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.
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The clorine in the tap water is bleaching your haircolor. you can get a filter for your shower head at home depo or somewhere.
It’s a good thing I’m blond! (I like using either castile or black soap on my hair, and these really lighten things up.)
As a general rule, I try to stay away from sulfates-I found out from using a certain antibiotic that I’m allergic to sulfas. It makes life a bit difficult, though. I have to give up regular shampoo so I can take my anemia medication, which is ferrous sulfate.
Too much sulpher and I break out into a rash. Yet again, it’s a good thing I’m blond…
That could be a whole other blog post–on whether shower filters do anything for hair. I got one from sprite at waterproducts.com. I used it for a few years. I convinced myself my hair felt softer, but I’m really not sure if it wasn’t a placebo effect.