed to the very real disservice they provide with partial information presented as scare tactics. So please don't feel sad, Lillian. The more you learn, the better you will be equipped to determine what information sounds reasonable and what sounds specious.
Happy Hair Growing!!
