Shampoo

It's a sad, sad day for a girl when her favorite beauty product is taken off the shelves.  I lamented the loss of my shampoo almost a full year ago, when it was no longer available at Wal*Mart and rejoiced when I found it still sold at Pamida, stocking up for the inevitable-- when it was no longer available.
For a while I was able to get all of my hair products online.  My stash was running low so I made another order to discover that most of the line that I have enjoyed for years is no longer being made. 

Being the research junkie that I am and having this tragic event occur while Jim was out of town, I went into full-on research mode complete with hours of internet time, music in the background and carrots with ranch dressing. 

I may be exaggerating-- it is not and will never be a tragedy to lose a beauty product off the shelves.  I was not kidding, however, about the amount of research I did. 

I learned the basics of shampoo and read hundreds of reviews on various brands and varieties within those brands.  Since many of my readers (Ha! Many... so, 6 out of the 7?) are women and since my husband also found my knew found shampoo knowledge useful, I thought I would share.

The first ingredient on your shampoo bottle will inevitably be water.  Followed by the is the primary detergent used.  The detergent is obviously what cleans the hair, or, strips it of oils.  Some detergents are healthier than others.  The four primary detergents in shampoo are ammonium lauryl sulfate, ammonium laureth sulfate, sodium lauryl sulfate and sodium laureth sulfate.  These are ordered, for your convenience, from harshest to nicest to your hair.  This ingredient is the main ingredient in shampoo that determines the health of your hair, so it seems.  The harsher your detergent, the more often you will suffer from split ends, as it strips your hair of even the good oils.  The worst shampoos, apparently, are those with two of these ingredients listed.  Pantene Pro-V is an example of this. 

The shampoo I love has only sodium laureth sulfate (the least harsh detergent)  so I scoured the internet for brands that have only that detergent.  I discovered websites like directionsforme.org have the ingredients listed right away.  I was also looking for things like "silk" "shine" and "gloss" as I have straight hair.  And it had to be for "normal" hair, because those designed for damaged tend to do more damage.  I also wanted something with extra products, like mouse and a finishing spray.

So, I had it down to Nexxus, Marc Anthony, Tresemme, and Fructis.  There were other brands but these ones were the ones that had a line that matched all of my criteria.  Nexxus, while tempting with it's avocodo oil (supposedly amazing for your hair) was the most expensive.  Tresemme disappointed in lower ingredients (I could go into detail on that one, but this is already getting too long).  I used to love Fructis and Jim uses it but I wanted to try something new. 
Marc Anthony shampoo matched my old shampoo the closest in ingredients and also had the shortest ingredient list.  I have this theory that less is more in most things that require ingredients that I can't pronounce. 

So the verdict: I'm glad I did my homework.  It's almost like my old shampoo but smells more salon-like.

So there you have it.  Way too much information on shampoo.