It is upon us, the dawn of gluten-free everything. Well,
more accurately, it has been upon us for quite some time. I imagine celiacs
everywhere being happy about the wider range of food choice, given the trend. However,
there is a noticeable cost-drive towards these products, which can be annoying
for those actually affected by gluten intolerance. The trend of not consuming gluten has risen tremendously
over the years however, the focus of this blog is not oriented at the radical misplaced
hatred for consuming a harmless substance, but rather the use of it outside the
body. People of the will be familiar with this particular advert. This advert
is a link to Herbal Essences shampoo, a popular brand of hair cleaner. This particular
advert is eye grabbing, but not for the reasons you think.
Gluten free wahhh?
You will notice on the bottles and at the end of some adverts you will see this note:
Free from:
- Colourants
- Paraben
- Gluten
Gluten? I don’t understand the paraben and silicone colourant avoidance
at the best of time (I’ve written about this previously here). But gluten? Surely
people are not worried about having gluten on them? Well, they are. And what
avenue are Procter and Gamble jumping on here? Do they believe that gluten is
going to damage their clients? Well, I put this to them. I asked herbal essences three key questions:
- Why do you not have gluten in your products?
- Is gluten harmful to the outside of the body?
- Is there gluten in shampoos normally?
Shockingly, the response from Herbal Essence was relatively swift
and to the point. Most companies at this point would (and have previously)
combine the two first questions to tell me the dangers of gluten, which are
based on pseudoscience. However, Herbal Essences responded with this:
What that basically reads as
is: People don’t like gluten, we
can make money off of that. Our shampoos don’t contain gluten, nor have they
ever. That is fine, I suppose. They’re
not wrong, they have not specifically removed gluten from their products to
cater to a market of moronic people. But what is slightly ever so wrong here,
is the price difference between their bottles which state ‘gluten free’ and those
that don’t. At Boots, the standard bottle of herbal essences is around £3. For
the branding of ‘bio-renew gluten free’ the price is 100% more at £6. Again, at
Superdrug, standard bottles cost £4 whilst the gluten free branding costs £6. Their
take on this? Well, if people are willing to pay more, why not?
What is the difference?
So, what is the difference
between the two products. Well, types and flavours are the main thing. Take the
first two I can find, the first is the standard bottle of £3 ‘ignite my colour’
shampoo. The second is the gluten free tagged ‘argon bio-renew’ shampoo (right). You will notice on that no mention of gluten is present in the bottles description for the standard shampoo, but plays heavily in the 'bio-renew'.
Normal
Aqua, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl
Betaine, Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate, Sodium Xylenesulfonate, Parfum, Cocamide
MEA, Sodium Chloride, Sodium Benzoate, Tetrasodium EDTA, Guar
Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Glycerin, Propylene Glycol, Linoleamidopropyl
PG-Dimonium Chloride Phosphate, Limonene, Hexyl Cinnamal, Magnesium Nitrate,
Zea Mays Silk Extract, Rosa Centifolia Flower Extract, Passiflora Incarnata
Fruit Extract, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Magnesium Chloride, CI 17200,
Methylisothiazolinone, Tocopheryl Acetate, CI 19140, Potassium Sorbate
Gluten-free branded
Aqua, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl
Betaine, Glycol Distearate, Dimethicone, Sodium Citrate, Cocamide MEA, Sodium
Xylenesulfonate, Parfum, Citric Acid, Sodium Benzoate, Sodium Chloride, Guar
Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Glycerin, Tetrasodium EDTA, Polyquaternium-6,
Sodium Hydroxide, Benzyl Benzoate, Hexyl Cinnamal, Limonene, Histidine,
Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Coumarin, Butylene Glycol, Magnesium Nitrate, Ecklonia
Radiata Extract, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Argania Spinosa Kernel Oil,
Alcohol Denaturated, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Magnesium Chloride,
Methylisothiazolinone
The highlighted sections show
the ingredient crossovers between the two products. Towards the back end of the
lists, most of what we are seeing is additives to give it colour and smell,
nothing wrong with that. And you will notice, none of which, contain any actual
gluten as they have stated. The make up of most of these products are the same,
with the differences being mostly between the scents and flavours of the
shampoos.Yes, there are slight changes with what appear to be stabilising agents, but overall, the major make up of the solutions are very similar.
Conclusion
I am sure there are difference
between the two shampoos, don’t get me wrong. The higher priced ‘gluten-free’
branded ones may have nices and more luxurious scents. But if you are buying
your shampoo based on the ‘gluten free’ marking, then you would be better targeting
your money at the lower cost product. On the back of that, if you are buying
the gluten free version for the purpose of it being gluten free, you are severely
uneducated in the facts of gluten and are just wasting money. Is what Procter and Gamble doing wrong? You could argue not, they're not wrong - there is no gluten in their products at all, and they can justify the price hike as a 'luxury product' due to the more affluent flavours they are using. However, it is quite misleading. You could say 'oh well, if you are stupid enough to pay for it, you deserve to be ripped off'. But there is a whole other side to this. That is, it sends the message that gluten is something to be avoided, it's harmful and you should pay more for products that do not have it in. Which is seriously not the case. When companies like this jump on these avenues to make money, there is usually a dark cloud surrounding it, and in this case they're not just making money, they're jumping on the gluten fearmongering bandwagon and contributing to scientific ignorance.
