Curl Friendly Product Ingredients

Here's some tips on ingredients that will help you sort through your cupboard to find out what's best for your hair.  You can even print this list use it to take shopping with you. Here are my best tips to keep in mind when you are choosing products and looking at labels.

1. Avoid sulfates in your shampoos

Sulfates are harsh foaming detergents that are found in many commercial shampoos and dish detergents. They can be extremely drying for curly hair, so choose sulfate-free shampoos. Sulfates contain “sulfate” somewhere in the ingredient name (usually). Also, keep in mind that there are some cleansers that are as harsh as sulfates but are not sulfates. If you decide to use a shampoo, avoiding sulfates is best. Sulfates are also difficult to remove off the scalp, so remember you need to scrub to clean your scalp, but also scrub while rinsing your hair to help remove them fully from the hair. Just rinsing out your shampoo isn’t enough.

Here is a list of sulfates to avoid:

Alkylbenzene sulfonates                                                     

Ammonium laureth sulfate                                                 

Ammonium Xylenesulfonate                                             

Sodium cocoyl sarcosinate                                               

Sodium lauryl sulfate                                                      

Sodium myreth sulfate                                                       

TEA-dodecylbenzenesulfonate                                            

Dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate

Alkyl Benzene Sulfonate

Ethyl PEG-15 cocamine sulfate

Sodium Xylenesulfonate

Sodium lauryl sulfoacetate

Sodium laureth sulfate

Sodium C14-16 Olefin

Sulfonate

Alkyl Benzene Sulfonate

Ammonium lauryl sulfate

Instead, look for these gentle cleansing ingredients:

Cocamidopropyl betaine                                                  

Cocoamphoacetate                                                           

Disodium cocoamphodiacetate                                        

Lauroamphoacetate                                                           

behentrimonium methosulfate                                         

babassuamidopropyl betaine

disodium lautreth

Sodium cocoyl isethionate

sulfosuccinate

Disodium

cocoamphodipropionate

 Cocoamphodipropionate

 Coco betaine

2. Avoid silicones, waves, non-natural oils or any other non water soluble ingredients in your conditioners and styling products

This is key to making sure your products do not build up on your hair. Without shampoo, many of the following ingredients will build up in your hair over time. Remember that a silicone is any ingredient that ends with the suffixes -one, -conol, or -xane.

Waxes are easily identified because they have “wax” in the ingredient name (usually). They act as a barrier to water, or a repellent of sorts.  Water is our moisture, so if your hair is feeling dry then likely water is having a hard time getting into the hair and it could be due to some of these ingredients in your haircare product.

Here is a list of silicones to avoid:

Dimethicone                                                                        

Cetearyl methicone                                                              

Cyclopentasiloxane                                                              

Stearyl Dimethicone                                                             

Amodimethicone Dimethicone

Dimethiconol Behenoxy

Bisaminopropyl dimethicone

Trimethylsilylamodimethicone

Stearoxy Dimethicone

Cetyl Dimethicone

Bisaminopropyl dimethicone

Phenyl trimethicone                    

Here is a list of waxes and non-natural oils to avoid:

Castor oil                                                                            

Petrolatum

Waxes: bees wax, candelia wax,        

Mineral oil (parrifidium liquidium) etc

Here’s a list of ingredients that look like silicones, or are water-soluble silicones. These are exceptions that are OK:

Lauryl methicone copolyol (water soluble) Lauryl PEG/PPG-18/18 Methicone

Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein Hydroxypropyl Polysiloxane (water soluble)

Dimethicone Copolyol (water soluble)

PEG-Dimethicone, or any other ‘cone with “PEG-” suffix (water soluble)

Emulsifying Wax PEG-Hydrogenated Castor Oil

Natural oils: Avocado oil, Olive oil, Coconut oil, etc.

Benzophenone-2, ( or 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) – sunscreen

Methychloroisothiazolinone – preservative

Methylisothiazolinone – preservative

3. Avoid drying alcohols, if at all possible, in your conditioners and stylers

Drying alcohols are commonly found in conditioners, leave in conditioners, gels, mousses, and hairspray as fillers.

For products that you are going to rinse out, this is not as big of a deal, but for products that are going to sit in your hair all day, or for several days, they should not contain drying alcohols.

There are also moisturizing or fatty alcohols however, that sound similar, so be sure not to confuse those with drying alcohols.

Here is a list of drying alcohols to avoid:

Denatured alcohol SD alcohol 40

Witch hazel Isopropanol

Ethanol SD alcohol

Propanol Propyl alcohol

Isopropyl alcohol

Instead look for these more moisturizing alcohols:

Behenyl alcohol                                                            

Cetyl alcohol                                                                 

Isostearyl alcohol                                                            

Myristyl alcohol                                                              

C30-50 Alcohols        

Lanolin alcohol        

Stearyl alcohol      

Lauryl alcohol    

Isocetyl alcohol   

Cetearyl alcohol               

4. Consider the effect proteins in your hair products may have on your hair

Most hair needs some amount of protein in its diet, especially damaged hair.
However, healthy hair does not need large doses of protein all the time.

If your normally healthy hair feels stiff or dry, then your hair may be getting too much protein.

Which protein you need to avoid, depends on the condition and properties of your hair. You can watch a webinar here that will teach you more about  protein as an ingredient.

Here is a list of common proteins:

Cocodimonium hydroxypropyl hydrolyzed casein

Cocodimonium hydroxypropyl hydrolyzed collagen

Cocodimonium hydroxypropyl hydrolyzed hair keratin

Cocodimonium hydroxypropyl hydrolyzed keratin

Cocodimonium hydroxypropyl hydrolyzed rice protein

Cocodimonium hydroxypropyl hydrolyzed silk

Cocodimonium hydroxypropyl hydrolyzed soy protein

Cocodimonium hydroxypropyl hydrolyzed wheat protein

Cocodimonium hydroxypropyl silk amino acids

Cocoyl hydrolyzed collagen Cocoyl hydrolyzed keratin

Hydrolyzed keratin Hydrolyzed oat flour

Hydrolyzed silk Hydrolyzed silk protein

Hydrolyzed soy protein Hydrolyzed wheat protein

Hydrolyzed wheat protein Keratin

Potassium cocoyl hydrolyzed collagen

TEA-cocoyl hydrolyzed collagen

TEA-cocoyl hydrolyzed soy protein

Remember, sulfates are ingredients that contain “sulfate” or “sulfonate”; silicones end in -one, -conol, or -xane. PEG modified silicones are acceptable but may still build up on the hair over time. I suggest using a clarifying shampoo about once a month as a reboot, just in case!  Also, a reminder that waxes contain the word “wax”; and drying alcohols often contain propyl, prop, eth, or denatured in the name. Have fun shopping!  Remember, some shelters will take unopened products, so donate when you can. Always call ahead first to find out their policy on accepting personal care products. 

Note: I am in no way a scientist so I cannot answer any further on this information shared, but I do know how ingredients in products can either help or harm your hair. My goal for you is healthy hair and this is a great place to start. 

xo Krista