HowLifeWorks.com, a website whose title assumes omniscience, allows one to discover within its health & beauty section that perhaps your hair washing habits are a waste of time, and that the effectiveness of your current shampoo brand’s molecules are sub-par at best. The sponsor of this advice, Kronos Hair Care (who strategically does not show up until the very end of this advertisement disguised as a scientific article) claims that current shampoos on the market are constructed in such a way that does not allow for the “large” shampoo molecules to penetrate our tiny hair cells and follicles. In essence, says they, we are washing all the nutrients (and our money) down the shower drain. Kronos claims that in order… read more of this...

From Woo Fighters
http://woofighters.org/2010/06/why-shampoop-might-be-better/
6/18/2010 3:08:00 PM
Search rank: 617

Activists call for boycott of Johnson & Johnson over chemicals in baby shampoo The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics has unsuccessfully been urging the world’s largest health care company for 2 1/2 years to remove the trace amounts of potentially cancer-causing … Continue reading →

From Skeptic.com
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Skepticcom/~3/A-wOq0fsIxo/
11/3/2011 5:48:37 AM
Search rank: 307

Darren covers various snake myths. Xander examines common Shampoo marketing claims. Finally, Adam covers the mystery of whether or not Michael Jackson contributed to the video game Sonic 3.

From The Reality Check
http://therealitycheck.libsyn.com/trc_86_snakes_shampoo_michael_jackson_vs_sonic_the_hedgehog
4/26/2010 1:16:00 PM
Search rank: 307

Darren covers various snake myths. Xander examines common Shampoo marketing claims. Finally, Adam covers the mystery of whether or not Michael Jackson contributed to the video game Sonic 3.

From The Reality Check
http://therealitycheck.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=608515#
4/26/2010 3:16:00 AM
Search rank: 307

Today Skeptoid answers questions from students about airport X-ray machines; claims made by shampoo companies; the safety of non-stick cookware; cloth diapers vs. disposables; and what effects the Moon has on us.

From Skeptoid: Critical Analysis of Pop Phenomena
http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4249
3/15/2011 12:00:00 AM
Search rank: 307

I've run into a several claims, originally on /r/twoxchromosomes, that not using shampoo is actually better for your hair. After further researching this, I found that there exists a dedicated following of people to this method of hair care (or lack thereof?).

Wikipedia explains it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_poo

Over the internet, I've seen many people who claim that their hair is in better shape than ever after the first couple months or so of not washing.

My question is, does this actually work? Does shampoo strip your hair of oils, thus resulting in your scalp overproducing oils (creating greasy hair)? I have, what I thought, naturally oily hair. Could this really be because I shampoo everyday, or because of my genes?

From Skeptic's Subreddit
http://www.reddit.com/r/skeptic/comments/rn9k9/is_not_using_shampoo_also_known_as_no_poo_really/
4/1/2012 1:02:54 PM
Search rank: 306

Raleigh, NC-Researchers at North Carolina State University looking into where Americans obtain medical information, announced today that 80% of US adults cite shampoo commercials as their primary source.

The findings, based on telephone surveys of over thirty thousand men and women over the age of eighteen, are sending shockwaves through the medical community. "The dramatic rise in the number of adults turning to shampoo commercials to update themselves on chronic medical conditions, disease prevention strategies, and even information on when to seek acute care, is alarming," explained lead investigator Dr. Mort Fishman. "I'd love to be able to learn how to have shiny, lustrous hair, and how to manage Type 2 Diabetes in one convenient place as much as the next physician, but I don't trust patient care to Pert Plus or Garnier Fructis."

The shampoo industry, who had received word of [...]

From Skeptic Shock
http://skepticshockblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/study-shows-more-americans-getting.html
9/16/2008 11:00:00 PM
Search rank: 305

Even after having been at this skeptical medical blogging game for nearly six years, every so often I still come across woo about which I had been previously unaware. It's hard to believe, but it's true. In fact, I'm beginning to think that, even if I were to keep blogging until I drop dead (hopefully at least thirty or forty years in the future), as I type out my last extra cantankerous bit of not-so-Respectful Insolence (my cantankerousness merely increasing with advancing age, of course), I would come across some new and spectacular form of woo that somehow had been missed during my forty-plus years of blogging, leading to a massive myocardial infarction. Either that, or it will amuse me so much that I'll die laughing. Whatever the case, I never say never when it comes to the possibility that there's bigger, badder, and more amusing woo out there that I haven't found yet.

Sometimes this woo is surprisingly mundane. Yet in its very mundaneness it provides an abject [...]

From Respectful Insolence
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scienceblogs/insolence/~3/M0WnpasZ2xQ/joe_mercolas_shampoo_woo.php
7/24/2010 2:00:00 AM
Search rank: 304

From Ottawa Skeptics
http://www.ottawaskeptics.org/the-reality-check/62-episodes/292-the-reality-check-86-snakes-shampoo-michael-jackson-vs-sonic-the-hedgehog
5/4/2010 12:41:07 AM
Search rank: 299

I'm running low on dish soap (washing up liquid). Would it be OK to use shampoo or laundry...

