Sulfates Dominican Hair Alliance

Is sulfate shampoo good or bad for natural hair?

by DHA's DIY | Apr 3, 2022 | INCI: all about the ingredients, Natural Hair, Shampoo, Shampoo Alternatives, Sulfates

sulfate shampoo sulfate shampoo sulfate shampoo sulfate shampoo sulfate shampoo

Are sulfates good or bad?

What do they do to natural hair?

Does sulphate-free shampoo make hair greasy?

Sulfates are the most controversial ingredients in haircare, but most of us don’t know why we hate them so much.

Think you know all there is to know about these ingredients? Well here’s the whole truth about sulfates.

sulfate shampoo sulfate shampooSulfate Shampoo:

Why sulfates became one of the most hated ingredients

Think you know all there is to know about these ingredients? Well here’s the whole truth about sulfates.

Once upon a time, almost everyone washed their hair with shampoos powered by small, but potent cleansers. These frothy soap replacements were easy to rinse from the hair, produced tons of lather and left hair squeaky clean. They were nicknamed “sulfates” by formulators, but pretty much no one else had ever heard of them

Sulfates are often blamed for dryness in curly hair. Image by the Collab.

Until 2001, the year sulfates were officially designated Public Enemy No. 1. The alarm was raised by an influential curly hairstylist who had just dropped her first book. In it, she blamed sulfates for the frizz and dryness that many people with curly hair struggle with. And little by little, natural hair sites and beauty magazines started turning on the ingredients they had been using for years.

By the 2010s, strange words like “no poo”, “co-wash” and “CG-friendly” had crossed into mainstream beauty speak. Soon nearly everyone was asking, “Is that sulfate-free?” at the hair shop – whether they knew what sulfates were or not.

So what is sulfate?

First off, ‘sulfate’ isn’t a single ingredient. When an ingredient has sulfate in its name, it means part of that molecule contains a little group composed of a sulphur atom joined to 4 oxygen atoms. Lots and lots of very different ingredients have sulfate groups – everything from natural minerals used to make plaster, to dyes, to magnesium sulphate aka Epsom salts – which by the way, can be very good for your scalp.

On natural hair, sodium laureth sulfate is a more moderate sulfate cleanser. Image by Edgar181.

But the sulfates people are usually talking about when it comes to hair are the kind that clean your hair; the anionic surfactants. These ingredients are molecules with a water-loving head and an oil-loving tail. Their superpower is that they can make two ingredients that usually hate each other – water and oil – join together. Sulfates use this superpower to work as cleansers, the most popular type in shampoos.

Is sulfate bad for hair?

Not all ‘sulfate’ ingredients have any effect on your hair at all. Sodium sulfate is used in cosmetics to thicken the product itself, without actually acting on your strands. Others, like magnesium sulfate, are rarely included in haircare, but tend to show up in products with an emphasis on scalp care.

So even if you’re going ‘sulfate free’, don’t panic if you see the word sulfate on an ingredients list right after ‘sodium’ or ‘magnesium’. It’s not what people are talking about when they say ‘sulfate shampoo’.

What they are talking about are these ingredients:

sodium lauryl sulfate
sodium laureth sulfate
ammonium lauryl sulfate
ammonium laureth sulfate

These are the main four cleansing agents, called sulfates for short, which have become so controversial in recent years. So are they bad? Some sulfates are good to your hair, some are somewhere in the middle, and some can be pretty bad for hair. How can you tell them apart? We’ll get to that in a minute.

What does sulfate do to natural hair?

The main thing sulfates do to natural hair is cleanse it. The problem is, sometimes, they do this job a little too well. When sulfate concentration is too high in a shampoo formula, it can remove more from your hair than just the dirt, product buildup and grease you want it to remove.

At high concentrations, sulfates can strip your hair of its bound lipids – oils that are naturally stuck to your cuticle, and whose job is to sit tight on the surface and protect it. Over time, this leaves your hair dried out, brittle, frizzy and rough.

