Susanna’s Concerned About Curls:
What a superb blog! My question: I’m trying to grow my hair long, and for over a year now I’ve been avoiding using sulphate-heavy shampoos, commercial dyes, heat styling and brushes. I now have a halo of super curly, short, new hairs. The length of my hair is not so curly, it’s barely wavy. Are these new hairs curly because they’re short, and will straighten out as they get longer, or is it just that the length of my hair *would* be curlier if it hadn’t been blitzed with detergents/hair dryers/alcohol-based styling products/vigorous brushing when wet – all things that can damage hair’s structure?
The Left Brain Reassures Her:
It sounds like you’re doing most things right including avoiding heat styling, brushing and hair dyes. However, avoiding sulfate-containing shampoos has no effect on the damage you will get from shampooing. All shampoos will damage your hair to about the same extent. Sulfate fears is just something made-up by small marketing companies to get you to buy their more expensive shampoos. They aren’t better. Check out this post we did on sulfates some time ago.
The hairs you describe are curly for two reasons: the shape of the follicle from which they grow and the chemical nature of the protein in your hair. Hairs that have a slight curl can look even curlier when they`re short because they don’t weigh as much. As they get longer, they will weigh more (just a little more) and that could be enough to straighten them out.
It is not likely that your hair would be curlier if it wasn’t damaged. In fact, damaged hair is usually less straight then non-damaged hair. Just think of frizzy hair. It’s much more curly than straight hair and it’s usually more damaged.
Hope that helps. Feel free to ask another question and tell your friends about The Beauty Brains.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Oops!
“Do Sulfate Free Shampoos Stop Hair From Being Curly”
I was asking the opposite!
I know that I can’t change how curly the hair produced by each follicle is, but whether, with gentle care, my hair will keep a better curl and be less frizzy.
Here’s a good before and after:
http://www.ylcf.org/gotcurl/
Susanna, so sorry for the miscommunication. Sometimes the written word doesn’t get the exact message across.
Your hair will indeed keep a better curl and be less frizzy if you keep it less damaged. Damaging processes like blow drying, combing and shampooing will all tend to cause more frizz and make the curls look less “organized”.
Using sulfate free shampoos is not any less damaging than using regular shampoos (despite what you’ve been told). However, using something like a baby shampoo could help but your hair won’t get as clean. Also, using a conditioner will also help prevent damage.
Probably the best thing you can do is shampoo your hair less. Each time you shampoo it you cause damage because it gets wet, swells the cuticles and has to be dried.
Hope that helps
Curly hairs really mmake a plus point in your beauty.So to have curly hairs ‘minutecurls’ is for you.
Noooooo!!!I have natural curly/fine hair I’m 21 and before using Sulfate-free shampoo my hair was so dried and I lost alot of my natural curlly look to shampoos like pantene…But now my curls are less frizzy more volumious and sexy…:D thanks to sulfate-free line
I disagree with your responce about sulphates in shampoo. They do damage your hair- they dry it out. Shampoos that do not contain sulphates are less damaging and drying- there is a big difference!
@Ann – and this is based on what evidence? What proof do you have that non-sulfate containing shampoos damage hair less?
Uhm, if you type in Google, “Sulfates in shampoo” you’ll see what Ann means. SLS dries out the hair. Not sure about other races, but it dries out African American hair. (natural hair)
As an African American woman I was annoyed that you would actually profess that shampoos are shampoos sulfate-free or not. That’s such a load.
Since I started using sulfate free shampoos my hair is nowhere near as dry immediately following wash. Yes before conditioner is applied I could tell the difference.
Young lady (asking the question), keep searching the net. This was not good advice. But such is free speach..
I noticed an incredibly dramatic difference in my hair when I stopped using sulfate shampoos. I cowash instead, currently using Tressemme Naturals Conditioner.
I have SUPER THICK curly hair that i blow dry straight and flat iron. My hairdresser the Shielo Antioxidant Leave in Protecter Spray and i decided to try it, though i was hesitant.
I tried it for a week with no other styling products, and since that week i have been a believer! This product is amazing – My hair is now shiny, silky, soft and not damaged at all.
It’s also nice to only have to use 1 styling product as opposed to the 2,3, and sometimes even 4 that i was previously using.
{ 2 trackbacks }