Number 1 Shampoo in the Land of Bubbles & Sulfate-Free

I would imagine most consumers think there are constant changes going on in shampoos, from all the wacky commercials on the tube. Frankly, within the chemistry make-up and formulation ends they have not changed that much in the last 30 years...in my eyes, that is not a good thing. About a month ago I made a few calls to some of the major shampoo manufacturers in the USA to see what they had to say about the biggest changes  within their up coming shampoo releases.

This was the best news I have heard in a very very long time. They all said the same thing: "Sulfate-Free" is their number 1 Red Flag. Which has been a knife in my side now for at least 4 years . . . .

So rejoice . . they have finally heard the complaints and bitching I and many of my stylist compadres have unleashed on the world! I'm not going to complain about the time it took . . . at least "it took". That is a very good thing.

I cannot completely prove that SLS or Sodium Lauryl Sulfate is a 100% cause of all the hair loss and hair thinning in women of late....because I still feel from all my research that it is because of the synergistic effect of any one of, or combination of ... of the 10 steps of 10,000 HEADS. 

 






















But when you open the top of a simple small jar of SLS and the inside of your nose,eyes and lungs BURN  from 1 tiny inhale ( which is what I did !) .....SOMETHING IS DRASTICALLY WRONG ... who in their right mind would put that on the hair and hair follicles...??? wow that subject infuriates me...and always will. Stay away from SLS, become accustom to reading labels please....just like you do for your food. You have to learn to protect yourself...there are so many millions of products on the market now that it is not even realistic to think that our government could keep control over that entire industry. 
We can't even keep Terrorists out of the country that are trying to kill us with guns and 747 Airplanes !

SHAMPOO : the Movie...Shampoo: The Explanation! Make Sense Out of All the Bottles

BACK TO BASICS AND WASH AWAY

BAD HAIR DAYS WITH KILLERSTRANDS

SHAMPOO TIPS

Its funny, picking out a shampoo seems like a fairly simple task. . . in truth, it can be mind boggling. There are thousands of brands and thousands of options.I would like the subject of shampoo to make as much sense to you as it does to me.

Finding your perfect shampoo is no easy task. With such a huge range offered to the consumer from drug store brands to professional, from anti-dandruff to extra volume, we are literally soaked with choices.

Do you walk down the aisles at your Beauty Supply or the local Target and feel overwhelmed?

You're not alone. And the bad news is, over 80% of you are rumored to be using the wrong shampoo for your hair type!

My goal?

to de-mystify shampoo and the manner in which you choose your shampoo.

How can you find your shampoo soul mate?

The fastest, most accurate solution?

When making an appointment with a qualified Stylist or Colourist at your local Salon for a cut or colour ask for a shampoo recommendation. If that is not an option for you, the following will be helpful.

As a Cosmetic Chemist, when an order for a new shampoo formula comes across my desk, the very first requirement for end result? the "HAIR type" needs to be answered.... is the hair colored or virgin?

The first question would be: do you color your hair? or is it virgin hair?

Shampoo's are formulated for colour-treated hair or non color treated or 'virgin' hair.

Secondly the Shampoo is formulated and designed for a specific "condition" of hair: dry/normal/oily/damaged/frizzy.

The second question you answer about your hair in picking a shampoo: What condition is my hair?

~THE CONDITION OF YOUR HAIR

This is one of the main factors to consider. If your hair is dry you don't need a shampoo that will strip your hair of oil, likewise if your hair is greasy...you shouldn't be using a moisture shampoo. Your ideal shampoo will help restore your hair to a manageable condition, so figure out what your hair needs most, whether this is colour maintenance, moisture or strength etc.

~ WHAT LOOK ARE YOU AFTER?

Many people will use a curl-friendly shampoo if their hair is curly, but if you're styling your hair straight this is a definite no-no. A curl activator will do nothing to create the poker straight hair you're aiming for, but a smoothing shampoo will put you right on track. Remember, shampoo won't work miracles - its job is to cleanse the hair and create a good foundation, its your products that do the styling.

~ HOW OFTEN DO YOU WASH ?

Think about your wash frequency. Avoid using anything too harsh or that's likely to strip away natural oils if you're going to be washing your hair daily. No one needs to shampoo that frequently you truly don't need it. Its wasteful, not necessary and I highly suggest you begin changing your schedule.