From JREF Forum
http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=225634&goto=newpost
12/9/2011 7:27:36 PM
Search rank: 296

*WHY DOGS ARE BETTER THAN WOMEN* Dogs don't cry. Dogs love it when your friends come over. Dogs don't care if you use their shampoo. Dogs think...

From AFA Forums
http://www.atheistfoundation.org.au/forums/showthread.php?t=5474&goto=newpost
5/6/2010 11:06:47 PM
Search rank: 295

So I came over this article, at BoingBoing titled "I haven't used soap or shampoo in a year, and...

From JREF Forum
http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=196698&goto=newpost
1/5/2011 10:44:23 AM
Search rank: 295

I went shopping with my mother yesterday. She loves this store called Aveda. So we went in to the local shop and while my mum was picking out her favorite shampoo I was browsing the displays. That’s when I saw a sign that made my brain hurt. From the sign: 83% felt more balanced after [...]

From Skepchick
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Skepchick/~3/NgBsckc0DYA/
12/21/2011 7:00:46 AM
Search rank: 292

Hey, r/skeptic, someone I know has suddenly started to become very concerned about poisons in soaps and shampoos due to Skin Deep which purports to give a database of risks. The site (and group) behind it sets off my skeptic bells as they seem to be very alarmist and even talk about cellphone radiation in a different segment of the site.

Does anyone know of a way to either get some confirmation that they are not just pushing an agenda or that they are being needlessly alarmist about chemicals and poisons? I've tried to look online for discussion on Skin Deep specifically to no avail.

From Skeptic's Subreddit
http://www.reddit.com/r/skeptic/comments/i59n4/ewg_skin_deep_is_it_science_or_woo/
6/22/2011 12:22:04 AM
Search rank: 282

Kinda sticky and gross outside. Stay cool with some refreshing links. Science:

One principal component to rule them all?
Hospitals want patients to eat antibiotic-free meat
Joe Mercola's shampoo woo
Real Math Doesn't Use Calculators

Other:

An email (about teenage pregnancy and forced childbirth)
Lessons learned from Breitbart and Sherrod

From Mike the Mad Biologist
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scienceblogs/KsPC/~3/ecyZHci17Ts/links_72510.php
7/26/2010 8:03:38 AM
Search rank: 278

So, last month I had a prolonged discussion with a "naturopath" about various kinds of "therapies" and science in general (I described it briefly here). One of the BIG NAMES thrown at me during that discussion was Joe Mercola and his woo-selling web site (no link here... I do not want to bump his Google rank).
As is was coming from a believer, Mercola was presented to me as an "authority" on various natural remedies and products. We did not discuss it in details, but I'd tried to point out that Mercola, while accusing everyone of various conflicts of interest, including the dreaded BIG PHARMA links, has direct financial stakes in most of what he's promoting, way more direct than any doctor has to the BIG PHARMA!
I stumbled upon a great article today from Orac,

From Pete's Wicked Blog
http://blog.linuxblast.com/2010/07/joe-mercolas-nonsense-in-my-own.html
7/24/2010 3:57:00 AM
Search rank: 274

.: I have no proper gauge for the relative worth of money. By that I mean I’ll happily drop $15 for a meal I could make at home for $2 and requires less time to prepare than it takes to drive to the restaurant, tell them what I want, wait for them to make it, and drive all the way back, all while having to wear pants. $15, gone without a thought. But I’ll seriously deliberate for minutes on which brand of toothpaste is the better deal.

.: Should I spring for the $2 bottle of toothpaste that’ll last me three months or the $7 fancier bottle that’ll only last me two? Toothpaste doesn’t come in bottles. They come in tubes. “Tube of toothpaste.” It should be a no-brainer: buy whichever one has the wide cap so you can stand it on end and let gravity take care of maintenance [...]

From 90% True
http://90percenttrue.com/2011/07/its-223-a-m/
7/31/2011 4:23:26 PM
Search rank: 272

So I've been suffering from what I recently found out was seborrheic dermatitis for the last year and more. It's led to significant hair loss on my scalp (I'm 24 and really really hope it's not permanent), daily pus pimple formation around my nose and beard, and general misery.

I've tried shampoos, anti bacterial creams, anti fungal creams, etc and most of them didn't work, and those that did only stopped the pus pimples for a day or two.

While drying my hair and face carefully after a shower, I was trying to arrange my hair to make the hair loss less prominent in the mirror in my parents room, and noticed a cream in my mothers bunch of bottles. It's called "Iricar" and apparently is a "natural homeopathic topical cream". I said "can't hurt to try it", and applied it yesterday.

Haven't noticed any significant results yet but I'll give it a week for a fair [...]

From Skeptic's Subreddit
http://www.reddit.com/r/skeptic/comments/op6d4/is_this_cream_im_using_homeopathic_or_not/
1/21/2012 6:04:57 AM
Search rank: 272

I was planning to cut back on blogging this inquest because there is now conflicting testimony as to the events surrounding the death of Penelope Dingle with both Dr Dingle and homeopath Francine Scrayen claiming they weren't at fault.

