I know… it’s cheap, it’s accessible, it’s easy. But what’s easy on the wallet now will just cost big bucks trying to reverse the damage that supermarket haircare will do.
The devil ingredient in any haircare product is Silicone. It makes your hair feel super soft and shiny.
Then what’s so bad about it? Over time silicone builds up on the hair shaft and hardens like a rock. And then it snaps. We call this ‘breakage’. You know those hairs that split and break off when you're brushing it, the frizz and baby hairs that stand up on the stop of your hair like static? Silicone is the culprit.
And the more often you use silicone products the harder that shell casing on the hair shaft gets. If you don’t believe me, watch this video of a hairdresser literally scraping the silicone off of her clients hair!
Products you didn’t know that contain silicones:
Moroccan Oil Original Treatment
Coco & Eve Super Nourishing Coconut and Fig Hair Masque
Olaplex No.7 Bonding Oil
Kerastase Elixir Ultime Original Oil
95% of Conditioner at the Supermarket
Make an effort to be a conscious shopper and inspect the ingredients list of your haircare products before purchasing.
Here are some of the silicones hiding in those products under names you wouldn’t even recognise. How sneaky!
Dimethicone
Cyclopentasiloxane
Amodimethicone
Pheryl Trimethicone
Ceteraryl Methicone
Dimethiconol
Stearyl Dimethicone
Cyclomethicone (the only GOOD silicone. It dissolves in water and doesn’t cause buildup)
Pretty much anything ending in ‘cone’
I know its all well and good to tell you to avoid silicones, but what if the damage is already done?
If the Tresemme or Pantene is sitting in your shower right now, get up and throw it in the bin. Get yourself a Clarifying Shampoo. This will strip all of the product buildup and oils in your hair so you can start fresh.
Then what? Get out of the shower and jump on the Sulfate-Free band wagon. Sulfates are otherwise known as soap. It makes your shampoo foam up and feel all sudsy. But it also strips all of the natural oils from your hair and drys it out.
Dry hair = oil overproduction. Which means oily hair. And what do you do when you have oily hair? You wash it. So the cycle perpetuates. Avoid stripping your hair with sulfates to go longer between washes.
Just a disclaimer - don’t yell at me when you go to use your new clarifying shampoo and it gets all foamy. It does have sulfates. But it's the only thing strong enough to break down all that buildup. The bottle will even tell you not to use it as often as your regular shampoo. So take heed.
Here’s a list of some of the different names sulfates use to hide in your ingredients list:
Alkylbenzene sulfonate
Ammonium laureth or lauryl sulfate
Ammonium or Sodium Xylenesulfonate
Sodium C14-16 Olefin Sulfonate
Sodium cocoyl sarcosinate
Sodium laureth sulfate
Sodium myreth sulfate
Sodium lauryl sulfate
Sodium lauryl sulfoacetate
TEA- dodecylbenzenesulfonate
Ethyl PEG-15 cocamine sulfate
Dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate
Heres some suggestions for sulfate-free shampoos and silicone-free conditioners to try. You’ll have to head to somewhere like Hairhouse Warehouse, sorry! #sorrynotsorry
After all that stress you’ve put your hair under you’re going to want to show it some love with a treatment.
Obviously silicone-free…
Add that hydration back with a hair mask or a leave in treatment if you’re short on time. Use products with natural oils to help nourish the hair. Look for Argan Oil, Sweet Almond Oil, Coconut Oil and Jojoba Oil. But don’t fall for the ones with hidden silicones, read your ingredients list. Or literally slather on pure Coconut Oil, sleep in it, and shampoo it out the next day!
Below are my recommendations for rinse out hair masks:
And here are some great leave in treatments. Just be sure not to apply to your roots, that makes for greasy hair!
By now your hair should be feeling replenished and revived. If you’re heat styling make sure to use a heat protectant to prevent further damage.
Treat your locks with love and walk straight past the haircare aisle next time you’re in the supermarket!