I’ve never really bothered looking at the ingredients on my shampoo bottle, and I usually just grab one off the shelf at the supermarket. But I have dry hair and I highlight regularly and I realised that I need to make a plan – my hair has become so dry and damaged and it looks and feels strawy. I always thought that conditioners and treatments were more important than the shampoo. They are just to clean, right? The cleaner, the better. As long as I take one that’s designed for dry/damaged hair, I’m sorted?
Ehh… no!
I’ve heard many people talking about how bad sulphates are for your hair and I know that most salon brands are sulphate free. So why are they bad?
Putting it VERY simply: sulphates acts as a cleaning agent that dissolves grease and dirt and it boosts foam.
‘A sulphate is a salt of sulphuric acid (gypsum, or plaster of Paris, is probably the best-known example). With shampoo, two particular sulphates are commonly used: sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS) and sodium laureth sulphate (SLES)’ – The Daily Mail
The problem is that they can actually ‘over clean’ and strip your hair. This is especially bad for me since my hair is already dry, I have it chemically treated and I wash my hair every day. Yes, I know it’s bad, but I just cannot style these curls if I don’t. I am also experimenting with washing just with water a couple of times a week, but that’s for another post.
I still haven’t made complete peace with the fact that my face wash doesn’t have to make millions of bubbles to be effective. And now I have to believe that a shampoo that doesn’t do the same can actually clean my hair just as effectively?
I am now on a mission to find affordable sulphate free shampoos and give them a go.
According to The Daily Mail this is what I should look out for when reading the label: look for the words ‘sulphate-free’ on the packaging. This will mean that the product is free from sodium lauryl sulphate and sodium laureth sulphate, no matter what other sulphates appear as an ingredient.
I’ll let you know how it goes!
If you have any recommendations, please let me know.
xoxo