Julie’s fearful of Phyto: I looked at the contents for Phyto Phytonectar shampoo for ultra dry hair and the cleansing agent is Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, which many claim is very irritating and drying. Now I understand that it’s meant to be used after their Phytonectar oil - thus a clarifying shampoo is necessary. However a Phyto trained specialist once assured me that “all of the Phyto oils are water-soluble” and therefore rinsed out with water leaving no residue. So why the super-drying shampoo?

The Right Brain goes psycho on Phyto:
Kudos to you, Julie, for paying attention to the ingredients in the products you use! Here’s the scoop on Phytonectar:

Oily oil?

Phyto Phytonectar Oil contains a plethora of oils including Corn oil and Sunflower Seed Oil. Contrary to what the Phyto representative told you, these oils are NOT water soluble. (If you have this product at home, do this easy test: Just put a drop of oil on your finger and see if it rinses away when you dip it in water.)

Furthermore, if you’re trying to condition your hair, you don’t WANT the oils to completely rinse away. If they do, there’s nothing left behind to condition your hair! So, we’d expect that you WOULD need to shampoo this product out.

Savage shampoo?

Phyto Phytonectar Ultra Nourishing Shampoo (for Ultra dry hair) does not include Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS). But it does contain its close cousins Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate (ALS) and Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES). When used alone, SLS can leave your hair feeling really, really squeaky clean. But in addition to ALS and SLES, this formula contains several milder secondary surfactants Disodium Cocamphodiacetate, PEG 7 Glyceryl Cocoate, Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate, and PEG 4 Rapeseedamide. It’s even got a touch of Polyquaternium 10 to keep your hair from feeling stripped. So we wouldn’t call this shampoo “super drying.” Overall, we’d expect it to cleanse your hair without overly stripping it, even though it is lacking in any significant conditioning agents.

What do YOU think? Do you use oil treatments on your hair? Which ones are your faves? Leave a comment and share your thoughts with the rest of the Beauty Brains community.