Tempting the "Fates."
The "sulfates" that is.
Sulfates (salt) are used in many beauty products to create a lather when you use them. They're in the Meyer's Lavender hand soap I have on the bathroom counter. They're in the Physician's Choice of Arizona face wash for oily skin I use. They're even in most shampoos and conditioners. And that is bad. Bad for curly/wavy-haired gals... Like me.
Creating a lather when you use a product makes for easier distribution of the product over the surface (skin or hair). But when it comes to curly and wavy hair, they can make you're hair go crazy and frizzy. They irritate the cuticles in the strands. So for girls with hair like mine, the best thing to do is avoid shampoos with product names that include "sulfate" in them.
But....
Good luck finding shampoos in the local CVS that don't have them. I know because I spent quite a bit of time picking up brands lining the shelves checking for "sodium laurel sulfate" or "ammonium laurel sulfate" as an ingredient. So back home and onto Google I went!
In a matter of seconds Google returned many search results for the query "shampoo without sodium laurel sulfate." I quickly learned that there are brands out there that don't contain this ingredient; and are available at stores within walking distance of me. The one brand I came across that really got my attention was "Aubrey Organics."
It got my attention because, coincidentally, I used to do PR for this company when I lived in NYC. It was five and a half years ago... I was working at a boutique PR firm in Manhattan that focused on beauty, health and fitness clients. One of our clients was a health and organic beauty company (Aubrey Organics.) The day I started at the firm, my boss (the President) loaded me with free samples of the products. And while they all smelled great, I wasn't really interested in them for myself as the packaging wasn't really pretty, back then. I did use some of the powdered-mineral make up. But ultimately, they didn't impress me.
Flash-forward years later and I am staring at the website on my computer screen, reading the ingredients. And I decide to rush over to Whole Foods to buy some new shampoo and conditioner.
I brought it home and tried it out yesterday. And the first thing I noticed was that the shampoo doesn't really lather up at all. I almost dumped another handful on my head, because I left like it wasn't getting my thick hair clean. But I decided to just continue with the recommended amount; and then rinsed it out. I moved onto the conditioners and noticed it was very thick. I didn't feel compelled to use a half a cup like I do with my other conditioner. I let it sit on my hair for about five minutes. Then rinsed it out and took a shower comb to my hair.
The verdict...
This stuff is awesome! My hair felt clean AND I had no knots in my wavy hair when I went to comb it through.
This is great stuff.
Sulfates (salt) are used in many beauty products to create a lather when you use them. They're in the Meyer's Lavender hand soap I have on the bathroom counter. They're in the Physician's Choice of Arizona face wash for oily skin I use. They're even in most shampoos and conditioners. And that is bad. Bad for curly/wavy-haired gals... Like me.
Creating a lather when you use a product makes for easier distribution of the product over the surface (skin or hair). But when it comes to curly and wavy hair, they can make you're hair go crazy and frizzy. They irritate the cuticles in the strands. So for girls with hair like mine, the best thing to do is avoid shampoos with product names that include "sulfate" in them.
But....
Good luck finding shampoos in the local CVS that don't have them. I know because I spent quite a bit of time picking up brands lining the shelves checking for "sodium laurel sulfate" or "ammonium laurel sulfate" as an ingredient. So back home and onto Google I went!
In a matter of seconds Google returned many search results for the query "shampoo without sodium laurel sulfate." I quickly learned that there are brands out there that don't contain this ingredient; and are available at stores within walking distance of me. The one brand I came across that really got my attention was "Aubrey Organics."
It got my attention because, coincidentally, I used to do PR for this company when I lived in NYC. It was five and a half years ago... I was working at a boutique PR firm in Manhattan that focused on beauty, health and fitness clients. One of our clients was a health and organic beauty company (Aubrey Organics.) The day I started at the firm, my boss (the President) loaded me with free samples of the products. And while they all smelled great, I wasn't really interested in them for myself as the packaging wasn't really pretty, back then. I did use some of the powdered-mineral make up. But ultimately, they didn't impress me.
Flash-forward years later and I am staring at the website on my computer screen, reading the ingredients. And I decide to rush over to Whole Foods to buy some new shampoo and conditioner.
I brought it home and tried it out yesterday. And the first thing I noticed was that the shampoo doesn't really lather up at all. I almost dumped another handful on my head, because I left like it wasn't getting my thick hair clean. But I decided to just continue with the recommended amount; and then rinsed it out. I moved onto the conditioners and noticed it was very thick. I didn't feel compelled to use a half a cup like I do with my other conditioner. I let it sit on my hair for about five minutes. Then rinsed it out and took a shower comb to my hair.
The verdict...
This stuff is awesome! My hair felt clean AND I had no knots in my wavy hair when I went to comb it through.
This is great stuff.
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