Hair-care ads entice us with images of women with long flowing hair that shines, is easy to manage, and looks great with seemingly little effort. The world of hair care also has a vast number of products promising to repair hair damaged by chemical treatments and daily abuse—and that's just the tip of the iceberg!
Here are two facts you need to know when it comes to hair-care formulas:
- There isn't any significant difference between the ingredients in inexpensive brands and the ingredients in expensive brands.
- Damaged hair cannot be repaired or made healthy again.
What it takes to cleanse, condition, and style hair, make it shine, or hold it in place isn't a secret. Every hair-care company (and we mean every one of them) uses the same types of ingredients, and these ingredients are not rare and they're not found only in the expensive product lines. In essence, with very few exceptions, it is almost impossible to find a bad hair-care product. You may buy a product that's wrong for your hair type or one that doesn't live up to the exaggerated claims on the label or to your expectations, but that doesn't make it a bad product or bad for your hair.
Aside from the claims leading you astray, there also are problems with ingredients that are bad for your scalp, and in some cases bad for the hair itself. Irritating ingredients, such as fragrances, whether synthetic or natural, can cause itching, dryness, redness, and flaking of the scalp. Your hair may still look good, but your scalp won't feel so good.
Hair Truths That Save You Money
Following the tips listed below will not only save you money but also help you have great hair days, and make it easier for you to find great hair-care products:
- Expensive doesn't mean better! Salon lines don't hold the key to healthier, shinier hair. Generally speaking, it is not necessary to pay more than $10 for any hair-care product.
- Damaged hair cannot be repaired. Hair is dead, and once it is damaged, nothing can bring it back to its natural, undamaged state. Styling products and conditioners can make damaged hair feel and look better, but they work only as long as you continue to use them. If hair were truly being repaired, you could use a "repairing" conditioner once and be all set—and we know that's not the case!
- Don't shop for hair-care products based on fragrance. We've all done it: When shopping for shampoo or conditioner, we flip open the cap and take a whiff. Or we stand back and peruse the shampoos, wondering if we should go for the Citrus Explosion version or the Strawberries & Cream version. Lots of consumers find fragrance in hair-care products appealing, but deciding which product to buy based on fragrance alone is a mistake. You need to check the ingredient label to make sure fragrance is not a big part of the formula (i.e., it should be near the bottom of the list), and then check to see if the product contains one or more of the problematic ingredients listed in the section below (Hair-Care Ingredients to Avoid).
- The right styling tools are critical. You can buy the best hair-care products for your hair type and still end up with bad hair days if you use the wrong styling tools. The right flat irons, blow dryers, and brushes (and knowing how to use them) make all the difference in the world. It is the rare woman who leaves a hair salon with only styling products on her hair; it takes styling tools to create hair styles that look like the hairdos you envy the most.
Hair-Care Ingredients to AvoidIf you want smooth, shiny, healthy hair that is easy to manage, you need to know that beyond a great haircut and styling techniques, the products you use to take care of your hair play a pivotal role in how it looks and behaves. That's why avoiding problematic ingredients is so important: Irritating ingredients can cause scalp redness, itching, and flaking, and in some cases can make your hair feel dry or look more damaged. Watch out for the ingredients on the following lists; make sure your shampoos, conditioners, or styling products do NOT contain them.
Shampoos
Ingredients that cause dryness, exaggerate frizzies, and leave you with an itchy, flaky scalp include the following:
- Sodium lauryl sulfate. It is not a dangerous ingredient, it's just an irritating, drying one.
- (Note that sodium laureth sulfate is fine)
- Sodium C14-16 olefin sulfonate.
- TEA-lauryl sulfate.
- TEA-dodecylbenzene.
- Alkyl sodium sulfate.
- Essential oils, if they are present in large amounts, such as peppermint, menthol, lemon, lavender, and lime oils.
- Irritating fragrant plant extracts (see our Cosmetic Ingredient Dictionary for details).
Conditioners
The concerns about irritating ingredients in a conditioner are not the same as for a shampoo because, ideally, you will be using the conditioner only on the lengths and ends of your hair, not on your scalp. Keeping conditioner off your scalp is also helpful to prevent weighing your hair down. In addition, hair at the root is healthier because it hasn't been exposed to the environment or styling tools, so it doesn't require conditioning. Despite this, you may want to avoid the following ingredients in conditioners:
- Any essential oils (particularly those from the citrus or mint families).
- Kaolin (a form of clay). All types of clays can be drying for hair and lead to frizziness.
- Menthol or menthyl lactate.
- Camphor.
- Balsam.
- Irritating fragrant plant extracts (see our Cosmetic Ingredient Dictionary for details).
Styling Products
Most styling products are well formulated. Even hairsprays (regular and aerosol) with alcohol are OK because the alcohol evaporates quickly; plus, hairsprays typically are not aimed directly at the scalp. All film-forming agents (such as PVP or ingredients with "methacrylate" in the name) in styling products pose a risk of scalp irritation, but most people tolerate them just fine as long as they minimize direct contact with the scalp. However, there are some troublemaking ingredients in styling products that are best avoided, including the following:
- Menthol or menthyl lactate.
- Fragrant oils such as peppermint, rosemary, all types of citrus, and lavender.
- Fragrance ingredients such as linalool, limonene, and eugenol.
- Methylisothiazolinone or methylcholorisothiazoline, both of which are sensitizing preservatives not recommended for use in leave-on products.
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