~ Use SULFATE-FREE SHAMPOO ONLY

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate ( SLS)> must be avoided .

Watch out for this ingredient in your shampoos..

This chemical is one of the causes of the new hair loss cases in women. I will continue to speak out on it, because it needs to be abolished in our products.

SHAMPOO MYTHS Blown open

~ SHOULD I CHANGE MY SHAMPOO EVERY FEW MONTHS?

Why? There is no truth to the rumor that hair becomes immune to hair products...different products have different ingredients, if the dreaded Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) is in one and not in another...then of course the 2 shampoos are going to have different reactions.That's all it is....No immunity factor...

~DOES A RICH LATHER MEAN MY HAIR IS GETTING A BETTER WASH?

Enough bubbles for a foam party does not make a good hair wash! A rich lather doesn't always mean hair is cleaner as it is controlled chemically. Moisturising shampoos will not develop into a huge lather like the one for greasy hair due to their make-up.

Are professional products much better than drug store lower priced models? 

Its all about reading labels - just like you do with your foord....Its so funny about 15-20 years ago NO ONE read labels of their food, now I see every single person in our local grocery stores standing trying to read the microfine print on labels of food. Remember when you weren't familiar with those technical terms ? ? ?  Like gluten, etc.... Once you have realized which ingredients there are that you must avoid ( later in the site I will make a business card print out to put in your wallet with the names of the chemicals that are to be avoided at all costs.). Once you have that list you may shop wherever your pocketbook leads you.

Its not the price of the products... its the ingredients that makes the differences you should watch out for.

Doing a quick Sulfate-free shampoo search. . . . there are starting to be a number of $5.00/$6.00/$7.00 shampoos without the dreaded SLS ingredient.. a couple phone calls revealed a couple major shampoo manufacturers...... the number 1 HOT ITEM in shampoos that has been hot for the last 10 years is Hair Color-Friendly and  SULFATE-FREE !

The shampoos in our store all meet my high standards of how Shampoos should be formulated, I have tested and tried and devoted many hours of time into the selection of  shampoos I carry, so never worry about which is better than the other.

Understanding Shampoo - through the pH scale - Does Yours Tangle Your Hair?

pH of shampoo - magical-simple-solution to ongoing problem

Shampoo is the number 1 Searched for hair product on Google's big board of HAIR search "tags" and lately "sulfate-free shampoo" has been bumped up to number 2 if you can believe that - - - makes me proud. Which means it comes from you, I like knowing what you want to know more about so I am going to stick with the Big G for reference. This will be a gentle description of the term pH, which is so important when "shine" "health" and "color-lasting" are your goals with your hair. Shampoo is that product that is on your hair more than any single other product, some of you use it every single day. With that being the case I feel I need to teach you all I can about it, which is a new concept for me. When I discovered how important it was on Google's scale of what 'you' look for under hair, I started to re-think my former stance on it. See, I can change - I love technology ever since I started this Blog it has become a new passion of mine. What a lot I have to learn though.
I am going to start on the pH scale as I feel it is so very important to understand in relation to shampoo and hair care products in general . I never know where to start  on this - -  again its the whole "chicken and egg" predicament, lets see how I do.

Potential Hydrogen (pH)


Understanding what pH is and how is affects the skin and hair is essential to understanding most of the services that you get in a Salon or that you perform on your own noggin. This will be a brief overview of pH and how it works so then I will go right into pH and shampoos. I'm using a couple textbooks to help me with this, as much as I understand it, I tried writing my own post on the subject and ended up trashing it, my version was so confusing, I gave it to my neighbor to read and he had the most confused look on his face. So we will go with this and see how it works. Its not necessary to fully understand pH, but I would like you to at least have an idea what it is for future reference. Having the proper pH shampoo makes ALL the difference in the world, as far as tangling and hairs condition at the end of the shampoo.

Many of you have complained about a particular shampoo that is Sulfate-free - thinking the sulfate-free is the cause, which couldn't be farther from the truth. The cause of very tangle-y hair post-shampooing is: improper pH of the shampoo, which is such a simple thing to fix. 


