I saw an item in the news section of Men's Health this month, and googled up some more information on it.

According to doctors at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (located right here in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina) applying products containing lavender or tea tree oil to your skin can increase levels of estrogen and decrease levels of testosterone.

In the Feb. 2007 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, they reported three cases in which young boys began to develop breasts. In all three cases, the boys were using products that contained lavender and tea tree oil. All three boys returned to normal when they stopped using those products.

Additional tests in laboratory cell cultures confirmed that lavender and tea tree oil "had estrogenic and antiandrogenic activities." That means they increased estrogen production and decreased testosterone.

I've been using Suave Lavender and Lilac shampoo and conditioner for a couple of years; I'm going to WalMart tonight to buy something without lavender in it!

(At the risk of TMI: I've had some issues that I thought were just a part of getting older. I'll be very impressed if changing my shampoo and conditioner makes those issues go away!)