What makes a shampoo harsh/drying?

[sithembile]

Last night I shampooed with Jason Sea Kelp which is sulphate-free and my hair felt worse than when I clarify with Nexxus Aloe Rid. I've had the same experience with some other sulphate-free shampoos, even the Keracare sulphate-free hydrating shampoo isn't as good as the 'bad' version. I've heard many of you say the same about AO shampoos and I watched a You Tube video where a Qhemet user said the shampoo stripped her hair. The only sulphate-free shampoo that I've really liked so far is Elasta Creme Conditioning. This made me wonder whether sulphates aren't the only drying ingredients in shampoos, what do you all think?

 

[miss stress]

pretty sure I HATE sulfate free shampoos too. I bought 2 bottles of Aubrey Organics whn I fisrt started my hair journey and I hate using them it makes my hair very dry and tangled so what I do is mix a very little amout in a bottle of water and use that to rinse my hair just once and work it in and that helps and my hair still feels clean afterward. You posed a great question though cause I thought sulfate free was suppose to b easier on the hair too.

 

[sithembile]

Thanks for the tip, I want to use these shampoos up so I'll definitely dilute them.

 

[Tiye]

I dabbled in making sulfate free shampoo - you can get the ingredients online - e.g. makingcosmetics.com or ebay. They came out drying as you described because I didn't put in the amount of time to develop the right formula (then I got bored with the project ) . I've also used store bought sulfate frees that were so bad it was scary. My point - don't believe the hype - it is not about sulfates or lack thereof, it's about the person (or team) who develops the product hitting the right formula that works for a given hair type and that formula may or may not involve sulfates.

 

[Curlykale]

I've been trying to use only natural products for the past couple of years and my conclusion is that just because a shampoo is sulfate free it doesn't make it good. I'm starting to think that a right ph balance and some moisturizing ingredients could be more important. My reasons:

1) I have used some extremely gentle sulfate free shampoos who didn't remove my previous products (gel or butter or oil, shampoooing twice or 3 times... and with buildup caused by only natural products). This caused my hair to be less receptive to moisture because of the buildup. If I need to clarify so often, then it means I'm pretending to clean my hair and if everytime my products progressively work less and less... I am wasting product.

2) some sulfate free shampoos have a very high ph value which raises all the cuticles and gives me tangles and I believe they can be more stripping than a ph balanced moisturizing sulfate shampoo, as long as you DC well afterwards. I read on the NaturalHaven there can be no noticeable difference if the ph of products we apply is between 4 and 7... but I have noticed in the ph database of this forum that some shampoos like AO green tea have a 9.5 ph (relaxers are at 13).

3) those soap based shampoos (AO, castile soap...) are very tricky with hard water: they solidify on my hair and coat it, so basically they make it dirty instead of cleaning. I could believe in them only considering vinegar rinses afterwards. But the vinegar rinse is tricky as well. all apple cider vinegars are not created equal, some organic ones have a ph of 4, but some other ones are way too acidic and have the ph of lemon, which is drying and bleaching. so these soap based shampoos require you to find the right vinegar, the right water for your final rinse (distilled / spring), and the proper diluition amount which will also require you to buy ph strips. the upside is you do it once and keep your formula forever, but is all that weekly extreme opening and closing of cuticles healthy in the long term?
Won't the cuticles get weaker and weaker with all that unnatural gym?

So my idea of the perfect shampoo (which I haven't found) is:

- with or without sulphates
- it must clean
- ph balanced
- some moisturizing ingredients
- I must be able to remoisturize effectively afterwards
- I don't like silicones in a shampoo because I don't want them to give me the impression that my hair is moisturized when it's being stripped.

 

[sithembile]

I've been trying to use only natural products for the past couple of years and my conclusion is that just because a shampoo is sulfate free it doesn't make it good. I'm starting to think that a right ph balance and some moisturizing ingredients could be more important. My reasons:

1) I have used some extremely gentle sulfate free shampoos who didn't remove my previous products (gel or butter or oil, shampoooing twice or 3 times... and with buildup caused by only natural products). This caused my hair to be less receptive to moisture because of the buildup. If I need to clarify so often, then it means I'm pretending to clean my hair and if everytime my products progressively work less and less... I am wasting product.

2) some sulfate free shampoos have a very high ph value which raises all the cuticles and gives me tangles and I believe they can be more stripping than a ph balanced moisturizing sulfate shampoo, as long as you DC well afterwards. I read on the NaturalHaven there can be no noticeable difference if the ph of products we apply is between 4 and 7... but I have noticed in the ph database of this forum that some shampoos like AO green tea have a 9.5 ph (relaxers are at 13).

