Sulphate free hair care

Citygirl1

I am trying out sulfate free hair care at the moment to see if that makes my hair more healthly. I have a small bottle of the Body Shop Rainforest shampoo, it seems OK after one use but my hair doesn't seem very shiny, do you have to use the same kind of conditioner aswell, I have just used a spray leave in one.

lemonslice

Naked range from Boots are SLS free, if you google there are few out there not too expensive apparently the tresseme natural range also, ? they left awful itchy sore build up on the scalp but migt be fine for other people,
I may be wrong but sls is the foaming agent in shampoos washing up liquid etc, I dont think its in Conditioner,

Fire_Fox

Shampoo is not meant to make your hair shiny, it's meant to get it clean. Many commercial shampoos and conditioners are packed with silicones (-xane, -cone, -conol), so you are probably accustomed to faux slip and shine. Your spray leave in conditioner could well be nothing more than silicones, no real conditioning agents to speak of.

Also are you using the volumising shampoo or another one in that range? Anything that volumises can fluff up the cuticle which makes hair less shiny. A diluted white vinegar rinse after washing will help close the cuticle so make the hair shinier, deep conditioning with coconut oil instead of silicones. But if your hair is in really bad shape you may just need to be patient whilst the damage grows out, being sulphate free will help protect the new growth.

Citygirl1

Hi, thanks for your replies. Firefox, the shampoo I am using now is one for shine (brilliance its called). The leave in spray is a treatment but it does have alcohol in it and various other ingredients. I usually use hair products from the hairdressers (including treatments), are they full of silicones too? My hairdresser says I need a treatment after every wash so I was considering using the Body Shop one next time and that is silicone free.

I always thought shampoos were meant to make your hair feel good, I don't like that dull look after washing my hair. But I will say that since using this sulphate free shampoo from the Body Shop my hair does look sleeker and isn't as flyaway.

Fire_Fox

Citygirl1 wrote: »

Hi, thanks for your replies. Firefox, the shampoo I am using now is one for shine (brilliance its called). The leave in spray is a treatment but it does have alcohol in it and various other ingredients. I usually use hair products from the hairdressers (including treatments), are they full of silicones too? My hairdresser says I need a treatment after every wash so I was considering using the Body Shop one next time and that is silicone free.

I always thought shampoos were meant to make your hair feel good, I don't like that dull look after washing my hair. But I will say that since using this sulphate free shampoo from the Body Shop my hair does look sleeker and isn't as flyaway.

Honestly shampoos are just meant to cleanse but hopefully without stripping, conditioner (especially if acidic pH, hair is ~5) is what smooths the cuticle back down. Most commercial conditioners and many commercial shampoos are full of silicones. They have their place is that they can help reduce damage from heat styling, but that is protective not restorative or replenishing. In shampoo all silicones are really doing is disguising that sulphates are harsh cleansers. Alcohol is awful stuff for skin and hair, really dehydrating, unless it is a fatty alcohol? That is less likely in spray format. If you post the ingredients list I am happy to comment.

Oftentimes when people quit or cut back on silicones they are shocked by what is revealed, the true condition of the hair because silicones give so much faux slip and shine. Plenty don't stick with it, they don't want to see the state of their real hair, they don't want to stop heat styling or cut back on the dying.

Just because something is labelled a treatment does not necessarily mean it's actually doing anything to improve the condition of your hair, much of what is printed on bottles is marketing not backed up by cosmetic science. Very little can actually penetrate the shaft of the hair, lauric acid from coconut oil can as can hydrolysed protein because the molecules are small enough. 18-MEA may be of use in partially restoring the protective fatty layer stripped away by sulphates, sun, overstyling and permanent dying, but I've never seen it in anything but a silicone rich base.

I noticed the same as you quitting sulphates, first week less flyaway, poofy and unmanageable, which I believe is down to the electrical charge on hair which changes when hair is damaged. It's taken me two years to grow out the worst of my damage - mechanical and chemical - but the new hair is completely different to the old. It's naturally less flyaway and unmanageable and shines even without conditioner although still somewhat poofy because it's naturally curly.

