There’s a never ending debate among new and old naturals wether to use shampoo or not. It’s hard to decide what’s best for your hair but, here’s some information that will hopefully help you come to a decision.
There are different types of silicone and sulfates that are used in household shampoos that people consider bad for your hair. Here’s some quick information about silicone and sulfate related to shampoo.
- Silicones:
“Silicones are ingredients in many hair conditioners, shampoos, and hair gel products. Some silicones, notably the amine functionalized amodimethicones, are excellent conditioners, providing improved compatibility, feel, and softness, and lessening frizz. The phenyltrimethicones, in another silicone family, are used in reflection-enhancing and color-correcting hair products, where they increase shine and glossiness (and possibly effect subtle color changes). Phenyltrimethicones, unlike the conditioning amodimethicones, have refractive indices (typically 1.46) close to that of human hair (1.54). However, if included in the same formulation, amodimethicone and phenyltrimethicone interact and dilute each other, making it difficult to achieve both high shine and excellent conditioning in the same product.”
- Sulfates:
“Sodium laureth sulfate, or sodium lauryl ether sulfate (SLES), a detergent and surfactant found in many personal care products (soaps, shampoos, toothpaste etc.)”
Silicones and sulfates are considered harmful products for your hair, because they can coat the strands of your curls leaving them dry and frizzy. Even when you wash the shampoo out it still leaves a residue or film on your hair that you can’t completely wash-off.
This film does not allow the moisture, of your choice, to penetrate into the cuticle, the cortex, and the medulla of the hair. Again, leaving the hair dry, brittle, and most likely to break-off.
Think of shampoo like this…After you wash your dishes try to COMPLETELY rinse the soap off your sponge. Regardless of how much you rinse and squeeze, there’s still going to be some soap left on and in the sponge. That’s the same effect shampoo has on your hair. If you choose to, you can shampoo your hair. But, it’s difficult to wash out all the soap, and even if you do there’s still residue left on your strands.
“So, Monique, what should I use to wash my hair?”
There are three methods of shampooing you can choose from: No-Poo, Low-Poo, and Full-Poo.
No-poo Method 
No-poo is a shortened term for no shampoo or no shampooing. This is a technique where you don’t use shampoo, in its place you can use cleansers such as an Apple Cider Vinegar Rinse or a Baking Soda Rinse.
CurlyNikki.com provides a great outline for both the Apple Cider Vinegar and Baking Soda Rinse . They’re both inexpensive, easy, hassle-free, and can be found in your kitchen cabinet. I personally use the Apple Cider Vinegar Rinse as my cleanser and I absolutely love it (I’ll be posting a review of my Apple Cider Vinegar Rinse soon 🙂 ) Posted below are instructional videos for the Apple Cider Vinegar and the Baking Soda rinse.
Natural Hair: APPLE CIDER VINEGAR RINSE (moisture and shine) by: lovelyanneka
*Note: You don’t have to add the honey and rosemary oil to your rinse if you don’t choose to. There are a lot of renditions to the Apple Cider Vinegar rinse. I just wanted you to get an idea of how to make it and apply it. I apply it with a spray bottle and detangle my hair as I go.
Natural Hair (Baking Soda + Conditioner Treatment)By: Suzyq2117
*Note: I’ve never tried this rinse however, I would apply it and finger detangle my hair just as I described in the note for the Apple Cider Vinegar Rinse video.
Low-Poo Method
The first time I heard about the Low-Poo method was from the Curly Girl Method DevaCurl hair line by Lorraine Massey. Massey defines the Low-Poo shampoo as:
“A mild lathering and moisturizing cleanser that gently cleans and hydrates to restore shiny, healthy curls and provide long-lasting color”.
– Lorraine Massey/ DevaCurl Line
The Low-Poo Method is a gentler version of shampoo, compared to shampoo that is fully loaded with a laundry list of ingredients and chemicals. Low-poo shampoos may be absent of silicones, sulfates, both, or just have milder versions of the ingredients listed.
To go through every shampoo on the market would be extremely overwhelming and it’ll take forever. Strawberricurls.com re-created a composite list of sulfate-free shampoos called, A List of Shampoos That Won’t Strip Your Hair of Moisture. It’s a A-T list of shampoos that are better for your hair than regular shampoos.
If you’re concerened about the pH Balance of your shampoo, The Natural Haven: Science and Hair has created a list of shampoos with their pH balance called pH of Shampoo: The Ultimate List!
Also, if you’re interested in the Curly Girl Method you can message me here or you can check out MahoganyCurls video “The Curly Girl Method”, which you can find below:
Full- Poo Method 
I made this name up because this method allows you to use any shampoo you want. In this method you’re not concerned with the types of chemicals or ingredients in the product. You’re choosing one that’s the most beneficial for your hair. Just make sure you thoroughly wash your hair of all the shampoo, and moisturize your hair evenly and accordingly.
I hope this post helped you figure out what shampoo method is best for you. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate in messaging me here.
Kisses!
Information Courtesy of: CurlyNikki.com
Information Courtesy of: Naturallycurly.com
Information Courtesy of: Wikipedia
Information Courtesy of: Strawberricurls.com
Information Courtesy of:TheNaturalHavenBloom.com
Videos Courtesy of: Youtube
Images and Feature Image Courtesy of Google Images
My Natural Hair Journey and Education 