Shampoo 101
Walk into any supermarket/ pharmacy hair care aisle and you will be immediately bombarded with hundreds of shampoo options to choose from. And that’s only the entry level brands! Once you add in all the big name professional brand shampoo’s, and the new, up and coming brands it becomes an extremely overwhelming experience. So with all these options available how do you pick the right one? And is there actually any difference between them all?
When you break down all the options, there is usually some similarity between them in each brand. Most brands offer ranges for moisture/hydrating, repair, volume and a purple shampoo for blondes. Some also offer more specialty options such as shampoo’s for hair loss, excessive oil, and smoothing.
So how do you know what is the right option for you? Well, you’ve come to the right place! A professional hairdresser is always the best person to help you choose!
Spoilt for Choice
Let’s start with question one. How do I choose the right shampoo for me? The first step is to identify what issue is your priority. Is your hair dry? Do you colour it? Have you ever had your hair lightened? Do you want more volume or do you want less volume? Once you have your answer, you can start finding the brand that works for you.
Question two is slightly more complex. Is there a difference between the shampoo’s? The short answer is yes. But there will always be some similarities between ingredients. All shampoo’s are going to have a cleansing agent. This is often Sodium Laurel Sulfate, which has a bit of a negative reputation. In my opinion, and that of many scientist’s, this is a perfectly safe option. However, like any safe ingredient, there will always be some people who have a reaction and are best to avoid it. Which is why there are so many amazing sulfate free options available these days!
The main difference between the shampoo options will be the active ingredients. The basic make up of each shampoo might be similar to ensure it works effectively. But the active’s will be very different depending on the shampoo’s purpose. You might find luxuriously rich ingredients such as macadamia, almond or Imortelle oils in shampoo’s or conditioners designed for smoothing hair, reducing frizz and intense nourishment. For repairing ranges, you might find pea proteins, amino acids or AHA’s for bond regeneration.
Choose Wisely
Hydrating/Moisturising shampoo’s and conditioners tend to be the best sellers for each brand. At least, at Bach hair they are! I suspect the reason for this is the delightful weather across much of Australia! If your hair isn’t dry from the sun, it’s dry from the hot water or the wind or the blowdryer etc etc. But not all moisturising products are the same. Like in haircare’s sibling, skin care, there are many active ingredients that can help add and retain moisture. Some will be long lasting and incredibly effective. Others, well, you might find they create the problem they are trying to solve!
So in order to help you as best I can I have complied a non-comprehensive but highly useful list of active ingredients to look out for:
- For Hydration/Moisture look for – Squalane, Panthenol (B5), Glycerin, Hyaluronic Acid
- For Repair/Strength look for – Malic Acid, Hydrolysed Keratin/Soy/Pea protein, Amino Acids
- For Scalp Health look for – Niacinamide (good in any range!), Caffeine, Lipids
- For Volume look for – Hydrolysed Wheat/Rice Protein,
- For Hair growth look for – Caffeine, Salicylic Acid, Niacinamide, scalp stimulator like Peppermint/Menthol/Rosemary
- For Smoothing/Anti-Frizz look for – Oleic Acid, Nut oils, Avocado Oil, Hydrolysed Keratin
- For Colour Protection look for – UV filters, Glycine, B5
A combination of a few of these ingredients is ideal to create a complex, multi active shampoo, that works on a number of issues at once.
The Choice is Yours
If you are a blonde looking for yellow/ brassiness control, I highly recommend discussing options with your colourist. There are so many options available to you, but many of them will contain either too much, not enough, or the wrong tone to help your blonde last the distance. Advice from the professional you pay good money to make your hair the perfect blonde seems worth it to me.
The same could be said for everyone, actually. You pay your hairdresser good money to give to the hair of your dreams, cut and/or colour. So why not take their recommendation for how to take care of your precious asset AKA your hair! You will never hear me say you can’t use supermarket shampoo, it will destroy your hair, wreck your colour and make it dull and horrible. That just won’t happen.
But what you will always here me say is this. Salon brands will always have more active ingredients. Salon brands will always be tested on the colour they use in salon. Professional shampoo’s are designed to work with, and not against your hair. And your hairdresser knows how much you spend on your hair. A great hairdresser will always recommend the products that they think work best for you. If your hairdresser isn’t doing that… well maybe they aren’t a great hairdresser, just a good one. In which case…. you should book in at Bach Hair!
Until next time,
Sarah xx