But then I read this question to and answer from Peter Dingle...

When he was asked whether he'd analysed the substances she was taking, he said he did not because he was an indoor air quality expert and unless the substances were thrown in the air and breathed in he would not know what to do with them.

A quick search for Dr Peter Dingle will turn up a wealth of commentary on diet and nutrition plus a number of articles where he's demonised a variety of consumer products like sunscreen, shampoo and cosmetics. He's also cast doubt on vaccination and medicine in general. None of these things represents an air-borne threat [...]

From Thinking is Real
http://thinkingisreal.blogspot.com/2010/06/dingle-inquest-today.html
6/19/2010 12:57:00 AM
Search rank: 267

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been all over the news lately in his capacity as the shadowy mastermind behind a massive document dump about the war in Afghanistan. Also, for his beloved role in the “Warlock” films. But while the U.S. government props up a human-sized box with a stick they’ve tied to a string and tries to figure out what they can put underneath to lure Assange into their trap (judging by his public appearances, not shampoo), many others have praised him for shining a light on a dire situation the regular media [...]

From The Amateur Scientist
http://www.amateurscientist.org/2010/07/truthileaks.html
7/30/2010 7:02:00 AM
Search rank: 267

So, last month I had a prolonged discussion with a "naturopath" about various kinds of "therapies" and science in general (I described it briefly here). One of the BIG NAMES thrown at me during that discussion was Joe Mercola and his woo-selling web site (no link here... I do not want to bump his Google rank).
As is was coming from a believer, Mercola was presented to me as an "authority" on various natural remedies and products. We did not discuss it in details, but I'd tried to point out that Mercola, while accusing everyone of various conflicts of interest, including the dreaded BIG PHARMA links, has direct financial stakes in most of what he's promoting, way more direct than any doctor has to the BIG PHARMA!
I stumbled upon a great article today from Orac,

From Pete's Wicked Blog
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PetesWickedBlog/~3/bc_a28DX4pM/joe-mercolas-nonsense-in-my-own.html
7/24/2010 3:57:00 AM
Search rank: 267

A story on ABC's Nightline last night revealed that, at a single company, there are more PhDs hard at work on research than at MIT, Berkeley, and Stanford... combined.  In and of itself, I suppose that's not so impressive. Large pharmaceutical companies can probably boast similar claims, BUT, this particular company doesn't research drugs to treat or cure diseases like arthritis, cancer, or Alzheimer's, it researches shampoos, conditioners, and other hair care products...

From Cortical Hemming and Hawing
http://corticalhemandhaw.blogspot.com/2011/01/phd-stands-for-pretty-hair-doctor.html
1/5/2011 2:47:00 PM
Search rank: 267

It's been around four years now since I first wrote a post about what I now like to call the "toxins gambit" favored by anti-vaccine loons. This particular gambit consists of finding scary-sounding chemicals in vaccines, such as formaldehyde, and then trying to stoke fear of vaccines based on their presence. This gambit, whether invoked through ignorance (which is common) or disingenuousness (which, I suspect, is even more common) is a blatant appeal to fear of chemicals that depends upon the average person's ignorance that, for example, formaldehyde is a normal byproduct of metabolism and of the basic concept of dose-response, in which small amounts of many chemicals are harmless. Even physicians are not immune to this sort of ignorance/disingenuousness, as I demonstrated when I [...]

From Respectful Insolence
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scienceblogs/insolence/~3/ESu7Uk5HpNU/oh_no_theres_protein_and_salt_in_my_food.php
7/30/2011 12:00:00 AM
Search rank: 261

Every now and then I wonder if the all of the silliness that I try to accomplish on a weekly basis has ANY effect on anything. And then I get an e-mail like this. Too cool. The subject line of this particular letter was:

Ubi

From Geo-Logic
http://georgehrab.blogspot.com/2009/01/why-i-do-what-i-dubi-do.html
1/25/2009 5:49:00 AM
Search rank: 251

With an ingredients list that includes rhino horn and tiger bone, traditional Asian medicine is on a collision course with wildlife preservation.

It looks innocuous enough: a small vial bearing a white and orange label with the words 'Shi-He Ming Yan Wan'. Yet the pills contained within are said to hold great healing powers, able to cure just about anything, from a mild fever to a brain haemorrhage; from cancer to AIDS. The pill's power, it is claimed, comes from a small amount of rhinoceros horn. Little wonder then that people pay as much as US$50,000 for a kilogram of the stuff, roughly the same as the price of gold (see 'The rhino toll').

The rhino and its horn are not alone: powdered tiger bone is used to treat rheumatism; the scales of the toothless, anteater-like pangolin are [...]

From RichardDawkins.net - All Aggregated News Content
http://richarddawkins.net/articles/644378-endangered-and-in-demand
12/28/2011 7:08:23 PM
Search rank: 251