Is Your Cheap Shampoo Hurting You?

Ok, I will admit that the number 1 myth is that the more expensive hair products I use, the better my hair will look.

Some cheap shampoos can be good, and some expensive ones may actually be a gimmick. But logically, stuff which cost more will tend to have better ingredients. You do get what you pay for.

So in today's post, I'll let you know what to look out for in the ingredients list/label of your shampoo... whether you're using a $5 bottle of Sunsilk, or a $30 bottle of a professional brand. The right ingredients make all the difference.

AVOID
- sodium laurel sulfate, ammonium lauryl sulfate, Ammonium Xylene Sulfonate

These igredients in a shampoo help to break surface dirt and give your hair and scalp a very "clean" feeling, but they are harsh chemicals and can attribute to hair loss.


- Silicon or wax

A lot of cheap shampoos which make your hair feel smooth and look great is actually just coating your hair with silicon. This is not good. Silicon is not natural. It will clog your pores, destroy your hair folicles in the long run. Look for shampoos with protein in them instead of silicon, they may be more expensive but they're a better ingredient in the long run for re-building (and hence making smooth in texture) your hair.


Another way is to look at your scalp after many months on your cheap shampoo... does it have a sheen? Like a glossy shiny look to it? That's not good.

The above mentioned are more common bad ingredients in shampoos. Below is a list of less common ingredients, but you should look out for them anyway.

- Magnesium Sulfate
- Sodium Thiosulfate
- Sodium C14-16 Olefin Sulfonate
- Alkyl Sodium Sulfate
- Alkyl Benzene Sulfonate
- TEA-Dodecylbenzene
- Sodium C12-15 Alkyl Sulfate
- Sodium Dodecyl Sulfonate

Sorry to say, some of the most common brands of cheap shampoos which are on the shelves contain bad ingredients. From what I've found, Dove, KAO and V05 are bad for your hair and scalp in the long run. I'm not some God of hair products... but I do caution you to check what you're using.

Sunsilk is cheap but it's actually okay. And though most higher end shampoos don't contain bad ingredients, you should read the labels just to make sure.