You struck a chord with me because my old everyday conditioner was a spray in, when I started reading up on ingredients I realised it was little more than silicones, no real conditioning agents at all. I had imagined at least one of the 'intensive conditioning' products in my cupboard would contain lovely replenishing natural oils but, nope, wall to wall silicones. :rotfl: No wonder my hair looked better after dying, it was stripping away silicone build up!

Citygirl1

Hi Firefox, do you dye your hair? I have mine dyed as the alternative would be grey which I don't want yet:)

I have the spray conditioner in front of me now, I can list the ingredients:

aqua, trisiloxane, alcohol denat, PEG~7, glyceryl cocoate, glycerin, stearamidopropyl, dimethylamine, hydrolyzed keratin, benzophenane_4, hydrolyzed silk, panthenol, lactic acid, cetrimonium chloride, parfum, styrene/VP copolymer, butylene glycol, benzyl salicylate, limonelene, butylpheny methylpropional, linalool, hexyl salicylate, CI 17200 (Red 33), CI 16255 (Acid Red 18)

Hope I've typed this OK, the writing is very tiny.

I've also just checked the ingredients on my salon Wella shampoo and that has sodium laurel sulphate in it.

Fire_Fox

Hell yeah I've been unnatural for way more years than I had natural hair!! I have some whites underneath now, had to stop pulling them out two years ago or I'd have ended up bald eventually. But the current colour is pinky-red.

Dying was part of how I damaged my hair, I was using a permanent red and having to go over the lengths to refresh (5 mins) every six weeks because red is so prone to fade. Now I lightly lift the roots with a permanent blonde then this semi permanent over the top, so the lengths are not being peroxided regularly (there is harsh peroxide in all permanent colours, I had no idea at the time ). Now I don't use harsh shampoos and I use oil based products for conditioning, the colour lasts months with only slight fading and brightening.


"aqua, trisiloxane, alcohol denat, PEG~7 glyceryl cocoate, glycerin, stearamidopropyl dimethylamine, hydrolyzed keratin, benzophenane_4, hydrolyzed silk, panthenol, lactic acid, cetrimonium chloride, parfum, styrene/VP copolymer, butylene glycol, benzyl salicylate, limonelene, butylpheny methylpropional, linalool, hexyl salicylate, CI 17200 (Red 33), CI 16255 (Acid Red 18)"

On the down side blue is your silicone, alcohol denat is a dehydrating solvent. Neutral: glyceryl cocoate is an emulsifier so probably helping the silicone, water and alcohol to mix. May also be adding to the slippery feel of the silicone. Ditto stearamidopropyl dimethylamine.

On the plus side are green glycerin is a cheap humectant (attracts water), which is only used in small quantities or the product becomes sticky. Cetrimonium is a classic conditioning agent, is probably there for it's detangling properties given how far down it is on the list. In red are two hydrolysed proteins so they could penetrate the hair if it was not coated in silicones. Panthenol is AKA provitamin B5, that helps fill in gaps on damaged hair surface so making it shiny, it's also a humectant. Can penetrate the hair I think.

If you want to keep using it maybe try natural oils for your intensive condition rather than another silicone based product? Coconut is the best absorbed as I've said. They do take some getting used to, if you don't apply them to clean uncoated hair they won't absorb, if you don't wash them out well you get greasy or lank hair just as you do with 'build up' of silicones. Cheapo silicone free conditioner actually washes out oils better than shampoo, without stripping.

Until two years ago I used to use Schwarzkopf Gliss Repair spray which was not dissimilar but even more silicones (blue)
"Aqua, Cyclomethicone, Phenyl Trimethicone, Prunus Armeniaca Kernel Oil, Hydrolyzed Silk, Sericin, Panthenol, Cocodimonium Hydroxypropyl Hydrolyzed Keratin, Hydrolyzed Keratin, Dimethiconol, Cetyl PEG/PEG-10/1 Dimethicone, Lactic Acid, Polyquaternium-16, Laurdimonium Hydroxypropyl Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, Cetrimonium Chloride, Parfum, Sodium Benzoate, Limonene, Phenoxyethanol, Hexyl Cinnamal, Citronellol, Coumarin, Linalool, Cl 17200."