shampoo is not bad, but actually safe and beneficial to use.
Sulfates are not bad, they’re misunderstood!
You read that right, I’m saying the exact opposite of what you’ve been fed to believe the past few years of fear mongering from the “all-natural beauty community”. What people don’t understand is just because something is a natural does not mean it can’t hurt you or have negative side effects.
Example: essential oils. Yes, they are natural and from nature, but certain essential oils are phototoxic which means if you have them on your skin while you’re out in the sun it can cause severe burns. Also don’t forget, essential oils need to be diluted ALWAYS and never applied directly to the skin.
Sulfates were created because we did not have safe or as effective cleansing agents that would clean the skin without causing irritation and overly stripping the skin barrier.
Can sulfates dry the skin?
Yes, sulfates can dry the skin, irritate the skin, and sometimes feel too stripping. However, this is where skin type and the actual formulation of products come into the equation.
How a product is formulated in the lab completely changes the effects certain ingredients have individually.
What this means is, just because a product has a “no-no” ingredient such as sulfate, does not mean that it should be banned or ridiculed into non-existence.
How do sulfates work?
Sulfates work by effectively binding to oil and the suds/bubbles are what cleanse away these agents. It makes it incredibly effective at cleansing skin, hair, grease, tough stains, etc.
This is what specifically makes your shampoo an actual shampoo and gives it the ability to effectively cleanse it, is in fact the suds produced from the shampoo.
The history behind shampoo?
Shampoo was once a luxury that was used only once a month back in the 1800-early 1900’s. During the Victorian era, doctors began promoting healthier bathing habits in turn actually making it more popular!
People back then would use lye bar soap; either made from wood ash or beef tallow, it was used on the scalp as well as castile soap was also common. The reason why this soap was popularized was because of how strong the cleansing agents were and how remarkable it was at removing a month’s worth of dirt, oil, and dandruff build up.
Fun Fact:
Believe it or not before using these soaps on the scalp, people would crack an egg over their head, work it into a lather and then rinse it out!
Hair and skin types that benefit from using it?
Oily hair and skin types particularly benefit from the use of sulfates because they are more prone to overproducing sebum which can cause irritation and build up.
When you use a good sulfate shampoo cleanses and clarifies the scalp therefore removing the oil that oily skin types tend to struggle with.
Now that being said there are benefits to using sulfate-free for drier or brittle hair types because it isn’t as cleansing and it gently removes some of the oils, but not all of them. This sounds great, but again if you suffer from oily hair like I do, you will want to go 3-4 days without washing your hair vs. having to wash it every day.
Overall, using a sulfate shampoo or a sulfate-free shampoo is completely up to you and what you think your hair type needs! Trial and error is the best way to go and at the end of the day, it’s your hair and your choice.