How to select a good shampoo for your natural hair

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If you walk into your local hair shop you will probably find three main types of shampoo none of which are suitable for fragile black hair. 

You see, for the most part shampoos are designed by people with type 1 or 2 hair (typically Caucasians and Asians) for their type of hair. Their key problem is greasy hair, very curly hair's key problem is dry hair - you cannot solve these two problems with the same product!

The main function of shampoo is to clean hair. It is a detergent. The difference between shampoo different shampoos is the strength of the detergent. The key types of shampoo:

1. Regular, commercial shampoo 

• Use sulfates as the key ingredient, e.g. ammonium lauryl or laureth sulfates (ALS) / sodium lauryl or laureth sulfates (SLS).
• These chemicals are too harsh for black hair because along with dirt they remove good, natural oils that black hair need to stay soft.

2. Clarifying shampoo

• Stronger than regular, commercial shampoos
• Designed to remove heavy product build up from thick greases, gels and pomades
• Even if you use very heavy products on your hair, you shouldn't be using clarifying shampoos more than once a month according to The Science of Black Hair

3. Chelating shampoos

• Stronger than regular, commercial shampoos AND clarifying shampoos
• Designed to remove mineral deposits that are sitting on hair
• Whilst clarifying shampoos just remove dirt from the surface of hair, chelating shampoo affect the hair's bond structure.
• If at all, this very strong shampoos should only be used every 4 to 6 weeks by those living in a hard water area

The better shampoos for black hair

• Cocomidopropyl betaine is a gentler cleanser and more suitable for black hair.
• Sulfate-free shampoos. That said, not all sulfate-free shampoos are equally good for black hair but that's a topic for another blog!

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Ref: Science of Black Hair, pages 69-72

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