Water and pH
First we need to understand a bit about ions. An ion is an atom or molecule that carries an electrical charge. Ionization is the separating of a substance into ions. These ions have opposite electrical charges... An ion with a negative electrical charge is an anion and an ion with a positive electrical charge is a cation. Now Ions are at the base of that T3 Dryer that is such a big hit now which I will go into at a later date and subject.
In pure water, some of the water molecules naturally ionize into hydrogen ions and hydroxide ions. The pH scale measures those ions. The hydrogen ion (H+) is acidic..the hydroxide ion (OH) is alkaline, pH is only possible because of this ionization of water. Only aqueous solutions have pH, Non-aqueous solutions (oil and alcohol) do not have pH . . . without water there is no pH.

In pure water, every water molecule that ionizes produces one hydrogen ion and one hydroxide ion. Pure water is neutral because it contains the same number of hydrogen ions as hydroxide ions, meaning it is neither acidic nor alkaline. Pure water is 50 percent acidic and 50 % alkaline.

The pH Scale
The terms "parts hydrogen" or "potential hydrogen" are used to describe pH.  In fact, the term pH originates from the French term pouvoir hydrogene , or hydrogen power" and means the relative degree of acidity and alkalinity of a substance. Notice that pH is written with a small p and a capital H ( which represents the hydrogen ion, H+) the symbol pH represents the quantity of hydrogen ions.
The pH values are arranged on a scale ranging from 0 to 14. A pH of 7 indicates a neutral solution, a pH below 7 indicates an acidic solution and a pH above 7 indicates an alkaline solution.
The pH scale is a logarithmic scale, this means that in a pH scale, a change of one whole number represents a tenfold change in pH. A pH of 8 is 10 times more alkaline than a pH of 7...a change of 2 whole numbers indicates a change of 10 times 10 or a one hundred-fold change. A pH of 9  is 100 times more alkaline than a pH of 7.
Pure water, with a pH of 7, is 100 times more alkaline than a pH of 5. Since the average pH of hair and skin is 5, pure water is 100 times more alkaline than your hair and skin, even though it has a neutral pH.
Pure water can cause the hair to swell by as much as 20 percent.

pH and Shampoo
Understanding pH levels will help you select the proper shampoo for yourself . Remember, the amount of hydrogen in a solution, determines whether it is more alkaline or acid, is measured on a pH scale that has a range from 0 to 14.

• a shampoo that is more acid can have a pH rating from 0 to 6.9 
• a shampoo that is more alkaline can have a pH rating from 7.1 to 14.
• The higher the pH rating ( more alkaline), the stronger and harsher the shampoo is to the hair. A high pH shampoo can leave the hair dry and brittle.
• Now why shampoo's don't have pH ratings printed on them instead of all the other words and BS I will never know, this is one of the key measures  of knowing if the shampoo is going to work correctly (of course there are others).
• Ultimate pH for a shampoo you purchase?  5.0 - 6.0

The Chemistry of Shampoos
To determine which shampoo will leave your hair in the best condition, I must explain some of the chemical ingredients regularly found in shampoos. Most shampoo's share many ingredients in common. It is often the small differences in formulation that make one shampoo better than another for a particular hair texture or condition.
Water is the main ingredient in all shampoos and commonly is added at the rate of 30-40% of the formula. Generally it is not just plain water, but purified or de-ionized ( ions removed) water. Water is usually the first ingredient listed, which indicates that the shampoo contains more water than anything else. From there on, ingredients are listed in descending order, according to the percentage of each ingredient in the shampoo or formula. This is how it is 'supposed' to be done but I would guess 8 times out of 10 it is not. Regulating hundreds of thousands of beauty products would require every single agency of the government shutting down and helping the FDA, it is virtually impossible, so it basically self-governed and you can imagine how successful and correct that maneuver is.

Surfactants
The second ingredient that most shampoos have in common is the primary surfactant or base detergent. These 2 terms, surfactant and detergent mean the same thing: cleansing or "surface active" agent.
A surfactant molecule has two ends" a hydrophilic or water-attracting "head" and a lipophilic or oil-attracting "tail". During the shampoo process, the hydrophilic head attracts water, and the lipophilic tail attracts OIL, this creates a push-pull process that causes the oils, dirt, and deposits to roll up into little balls that can be lifted off in the water and rinsed from the hair ( see the photos).

