The Price of Sulfate-Free Shampoo

What Should You Pay For a Properly Formulated SLS-Free Shampoo?

This topic has surfaced more than a half dozen times lately – which brings me to flag it AND to write a POST. After just passing 1000 members in our little HAIR CARE FORUM/GROUP, I guess I will never again run out of subjects to write about. “Sulfate-Free Shampoo” continues to be the number 1 subject queried about on the KillerStrands site, which continues to puzzle me, as soon as I feel like I have written about every single angle there is on the subject, I can now see what writers must battle with who write for newspapers/magazines when they have one subject people want to keep hearing about…..no matter how much is written (and they are talented writers).
Many of you have been on the trail of the “PERFECT” Sulfate- Free Shampoo and although I am
not one that juggles shampoos around any longer ( I find a great one, buy the king size version– which knocks the cost wwwwway down & I’m set for the year) I can understand how many of you do…. I used to. It wasn’t until I learned cosmetic chemistry that I learned to settle down with 1 great shampoo. Maybe you will one day as well.
What seems to be a constant sentiment is the disappointment in L’Oreals newest entry into the SLS-Free world, EVERPURE. I have heard disappointing comments across the board, sometimes I wonder if there are happy consumers of it and they just don’t write in. I mean it truly amazes me that I never hear any compliments about L’Oreal Hair products of any kind. They are a HUGE conglomerate……..Huge….they have to be huge for some reason. But I will be perfectly honest here as I always am. . . . L’Oreal is on the bottom rung as long as I can remember as far as the quality of their products, so I would stay away from them, until they do some re-formulating . . . which can very easily be done.
Continually the disappointing news comes from Sulfate-Free Shampoo’s purchased in Drug Stores, Grocery stores and Discount stores I’m sorry to say. I would say about 50% of you are OK with the ORGANIX line http://www.organixhair.com/. So if you absolutely insist you can only spend $6.00 on your shampoo, to date, I would say that is your brand.
Here is my issue . . . for years I would battle my clients in “my chair”. . . yes, even a portion of Malibu clients had this thing for not wanting to spend much on a shampoo (not all – ‘some’- I need to be careful to say)… It “was” and “IS” a puzzle to me, so the fact that I continue to hear this from Killer Strand readers, reminds me of back-in-the-day. My hesitation at believing people can’t afford a shampoo that costs anymore than $6.00 is based on my experiences with all of my clients throughout the years, many of whom were wealthy beyond all of us.
There is some sort of weird stigma – though -- at least 50% of Americans think that shampoo should be the cost of a bar of soap, because basically that is all it does, is clean the hair. Soap is cheap, why not shampoo . . . was the sentiment I would hear most often. Shampoo is completely different than soap, although to be perfectly honest I feel the SLS-based soaps should not be used on the body - IN ANY WAY - and I use SLS-FREE Soaps that I find on ETSY.com. All hand made - Cold process Soaps - which means I think it takes 4-6 weeks for the soap to be fully processed. They are wonderful and so gentle on the skin.
I would always end up asking how much they spend on their face, both in skin and face products, in make-up and make-up supplies. The numbers were always – very VERY high… I would ask why they weren’t willing to take care of their hair nearly as well as their face . . .which would always reveal a puzzled look on faces of all types and ages, with most claiming to never have thought about it that way. Because when asked which was more important their hair or their skin – people have a very hard time choosing one over the other. Both are JUST as Important, which leads me to believe that spending the same amount on both should be the norm, well, it wasn’t.
What I can share with you is the fact that I get

almost - ZERO complaints on any of the Sulfate-free shampoos that sell for $15.00 and up. When a Shampoo is formulated correctly, which means using multiple surfactants ( the cleansing agent), not one – the product then requires you to use ‘HALF” as much of the amount of shampoo PER Wash….what does that mean? 1 bottle will last twice as long. So if you are getting twice the use out of 1 bottle of shampoo – the price therefore is definitely going down – way – way down. Maybe that’s not the best marketing strategy, but with a little research and a little experimentation you can find this out for yourself --- OR……trust me & believe in my facts. Its very hard to –re-train consumers…. once you have been used to using a certain amount of shampoo . . . you keep reaching for that same amount.
BUT…..BUT, I am hoping many of you will listen and learn this time out.
Try it, put a tiny cup ( glad to enclose with purchase of shampoo from http://killerstrands.myshopify.com/collections/sulfate-free-shampoos - just ask) in your Shower – pour the shampoo in the cup to assure yourself you are only using the tiniest of amounts. I am fairly certain the reason for the dislike of the inexpensive Sulfate-free shampoos stems from not using multiple surfactants and not using better ones. I fully understand keeping ‘costs’ down, but what good is any product if people don’t like it and won’t buy it ?
I will bet as soon as P&G steps into the sulfate-free shampoo arena you will find your first “best of ‘ALL’ worlds” product. They are pretty smart with their hair empire….and won’t want it tarnished with the release of a premature sulfate-free shampoo dud….I just cannot see that happening. The requirements as I understand them from all of you are this:
You want a Sulfate-Free Shampoo that:

• has Lots of bubbles
• cleans hair sufficiently
• is a reasonable price
• you can find easy enough

Is there anything I am missing? From emails I have received, and I promise you I receive a ca-zillion, these are your requirements.
While you wait for that perfect inexpensive SLS-Free Shampoo, please give one of ours a shot. What I am going to offer you my readers a shot at this weekend only – July 30 thru August 2 – which you will only be given if you are reading this is: FREE SHIPPING charges for the shampoo AND 20% OFF ALL KillerStrands SHAMPOOS, place the order- put the code word “WomanInTheMirror” in the box at the end of the checkout process http://killerstrands.myshopify.com/collections/sulfate-free-shampoos . [This Discount pertains to the smaller sizes of all of our shampoos - not King size versions.]When I receive the order I will refund the shipping and the 20 % –> PROMISE ! This can be a huge savings to you available this weekend only July 30 thru August 2, 2009 – so here is your chance to try any of the more expensive shampoos with excellent properties I am fairly certain you will find are exactly the same as the shampoos WITH sulfates. Only without the terrible traits of causing: hair loss, hair thinning, and scalp conditions. A shampoo does not need to create such horrible problems and I have proven over and over that Sodium Lauryl Sulfate is the stem of those problems in people of all ages,races and sex’s. If you haven’t quit yet . . . please quit today.
There are people’s hair dying all over the world and we need to make it a better place. Make a change. Please, I’m giving you a great deal on getting started
If you want to make the world a better place, take a look in the mirror
Killer Chemist