Scarily, the most overzealous sulphates actually create little holes in your strands, as they go deep to remove oil, leaving hair weaker and more porous. The sulphates that do this are the smaller, harsher sulfates, the ones with lauryl in their name – like sodium lauryl sulfate and ammonium lauryl sulfate.

Avoid using sodium lauryl sulfate on your natural hair. Image by Lucas Lenzi.

But not all sulfates do this. Laureth sulfates are chemically modified to be milder. The same goes for the lesser known myreth sulfates which are also bigger, way too large to penetrate the strand, and so way gentler, too.

If you’re planning on using a sulphate shampoo, formulas that say sodium laureth sulfate, sodium myreth sulfate or ammonium laureth sulfate on the label should be able to cleanse your hair without completely stripping it.

What’s the difference between sulfates and sulphates?

Nothing! Chemically, they’re exactly the same. Sulphate is simply the ‘British’ (Or Jamaican or Canadian or Australian…) spelling, while sulfate is the way it’s spelled in the US. We’ve used both interchangeably in this article.

What’s the best sulfate shampoo for natural hair?

The best sulfate shampoo for natural hair will contain a laureth sulfate or myreth sulphate, whether that’s sodium laureth sulfate, sodium myreth sulfate or ammonium laureth sulfate

The best sulfate shampoos contain laureth or myreth sulfate, as used in atrActiva Anti-Stress Shampoo.

Avoid lauryl sulphates if you don’t want to overcleanse or create minute cracks in your cuticle surface. While you might be able to get away with using them occasionally in a well-formulated shampoo, they shouldn’t be part of your regular natural hair regimen unless you have seriously robust hair.

A good sulfate shampoo won’t be too concentrated, either. If it’s well-formulated, the shampoo should be strong enough to remove stubborn residue, including product buildup, grease and pollution – but balanced, to avoid being too harsh on your hair.

One more thing; the ideal sulfate shampoo will also cleanse without leaving buildup. On low porosity hair in particular, which has the lowest tolerance for residue, it’s best to avoid any shampoo that dumps a ton of unnecessary ingredients on your hair that you can’t rinse away.

A residue-free cleanser will allow your conditioner the space it needs to work to maximum effect, instead of having to compete with bits of leftover shampoo. And most importantly, it means your scalp can breathe!

Shampoos we’ve tested that fit the ideal sulfate shampoo criteria include atrActiva AntiStress Shampoo, which recently won the Award For Best Clarifying Shampoo, and Capilo La Aplanadora Shampoo.

Both of these are deep cleansers, meaning they’re suited for use as clarifying shampoos to remove weeks of buildup, or as a once weekly cleanser if you use a fair amount of product.

A moderate cleanser for more frequent use is Silicon Mix Shampoo, which you can use multiple times a week without overcleansing.

Does sulfate-free shampoo makes hair greasy?

Since the backlash against sulfates began, sulfate-free formulas have become more popular. Unfortunately, some sulfate-free shampoos do leave hair feeling greasy. Sometimes, it’s because they’re based on milder cleansing agents which can struggle to remove greasy buildup already on the hair.

And because these cleansing agents are so mild, they might have to be used at a higher concentration, which can be drying to the hair and scalp – causing your scalp to overcompensate by producing more oil.

Sulfate-free shampoos can leave hair greasy as they contain weaker cleansers. Image by Barbara Asboth.

The last reason why sulfate-free cleansers can leave your hair greasy might be disturbing for anyone avoiding sulfates because of their rep as harsh cleansers: Some sulfate-free shampoos contain cleansing agents that are actually harsher than most sulfates.

To mask their effect, manufacturers often include a lot of conditioning ingredients in the formula so you can’t actually feel that your hair is drying out. These ingredients can build up on your hair, leaving it feeling greasy instead.

That said, there are sulfate-free shampoos, for example, Halka Baba de Caracol Sulphate- Free Shampoo, which don’t do any of the above. Good sulfate-free shampoos will clean hair well without overloading it with grease or overcleansing it, but in practice, it’s very tricky for formulators to get the balance right, which is why it’s so hard to find a good sulfate-free shampoo.

Are sulfates safe for your health?