Other ingredients are added to the base surfactants to create a wide variety of shampoo formulas. Moisturizers, oils, proteins, preservatives, foam enhancer's and perfumes are all standard components of shampoos. On a previous post I listed 12 or surfactants that are considered safe, I have worked with each one and to be perfectly honest, shampoo's are not my forte...but wanted to just see - feel - smell and observe the materials with hair under the scope - for my own security - in  recommending them.  I know that probably sounds super UN-scientific, but I feel that is what these super cosmetic chemists - miss. Just plain common sense issues, like the scent of a particular ingredient being so caustic, how could it possibly be gentle enough for hair. Or the texture of this is so rough and the scent so strong, there just has to be a better choice. That is what began my suspicions with Sodium Lauryl Sulfates 7 years ago.  When I opened the jar and seriously, could not take a breath of air it was honestly that burning to the skin in my nostrils, . . . that alone was a huge red 'common sense' - flag. Why no one but me - started talking about it, I will never know .
Yes, later there have come many "Safe Cosmetics" organizations ... but they don't do it right either - They go the complete opposite direction and think everything is bad, and that's not at all how it works, either.  Not everything is bad or unsafe. . .that is as bad of a generalization as the other groups missing the dangers of SLS - it truly is. You can't 'ban' everything, that is the way politicians work...we have no room for that in cosmetics.  I just want to begin explaining this to you, its a big concept but many of you seem eager to learn it, I thought it would bore you all so earlier I decided not to open the bag, besides its bad for business . . . all the big companies won't advertise on my site because I say Boxed hair color kits are horrific - but look at me will ya ? ?  I can't keep my mouth shut!  It would make my life a whole lot easier, if I just conformed and didn't talk about them - I would be making a lot better income off of advertising on this site. This has now become a very well known hair web site, I get lots and lots of traffic everyday without the big boys advertising on my site - but I am trying to break into the next level and get some big advertisers on my site, it won't happen as long as I leave the info up about how bad boxed hair color kits are. But If I don't tell you the truth, you will never get it, and that really is pointless to me.  So . . .  there is the truth. I need your support and I need to know you all want to know the truth in this info - so I know I am doing it for you and you care.
 
There are many "natural" ingredients that are very harsh as well, that just should not be what you look for.  "Natural" and "organic" are the most fought about topics / the most argued over words in the cosmetics business right now. Every single month in my trade magazines will be another view on what one more group thinks the word "natural" and "organic" means - - please take that into consideration. Those words will never be the answer to the problem, so drop that theory.
Technically as I've said before . . . water is not really 'technically' natural - as funny as that sounds ... it does not come from nature - - it comes from the heavens. With scientists you should hear them fight over the word, it will simply - - - NEVER BE SOLVED  - - ever. I feel both sides have valid points, so its simply time to move on from it.
Remember that there are also harsh and incompatible ingredients in nature for your hair, its needs to be a very simple study and honest reviewed by a competent cosmetic chemist that is not funded by any of the big corporate manufacturers, that is hard to find.
Begin and never stop reading the ingredients on the label, you must -  you must - you must. I fully realize they seem intimidating, BUT that is how I started and a very famous cosmetic chemist told me when I began, just start reading and saying them - over & over & over, they begin to sink in eventually. . .



I never took chemistry in school I was terrified of the "word'', but you know what? He was 100% correct. I couldn't pronounce Sodium Lauryl Sulfates,  and now I now the names of about 15 sulfates by memory... remember I was raised a jock not an academic - so there is no one this is more foreign to, than me. It will make you feel proud of yourself the first time you pipe off the name of one of these scientific names with confidence - and YOU WILL! Talk to your girlfriends about them, people want to know about this subject, you become the new expert in your group of friends . . . that's how we all get smarter and all start helping each other have better hair. Wouldn't you rather be "looking' at nice hair when standing in lines at the Grocery store?

I sure would - - it comes from proper education - that's the compliments I receive from 'you' - the readers - - all the time.

Healthy Hair is the Back Bone of Great Hair Color, You Cannot Have One Without Other

 10,000HEADS and the Importance of Continuing to follow this protocol is super important and I do not want ANYONE to forget about it.I get warpped up on the immense amount of questions I receive about Hair Color and have 60 Post Title's waiting for me to write about color and not about health! Therefore due to my own mistake, I let the healthy hair topics fall to the wayside....which should NOT be done.

