Review :: Katherine Botanicals Psoriasis Shampoo

Katherine Botanicals are a UK based company who specialize in who manufacture and sell “superior natural skincare products”.

Of particular interest to yours truly is their focus on psoriasis treatments.  At the time of writing the company sell a shampoo, a conditioner, a cream and a gel.    None of their products are tested on animals and their products are fully approved by the vegan society.  Of particular interest to me was the fact that they only use “natural” active ingredients.

This is quite a controversial subject but an active ingredient in a dandruff shampoo is the pharmaceutical ingredient that has been proven to combat dandruff.  The FDA have only approved two active ingredients in psoriasis shampoos; Coal Tar and Salicylic Acid.  This shampoo contains neither and the company has instead added other ingredients to help alleviate the symptoms of scalp psoriasis.  I can understand why a company may wish to do this.  Both tar and Salicylic Acid are harsh ingredients themselves.  And Coal Tar absolutely stinks!

Alarmingly, they term their ingredients “natural”.  Regular readers of this site will know I have an aversion to that term.  It’s often nothing but pure marketing.  Natural ingredients can be every bit as harmful as synthetic.  Pepper spray anyone?

Don’t be fooled by the hype…

That said, they have added a very interesting range of alternative ingredients to help relieve your psoriasis symptoms:

• Citrus Aurantium Bergamia (Bergamot Orange) – the extracted oil from this fruit is used by some, in conjunction with a UV comb or lamp, to treat scalp psoriasis.   Early research isn’t promising here though, suggesting that applying bergamot oil to the skin along with UV light is not more effective than UV light alone for reducing psoriasis. Unfortunately the oil contains Linalool, a fragrance known to cause contact dermatitis.
• Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) has been used to treat dandruff for centuries. The oil is high in antioxidants which can regulate the renewal of skin cells. In addition the oil also has an anti-inflammatory effect on swellings.
• Anthemis Nobilis (Chamomile) has been used as a medicine for thousands of years for a variety of ailments including psorasis.    Some studies go so far as to say that it’s as effective as 1% hydrocortisone – a prescription strength drug that can alleviate the symptoms of scalp psoriasis.
• Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) contains both antiseptic and anti-inflammatory agents. While true scientific evidence is thin on the ground, there are many herbalists than claim it can help alleviate the symptoms of psoriasis.

This is very interesting choice of ingredients.  There are many other “natural” ingredients which can help the symptoms of psoriasis but Katherine Botanicals have chosen three or four very interesting ingredients for this shampoo.

In addition, the shampoos is labeled:

• hypoallergenic
• paraben free
• free from sodium lauryl sulfate

The term “hypoallergenic” is particularly annoying as it doesn’t mean anything.  There are no regulations about the use of the term.

However, I have to be honest, despite the empty marketing, I was extremely interested to see how this shampoo performed.

The shampoo is completely transparent and smelled like oranges.  It was very pleasant but I suspected there were strong fragrances at play here.  The shampoo has a luxurious foam and will wash your hair to a squeaky clean.  My hair felt soft after washing and the orange smell persisted.    Because the shampoo felt and smelled so nice I suspected there were a few other nasty chemicals in there.

I checked for fragrance and was amazed to see fragrance unlisted.  Then it dawned on me.  While legally they are correct, every one of the essential oils added to alleviate psoriasis contain fragrances.    Some of them are known contact allergens themselves.  If you do react to fragrances I would use this shampoo with caution. Or use another fragrance-free shampoo altogether.

Fragrance isn’t the only ingredient known to cause contact dermatitis in this shampoo.  Not by a long shot.  Astonishingly 5 of the 11 ingredients in this shampoo are harsh chemicals which can cause contact dermatitis:

• Sodium Laureth – Commonly referred to as Sodium Laureth Sulfate or SLES.  For a company to add SLES while boldly proclaiming to be SLS free seems a bit rich to me.
• Cocamidopropyl Betaine – awarded contact allergen of the year in 2004.
• Cocamide DEA – Prevention magazine stated that this is the Natural Shampoo Ingredient You Must Avoid
• Benzyl Alcohol – an alcohol that can dry your scalp and cause an allergic reaction in some.
• Kathon CG – a preservative that most manufacturers have stopped using or plan to stop using as it caused an epidemic of contact dermatitis. One of the constituent chemicals of Kathon CG was named contact allergen of the year in 2013.

Katherine Botanicals call this shampoo a “Chemical free, natural shampoo and conditioner”.  It clearly isn’t…

They also call the shampoo “hypoallergenic”.  Really?  The ewg have rated two of these ingredients with the highest health hazard rating possible.  The sad thing is that there are so many gentle alternatives out there now.

It’s almost like this shampoo was formulated by Jekyll and Hyde himself.  A great deal of thought and effort has gone in to formulating the active ingredients.  And then Mr. Hyde decided to add some cheap crap to make it last longer.

If Katherine Botanicals replaced the Kathon CG or the Cocamide DEA or any of the other ingredients known to cause contact dermatitis, then I would recommend this shampoo highly.  The ingredients they have added to actually combat psoriasis show a deep knowledge of their subject matter, and they clearly put some time into it.

Unfortunately, there are simply too many harsh, nasty ingredients for me to do so.

As it stands, this is an exercise in clever marketing rather than a truly gentle psoriasis shampoo.

What a shame.

Katherine Botanicals Psoriasis Shampoo is on sale now at Amazon