There are studies out there which link sulfates to skin cell damage. However, these tend to be based on sulfates used at higher concentrations, and leaving the ingredient on your skin, which you wouldn’t ordinarily do with shampoo.

The safety of every ingredient is “dose-dependent” and even sulfate-free cleansers and conditioning agents have maximum levels above which they should not be used in products for safety reasons.

That said, the evidence for lauryl sulfates and irritation is pretty compelling. These cleansers can be pretty harsh even with normal use, because of the way they disrupt the epidermal structure. They’re often used to purposely induce contact dermatitis in scientific experiments, for example.Finally, like any other ingredient, some people can be allergic to sulfates. If you are, definitely don’t use them..

Are there naturals who use sulfate shampoo?

Despite the widespread fear of sulfates in the natural community, there are tons of naturals who use sulfate shampoo. Some of them are recent re-converts to sulfate shampoos, like Jonell Sequira, others, like NappyFu – who has a really informative video on the topic – never left.

There are a couple of major reasons why they do. Since people with natural hair tend to use a lot more styling butters, oils and custard or pudding-type stylers, they tend to need better buildup removal than people with other hair types. The ingredients in these products can be hard to remove with co-washes, hair teas, or sulfate-free shampoos.

Rich natural butters can be hard to remove from the hair.

The rich butters used by many naturals can be hard to remove with co-washes, clays and sulfate-free shampoos. Image by Crishna Simmons.

Can you use sulfates on low porosity hair?

You can definitely use sulphate shampoos on low porosity hair. Sulphates are great at removing the type of debris that other cleansers leave behind. They’ll pick up a lot of the product residue these alternatives miss, as well as more of the usual stuff like dirt, sweat, sebum and pollutants.

When you have natural low porosity hair – especially 4C hair, which tends to have super low porosity – this level of effective cleansing has especially high value.

Why? The surface of low porosity hair is less absorbent and more prone to buildup, so shampoos that don’t effectively remove surface residue can actually block the effects of conditioners, interfere with styling, and affect the way hair feels. Since they’re so good at this step, sulfates can eliminate this problem, making low porosity hair easier to condition, moisturise and handle

Sulfates: One thing you should never do

Warning: sulfates are potent cleansers. Skipping conditioner afterwards, even if the sulfate shampoo you used says “2-in-1” or “moisturising” on the label, is a no-no. Following sulfate shampoos up with a good conditioner is a must if you don’t want your hair to dry out.

And since they clean the surface so well, treatments – especially moisture treatments – usually work better after using a sulfate shampoo than other cleansers, so there’s no excuse to skip conditioner, ever.

In fact, when you’re using such powerful shampoos, it’s even more important to have a washday routine that’s super gentle and kind to your hair.

Use this washday checklist to make sure you’re treating your curls as gently as they deserve, whether your cleanser contains sulfates or not.

Super Low Porosity Hair: 10 Things Most Naturals Don’t Know

by DHA's DIY | Mar 30, 2022 | Low Porosity, Natural Hair, Sulfates, Super Low Porosity

10 Things Most Naturals Don’t Know About Low Porosity Hair

If you have low porosity hair, you know how frustrating it is to sit through the constant barrage of hair advice that doesn’t work for your hair type.

Let’s face it, low porosity hair is still a bit of an enigma to the natural hair community – even for those who have it.

With that in mind, here are some little-known facts on low porosity you can use to finally master your hair.

1. Not all low porosity hair is the same…

We tend to talk about porosity in three big chunks: high porosity hair, medium porosity hair and low porosity hair. But there are quite a lot of porosity differences going on inside and on the edges of those categories.

Porosity isn’t discrete: it varies across a spectrum. There are degrees of low porosity and the degree decides how your hair will behave. At the low end of the porosity scale, two broad types appear: moderately low porosity, which fits the textbook definition of low porosity hair, and super low porosity hair, the most extreme version.

