The Biggest Cause Of Fading Hair Color

Kylie’s question: What would ammonium laureth sulfate do to color treated hair?

The Left Brain’s colorful reply:

Ammonium laureth sulfate is a detergent commonly used in both salon and store brand shampoos. You might even find it in some body washes.

It will remove color from your hair about the same amount as other shampoo detergents such as Ammonium lauryl sulfate, Sodium lauryl sulfate and Sodium laureth sulfate. Even baby shampoo detergents like PEG 80 Sorbitan Laurate or Cocamidopropyl Betaine will strip color from hair.

But even worse than these detergents is water. In fact, if you just soaked your head in pure spring water, much of your color will be drawn right out of your hair (artificial color that is).

If you want to protect your hair color from fading, reduce the number of times that you wash it. Also, reduce the length of time you rinse it by using less shampoo when you do wash.

If you want more advice consider joining the Beauty Brains Forum and posting your question there. That way you can see what has worked for other people.

Finally, if you’re really worried about the effects of sulfates on your hair, here’s a link to Icon’s Sulfate Free Conditioner. The strange thing is, most conditioners don’t even USE sulfates – so this product doesn’t seem like much of a breakthough!

Here’s a fun survey for all you Beauty Brainiacs out there – take a look at the back of your favorite bottle of shampoo and tell us if you’re using sulfates or not.