Healthy hair is the backbone of all great hair color, you cannot have great color without great health. Why? 
The deterioration of the hair strands, makes it incapable of both holding color for long AND giving it shine - and what's hair color without shine?Crap. Anyone can accomplish that and that is NOT what we are about here. Lately I have breezed through the 80 zillion copy cats out there (which before now I had never taken the time to do!) and they all seem to be reading from a script. No backbone, no experience and no zest for the world of hair health and color. 
Again, I never want you thinking about one without the other - again.......they MUST GO HAND IN HAND!

I haven't spoken about this in quite some time and I never want any of you to forget these concepts. 10,000 Heads was developed over 18 years ago when I noticed that 18-19 & 20 year old's were sitting in my chair and complaining about hair loss. That should not be happening to that age group. They haven't even learned how to destroy their hair yet ! 
So I began some experiments that only myself and my 4 assistants knew about. 

I began to study the make-up of shampoo, because I had to find a common denominator, and the one and only denominator between the young clients and the older - was "sulfate-shampoo's". Now don't think that concept took us a couple minutes to come up with as it truthfully took months to figure out ........ it was not that easy. We came up with a questionnaire and kept  rewording it week after week until the only thing left (basically) was the Shampoo that both ages were using. Now remember this was way before that weirdo "Wen" drummed up his ridiculous idea of washing with conditioner. 

One of the ingredients in shampoo is called a surfactant and I would love for everyone to learn the name of that and try to absorb what that is. Alternate titles: surface-active agent

surfactant, also called surface-active agent,  is a substance such as a detergent that, when added to a liquid, reduces its surface tension, thereby increasing its spreading and wetting properties.
The surface-active molecule must be partly hydrophillic (water-soluble) and partly lipophilic (soluble in lipids or oils). It concentrates at the interfaces between bodies or droplets of water and those of oil, or lipids, to act as an emulsifying agent, or foaming agent.
Other surfactants that are more lipophilic and less hydrophilic may be used as defoaming agents, or as demulsifiers.

A surfactant is that ingredient in a shampoo that cleans. Something needs to clean....or why wash the hair? Wen took out all surfactants I am pretty sure, I don't care to truly analyze his method as I feel he is on the wrong road - all that needed to be done was to find a gentle surfactant, of which there are becoming more and more. Why don't companies just trash the whole idea of Sulfates? Boy, I wish they would.....I really wish they would. But 2 things get in the way: Price ! of course and foaming capabilities. It costs about 2Cents for a giant tub of Sulfates and the amount of bubbles or "foaming capabilities" are what makes the company's continue to use it. Their profits go through the roof and a lot of customers relate bubbles = good quality, when nothing could be further from the truth.

 

At one point I bought a 16oz jar of sodium lauryl sulfate - powder --- what a rude awakening THAT was !

I opened the jar and it truly knocked me on my ass.....just the scent alone was as if I have sniffed acid or some ingredient that burned the inside and outside of my nose at the same time from a distance of 8-10 inches. I knew I had truly found my culprit - from that one sniff.
If it did that -- so quickly.....can you imagine what it would do to the fragile hair bulbs on your scalp after years of use.

It would help when trying to solve the problem of hair shampoos - hair loss and hair shine on yourself to leave any type of "harsh ingredient  So after eliminating some of the ingredients and making my own shampoos and actually giving them to 20 18-25 yr.old clients I could observe if there was any changes or not.....Remember at this time, I was very green and did not know a fraction of what I do now! 

Back then Malibu 2000 was Sulfate-free and a couple other brands.........Lanza, etc..were all we had to choose from....... So that was all these people were given to use for months....
Guess what began to happen?
New growth spouted.......
Thickness returned....
and the most important to the client???.............Their length began to get longer than ever (this was of course after 1 year of the controlled testing) and then finally my questions were all answered and I still cannot believe that all of that trauma and worry was caused by one silly ingredient in a product that most everyone used on a daily basis.
I was thrilled with my results and I still have a hard time finding lines that have a wonderfully formulated Shampoo, they still will not listen....

So keep your eyes and ears open !

KC