3) those soap based shampoos (AO, castile soap...) are very tricky with hard water: they solidify on my hair and coat it, so basically they make it dirty instead of cleaning. I could believe in them only considering vinegar rinses afterwards. But the vinegar rinse is tricky as well. all apple cider vinegars are not created equal, some organic ones have a ph of 4, but some other ones are way too acidic and have the ph of lemon, which is drying and bleaching. so these soap based shampoos require you to find the right vinegar, the right water for your final rinse (distilled / spring), and the proper diluition amount which will also require you to buy ph strips. the upside is you do it once and keep your formula forever, but is all that weekly extreme opening and closing of cuticles healthy in the long term?
Won't the cuticles get weaker and weaker with all that unnatural gym?

So my idea of the perfect shampoo (which I haven't found) is:

- with or without sulphates
- it must clean
- ph balanced
- some moisturizing ingredients
- I must be able to remoisturize effectively afterwards
- I don't like silicones in a shampoo because I don't want them to give me the impression that my hair is moisturized when it's being stripped.

What are you using now? Let us know when you find the shampoo!

 

[Curlykale]

I hope that day comes ;-) I will! I'm using Garnier Fructis now, may try Giovanni soon.

 

[SmilingElephant]

I just washed my hair today with the Giovanni Smooth as Silk shampoo and it left my hair feelin like buttah!!

 

[sithembile]

I was thinking of trying Giovanni SAS!

 

[IDareT'sHair]

I just washed my hair today with the Giovanni Smooth as Silk shampoo and it left my hair feelin like buttah!!

I was thinking of trying Giovanni SAS!

IA w/SE.

I'm not a Shampoo User (only to Clarify), but I do have this one and it's a very good shampoo. Giovanni Smooth As Silk Deeper Moisture. It definitely lives up to it's name.

 

[sweetlaughter]

I use sulfate free products but I know it took me a while to find one I even remotely liked. But remember for those who are thinking about switching to sulfate free that if you don't use a clarifying shampoo first, it takes a while for your hair to show how the product works.

Burt's Bees is drying and it's grapefruit, talk about sting it it gets in your eyes
Naked Naturals was okay but I stopped using it because it contained DEA
Alba smells amazing and is nice but contains DEA

I now use Curls and am completely in love. They sell a line at Target or you can buy it online. I use MillCreek products for my protein.

HTH and you find a product with or without sulfates.

 

[belldandy]

i agree with many of the above posters, a variety of factors make a shampoo drying.
that said, i do like the organix line whenever i need to poo my scalp

 

[ms.blue]

I dilute all shampoo w/ water b/c it's drying on my hair especially the sulfate-free shampoos. I like my hair clean but not extremely stripped.

 

[30something]

I wish i had that luck with giovanni SAS shampoo, the worst shampoo i ever used. It ultra strip my hair when all i did was try to shampoo the scalp. Every time i used it same thing, just turned it to hand soap. Bottle was almost done anyway. IDK what in the world are in these no sulfates shampoos. You can always try Wen / Hair One for cleaning your hair.

 

[Curlykale]

I made an experiment and it tuned out really well, thought you wuld like to know. I used a non sulfate shampoo differently and this time it cleaned my hair, removing even the avocado oil that I had used to pre-poo.

this time I put undiluited shampoo on my dry scalp, massaged and left it for some minutes before jumping into the shower. I rinsed and then I shampooed again, still leaving it on for a couple of minutes. The second time allowed me to have a very rich lather and my scalp felt squeaky clean and not stripped.

(I used A'kin lemongrass shampoo for oily hair, which I don't recommend to the people in the US because it's too expensive there).

 

[sithembile]

I'll give this technique a try!

 

[lwilliams1922]

subscribing....

 

[Latomian]

I'm co-signing that Giovanni is the business

 

[Fine 4s]

Given that I wash in plaits or twists, I don't experience tangles when I shampoo.
I HEAVILY dilute my Kenra Clarifying poo. I mean a pea drop with enough water to fill my color applicator bottle. Then I apply this solution directly onto my scalp and wait a minute or too. Massage the scalp and depending on the later maybe i'll repeat (not often.) I believe the experience would be much worse if my hair was loose and if the poo wasn't diluted.

 

[ElegantPearl17]

Subscribing............