2. How to tell the difference between super low porosity hair and regular low porosity hair

Knowing how to do this will make a huge difference for people with the extremely low version. If it turns out you do have this hair type, you’ll have to go all out to get moisture into it, so knowing what you’re working with is very necessary. r low porosity super low porosity

taisiia stupak 1598398 unsplash small crop orig

Moderately low porosity hair takes long to get wet. You have to force (smooth or squeeze) the water in, soak it in a tub, or let it sit under a showerhead for ages. But it does get wet. Eventually…

Super low porosity hair doesn’t. Most of the water doesn’t get inside, no matter how much you smooth or squeeze, even if you stay under the shower till your fingertips start to prune. Another way to tell: If your hair has so many water droplets on it after you wash it, it looks like a crystal chandelier, you have super low porosity..

3. All hair starts out as low porosity

Even extremely high porosity hair. When all hair comes out of the scalp, it shows the same hydrophobic behaviour as low porosity hair because its cuticle is completely intact.

Wear and tear eventually makes hair more porous, and by the time a strand is a couple of inches out of the scalp it loses this low porosity status — except for the strands with the most compact, hermetically sealed cuticles, of course. Those will grow up to be your moderately and super low porosity hair.

All hair starts out with low porosity, even if it becomes high porosity later. Image by Luis Leon.

4. Not all low porosity hair takes forever to dry

One of the classic signs of low porosity hair is that it takes loooooong to dry. That could be hours, it could even be days. This hair type soaks up water slowly and it lets go of water slowly, too. But guess what? That defining characteristic is just true for moderately low porosity hair.

Super low porosity hair barely gets wet, so it doesn’t take much to get it to dry. In fact, super low porosity hair is more likely to flash dry; it’s not unheard of for this hair type to airdry within an hour— without heat. Why? Most of the water doesn’t get inside; the porosity is that low…

5. Sulfate shampoo is better for low porosity hair than co-washes and low poos

Is this curly girl sacrilege? Nope. Most naturals have been told that sulfates are not the way to go, there’s even a whole book on it. But that book wasn’t written by someone with low porosity hair.

Medium and high porosity hair have little trouble absorbing moisture through tons of buildup, as commonly left behind by co-washes, conditioning low poos, and DIY clarifiers like baking soda.

Low porosity hair is naturally less absorbent. No way enough moisture is getting through all of that buildup.

Laureth sulfate shampoos can be a game changer in removing drying buildup from low porosity hair.

atrActiva Anti-Stress Shampoo

Another reason to use sulfates on low porosity hair: sulfates are really good at reducing the surface tension of water. That’s the property that holds the surface of the water together, and makes water in a lake or in a glass look like it has a skin over the top.

The higher the surface tension, the harder it is for a liquid to wet or penetrate another surface, case in point your hair. Sulfates basically break that ‘skin’, lowering the surface tension of the water, making it easier for water molecules to enter your hair.So in a way, sulfates literally help moisturise your hair. Just remember to rinse them out all the way when you’re done and never use anything with “lauryl sulfate” on the label (“laureth sulfate” is cool).

6. Why one type of low porosity hair is harder to moisturise

If you’re used to hearing about how good low porosity hair is at retaining moisture, you might be wondering why your low porosity hair is so dry.

Contrary to the most popular definitions, low porosity hair isn’t always amazing at holding onto moisture.

Well, one of the two types of low porosity hair is usually going to have more trouble than the other in staying hydrated. There’s a reason for this: once porosity drops past a certain point, hair is no longer absorbent enough to easily take in the moisture it needs.

So moderately low porosity hair can absorb some moisture and is naturally good at locking moisture in. Super low porosity hair can’t absorb much moisture and is naturally good at locking moisture out. That’s why the lowest porosity hair, super low porosity hair, is also the driest hair.

7. How to moisturise super low porosity hair

If you have this hair type and you want it to be moisturised, you really need to get industrious. It means doing pretty much all of the things: Avoiding products that stop your hair taking in moisture; sectioning your hair and working everything in; using steam and conditioners like atrActiva Multivitamin, that can bind to low porosity hair’s surface; learning how to insulate your hair; breaking out your Super Low Porosity Survival Kit. . . the whole nine.

