Co-washing may be a curly girl’s best friend, but clarifying shampoo should at least become an acquaintance! Even if you use ‘clean’ hair products, there are still benefits to clarifying every once in awhile.
You definitely do not want to over-clarify your hair, as doing so may dry your hair out. However, using a good clarifying shampoo at least once a month, or whenever you feel it is needed, will help in keeping your hair shiny, bouncy and defined as well as keep your scalp free of buildup, excess oil, and environmental toxins. At the same time it stays healthy, and optimal for hair growth. A clarifying shampoo thoroughly cleanses the hair, so the beneficial moisturizing and strengthening ingredients from treatments to follow can penetrate even better.
The frequency with which you clarify is really a personalized thing. Personally, since I’ve been trying to avoid non-water soluble silicone products lately, I’ve been using one once monthly, and I like to pair it with an intense deep treatment (usually Ouidad Deep Treatment Curl Restoration Therapy“> since freshly clarified hair will get the most of treatments to follow.
If you have been struggling with your curls looking limp, undefined, weighed down, and you are just unable to get great hair days even using your usual regimen, a clarifying shampoo may be the solution to that problem.
There are clarifying shampoos out today that have come such a long way from the ones of years past that were full of sulfates and would strip the hair of all essential moisture, leaving hair dry and brittle in the process. All of the clarifying shampoos I mention are sulfate-free!
Four favorite clarifying shampoos:
Ouidad Water Works Clarifying Shampoo
This has been the main clarifying shampoo I’ve gone to for the best few years. Aside from smelling like a delicious fruit smoothie, it thorough cleans and moisturizes my curls. I like that all the superfruits inside such as acai, blueberry, and pomegranate provide my hair with antioxidants to help fight free radicals and environmental aggressors that hit my hair daily from living in a high polluted area.
DevaCurl Buildup Buster
Buildup Buster has impressed me since my first try! It is the first hair product to use popular skin care ingredient, micellar water, to cleanse the hair thoroughly without stripping. This cleansing serum is also infused with abyssinian seed oil and jojoba for additional moisture and shine. Whenever I use this, I notice my curl definition is defined to the next level; my hair overall feels significantly lighter on top of my head.
Inahsi Naturals Soothing Mint Sulfate Free Clarifying Shampoo
This shampoo smells like incredible like mint-chocolate candy, but the ingredients are all-natural! Aside from the excellent clarifying cleanse and sulfate-free lather, ingredients such as peppermint oil, nettle and horsetail extract, lavender oil, and rosemary help promote healthy hair growth which I am all about!
SheaMoisture Jamaican Black Castor Oil Strengthen, Grow & Restore Shampoo
This is great to remove any product buildup. The apple cider vinegar inside helps provide additional shine while Castor Oil promotes growth and Shea Butter helps keep hair so soft.
These are my favorites, what are yours?
Let us know in the comment section below.
