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Sulfate Free Shampoo

There's been an enormous amount of conversation among doctors and scientists, as well as in hair and beauty circles, about the benefits of using sulfate free shampoo.

Sulfate free shampoos are naturally based products that do not contain SLS (Sodium Lauryl Sulfate,) SLES (Sodium Laureth Sulfate,) or ALS (Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate). These chemical ingredients are found in almost 95 percent of the shampoos that are commercially available, but recent studies have shown that they may be doing more harm than good.

These chemicals are responsible for the rich lather that shampoo commercials have taught us a good shampoo provides, but they are also stripping your hair and scalp of essential oils. There's a good chance that your itchy, dry scalp is a direct result of the sulfate based shampoo you're using. The good news is that simply switching over to a sulfate free shampoo is a quick, easy fix that will leave your hair looking great and your scalp feeling much better.
 

Sulfate Free Shampoo Benefits

The best way to understand the benefits of using a sulfate free shampoo is to understand what a sulfate is, and what it does to your hair and your scalp. Here's a quick science lesson: Sulfates are a surfactant, and a surfactant is a surface active ingredient.

Surface active ingredients are found in every cleaning product, whether for your hair and face or for scrubbing your kitchen, and there's nothing wrong with them. They interact with water to break down dirt so you can wash it away. The problem is in which surfactant is being used. The reason that shampoo manufacturers have been using sulfates as their surfactants is that they're cheap and they provide great lather. But lather is really just the surfactant interacting with air molecules, not with dirt, so a lot of lather doesn't really mean your hair is any cleaner.

You only need enough lather to allow your fingers to slip through your hair easily while you're washing it; just enough to enable you massage your scalp well. Everything else is just going down the drain. If you're using a shampoo with sulfates, while your lather is carrying out dirt, it's also carrying away essential oils from your scalp, leaving you itchy, irritated, and looking for a dry scalp treatment.

 

Sulfate Free Shampoo For Color Treated Hair

At the same time that sulfates are leaving you with a moisture imbalance on your scalp, it's also carrying your expensive hair color treatment down the drain. The sulfate penetrates your hair shaft and leaches the color out, leaving it faded and dull.

Sulfate free shampoos are much gentler; they will keep your hair's color vibrant for much longer, and at just the right moisture level. Instead of stripping out your hair's natural oils, sulfate free shampoo leaves the amount of moisture that nature intended, keeping your hair healthy and shiny.

 

Sulfate Free Shampoo For Black Hair

Black hair is highly vulnerable to the drying effects of the harsh chemicals and drying elements used in straightening products, and this problem is exacerbated by the sulfates in most commercial shampoos.

The result is brittle, dull hair and an itchy scalp. Sulfate free shampoos are not only gentle on the hair; they act as a dry scalp treatment, countering the effect that the sulfates have had on both your hair and on the cells of your scalp.

Where shampoos made with sulfates denature the natural protein from your skin and leave their chemical ingredients behind, sulfate free shampoos will reduce irritation. After just a few shampoos you'll see a return of your natural oils, and your scalp will feel much better.