Gluten Free health and beauty products

February 1, 2008 | Discussion | | by Nadine Grzeskowiak |

Do you really need to worry about health and beauty products such as shampoo and hair spray? How about toothpaste? Do these products even contain wheat, barley, rye or oatmeal. The simple answer is ‘yes’ they can all contain gluten and can cause symptoms, especially for people that are exquisitely sensitive or have the rash DH. Certainly, if you have asthma related to gluten intolerance and you use hairspray that contains wheatgerm oil, it could trigger an asthma attack or at least cause wheezing.  People with gluten intolerance, celiac disease and dermatitis herpetiformis ARE sensitive to gluten in the personal care products.  The wheat germ oil that is in shampoo, for example, does get absorbed into your skin.  So people that have an itchy scalp need to review the ingredients in the shampoo and other products they buy.  I use a products from North Dakota called Savonnerie and Dakota Free.  These companies can be reached at www.GFSoap.com and www.DakotaFree.com .  If you live in the Corvallis area, we have a local distributor, Deb Savageau.  She can be contacted at DebonairEnterprises@comcast.net .  Of course, I always encourage people to develop their own gluten free products, market and sell them!