8. What naturals call low porosity, hairdressers call resistant.

Ever been told by a hairdresser that your hair is ‘resistant’? That’s what many in the haircare industry call low porosity hair. Very low porosity hair is also sometimes called ‘moisture resistant’ in the natural hair world.

These hair types are the ones that are slow to take up colour, perms or relaxer, because their cuticle simply won’t let them in. Porous or high porosity hair is the opposite: it not only sucks up moisture really fast, it processes really quickly, too.

Coarse hair is sometimes ‘resistant’ too: the extra cuticle layers mean some chemicals have to work a lot longer to change these strands. But not all coarse hair is resistant or low porosity. And not all resistant or low porosity hair is coarse, either.

9. Straight hair can be low porosity, too

this is low porosity hair. super low porosity hair is different

Hair that is naturally straight is often low porosity too. Image by Jc Laurio.

While there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence that 4b and 4c hair tend to have much lower porosity than looser curls, very straight to wavy hair (think 1a to 2b) is also often low porosity hair.

That’s not all that surprising: Old-fashioned hairdressing guides often single out super straight East Asian and super curly African hair as ‘resistant’ to processing. It’s stereotypical, as not everyone with these origins will have resistant hair, but it’s not completely a myth.

Researchers have pinpointed the structural reasons behind the resistant hair common among people with very straight and very curly hair. These include having more compact cuticle layers, a factor that is often linked to low porosity.

10. 4c hair is almost exclusively super low porosity

4c hair isn’t just about curl type. This hair type, formerly known as ‘CNapps’, is based on other characteristics too, including high shrinkage, sheen vs shine, and a dense appearance.

Most 4c hair is super low porosity hair. Image by Amanda Cardoso.

A natural lack of curl definition – the ‘C’ in CNapps stands for ‘cloud’ – is also one of 4c hair’s most distinctive traits. The big reason behind this cloud: 4c’s extremely low porosity.

Since water cannot easily penetrate or stick to the hair, it’s harder for strands to arrange themselves into bundles when wet. Those bundles or clumps are how curl definition happens.

The curl pattern itself is not a factor in this; even straight hair tends to clump together when wet.

The clumping happens because of the absorbency of high porosity to moderately low porosity hair. It allows the water to get in, which leads to individual strands sticking to each other. If those strands happen to be curly, the result is clumpy, defined curls.

Since 4c hair has mostly super low porosity, its absorbency is much lower, so it’s less likely to react to water in this way.

There is an exception to 4c super low porosity, though: finer 4c hair tends to be more porous than thicker hair, because it has fewer cuticle layers to form a barrier against water.

Bonus: Why Cold Water Rinses Fail On Low Porosity Hair

OK, so you probably already know this one: The final cold water rinse trick doesn’t work on low porosity hair – but it’s not because cold water closes your cuticles. That’s a myth.

Cuticles only make dramatic movements when you physically break them off, or place them in extremely acidic or alkaline environments, like bleach, a relaxer, or a homemade baking soda clarifier.

Here are a couple, more likely reasons why cold water doesn’t work well on low porosity hair:

One, the micelles that power your shampoo and conditioner usually don’t perform as well in cold water. So you might experience slightly better lather from your shampoo in warmer water and definitely better emulsion from your conditioner.

The lower performance in cooler temperatures also makes it harder to rinse surfactants and the debris they remove from your hair, meaning a lot of conditioner, some shampoo and some moisture-blocking build-up will likely be on your strands after you’re done rinsing.

Product that hasn’t been washed or rinsed out properly will be obvious on low porosity hair which has a very low tolerance for build-up.But the biggest reason is probably this one. The warmer water gets, the higher its energy and the lower its surface tension get. Hotter water is a better wetting agent, better equipped to penetrate your low porosity hair— and give it the moisture and plasticity it really needs. No wonder your low porosity hair likes it better!

For more on how to take care of super low porosity hair, take a look here. And if you want to moisture train your moisture-resistant hair, check out this free moisture training guide.

To preorder a Super Low Porosity Survival Kit, just fill in the form below:

super low porosity super low porosity