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Can anyone tell me a good line of salon shampoos and conditioners and stuff to use on my hair? I have shoulder length hair, very dry if I don't use anything in it, but healthy and soft also. All I use now is your cheap store stuff... pantene, herbal essences, etc. I have a feeling this stuff is WAY too harsh for my hair. I also don't use any styling products, and I really need to do something different with my hair, I don't like it. I need a good shampoo/conditioner, and something I can put in my hair afterwards and maybe blowdry... I'm looking for a straight, silky type look. My hair is only slightly wavy, but mainly just at the ends, otherwise it's pretty straight. Any advice? I feel so weird walking in to the salon to look for stuff... I feel like everyone is watching me. Ugh. Help, please!
Shampoos designed for color-treated hair are gentle. I like Redken Color-Extend shampoo and conditioner. I have wavy, kind of frizzy hair that I try to style to be smooth and straight. For that I use Redken "straight" hair straightning balm. It protects your hair from getting damaged by heat and makes my hair a lot smoother.
So how does this stuff work overall for your hair? Does it get it the way you want it?
Yes, it works for me, but everyone's hair is different. You'll probably have to try some different things before you find what works well for you.
Check out the list of ingredients on shampoos and conditioners. They're pretty much the same, except some of the fancy products include exotic herbs & stuff that sound impressive, but don't have any effect on your hair one way or the other . . . usually.
They put a detergent (usually sodium laurel sulfate, sodium laureth sulfate, ammonium laurel sulfate, or ammonium laureth sulfate) in a shampoo, and add something to make it lather (MEA or DEA), along with a thickener (various gentle alcohols) and a fragrance, maybe a coloring agent, and some do-nothing ingredients to make it seem like they've put the "goodness of wheat germ oil" or whatever in the product. Mostly, though, shampoo is 70 to 80% water.
From what I understand, it's hard to go wrong with shampoos made for chemical treated hair or for color treated hair. Or for that matter, you could use a bit of a combination shampoo/conditioner. What you'll want to avoid is a product with lots of sodium (or ammonium) laurel sulfate, and go for the laureth stuff (sodium laureth sulfate or ammonium . . .) as it's a bit harsher on the hair. Some shampoos put stuff like Tea Tree Oil in it, and you definitely don't want to use that . . . it's irritating stuff. It sounds natural, though, and folks buy that "natural sounding" stuff. But for shampoo, you want a gentle detergent (not soap), and you'd probably do well to avoid one with lots of lathering agent, because the FDA recently announced that some lathering agents produce cancer in mice (but not rats) and they're looking into the matter a bit more before they rule on its safety . . .
Conditioners . . . I gotta finish this up quick, so I'll just say that some of 'em use wax and other stuff that builds up on the hair shaft, and you don't want that. The buildup can get dry and brittle and break, and take your hair along with it. Ugh. To make a long story short, I've had good luck with the Aussie stuff.
Pretty much, the stuff that's sold in salons is the same stuff they put in supermarket products. There are companies out there that make shampoos and conditioners and will put 'em in a plastic bottle with anyone's name on 'em, and that's what happens a lot of time in smaller salons. A few chain salons make their own formula (contract it out, actually), but they really don't have the big budgets for research that companies like Procter & Gamble, Clairol, L'Oreal do. So, without actually knowing what's in a product and understanding what each chemical actually does, you really can't tell what's good for your hair and what's just "window dressing." So there's no reason to assumme the high $$$ stuff in the salons is any better than what you can get at the supermarket.
Anyway, in conditioners, they put thickeners in (the same alcohols they use in shampoos), along with glycerin (stays in hair after rinsing, and attracts & holds water to the hair shaft) as a "humectant," and sometimes they use silicone oils (dimethicone, trimethicone, phenyltrimethicone) to make it shine and untangle, and fragrances, herbs (teas), and various & sundry other stuff. Again, I like the Aussie stuff. The conditoners tend to be a bit thick, but they work for me pretty well.
Ugh . . . time . . . gotta run . . . but bone up on the chemicals they put in hair products . . . after a short while you should be able to formulate your own.
Good luck,
--Tock