Need product recommendations

jkg7770

Is there a list somewhere of all the products that are good for the no poo method? Items that are sulfate and silcone free?

I've been meaning to get on here and research for a long time, but I'm always strapped for time and I'm confused reading labels. I just need a product list and some recommendations so I can make some purchases.

I have boticelli type curls - lots of curl on the underlayer, not so much on top layer. My hair is course and thick and the ends are dry, even after a trim.

I've been using Wen for about a year. It's ok, but I'm not thrilled with it (and I'm still confused about whether it has sulfates!). As for styling products, I've been using whatever I find from the million partially used products in my cabinet. I really want to find one good silicone free clear gel and use it regularly.

Can anyone point me to a list or make some product recommendations?

Morgan_Adcock

There's a good chance your hair is dry because it's so well coated in silicone that water can neither get in nor out. it causes a weird sort of dryness that looks glossy on the outside, but the inside is dehydrated. I don't recall if the Wen products are sulfate free, but my recollection is that they're definitely not silicone free.

I recommend reading the ingredients information on Live Curly, Live Free, as that is really the best, succinct information about ingredients for curls.

In the meantime, if you just want to get up and running quickly, the biggest hurdle is going to be doing a final cleanse with a sulfate poo to get silicones out of your hair. The reason is that the haircare manufacturers are now making the cycle of dependency even harder to exit by adding silicones to shampoos.

Having been CG for nearly 2.25 years, the last time I bought a sulfate poo was 2.25 years ago, so I'm not exactly up to date on the best ones to use. However, I used a Burt's Bees shampoo at that time, and it really seemed to fit the bill. The main thing for this final non-CG cleanse is to make sure there are no silicones in it. If they were all listed as "silicone," that would be pretty easy to do, but there are all kinds of fancy names on the labels, none of which are "silicone." What you should watch out for are ingredients with names that end in -cone, -conol, -col, or -xane, and don't begin with PEG. Please note that L'Oreal Everpure is neither sulfate nor silicone free, it's only free of the most commonly known of the sulfate detergents, sodium laurel sulfate.

If you're going to conditioner wash (i.e. co-wash), you won't need a low-poo. You can get by with one silicone-free conditioner. Fortunately, silicone-free conditioners are cheap and easy to find. Suave Naturals conditioners are all silicone-free, and the V05 conditioners are also. Please note that under the Suave label it's only the Naturals line which are cone-free amongst their conditioners, and other than that they have a gel also; and they are pretty typical in this. Most haircare manufacturers either don't have any cone-free products, or have a very small number that are. Either of those (Suave Naturals or V05 conditioners) will be fine for co-washing.

Some people use a richer conditioner for their rinse out, but you can use the same conditioner for co-washing, rinse out conditioner, and leave in conditioner. For rinse out, I use the one product L'Oreal used to put out that was cone-free, but they discontinued that. Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition and Tressemme Naturals both seem to be popular. Regis Design Line (at the salons inside Walmart's big boxes) has an Olive Oil conditioner I've heard only good things about. Biolage Matrix Conditioning Balm or Sally's knock off GVP Conditioning Balm are other possibilities.

After rinsing your rinse out conditioner out, add a little of the same back in. By doing that, you know how much you've got on, and where on your hair it is, rather than playing a guessing game with it.

LA Looks Sports or Wet Look Gel are both good. Kiss My Face has a very good one, Upper Management, which you would probably find in the health food section of your market, or someplace like Vitamin Shoppe. I personally like [buylink=http://www.curlmart.com/DevaCurl-Angell-p-57.html?utm_source=naturallycurly.com&utm_medium=text-link&utm_content=curltalk-post-text&utm_campaign=devacurl-devacurl-angell]DevaCurl AnGel[/buylink], and DevaCare ArcAngel too -- particularly nice when mixed with a little bit of DevaCurl B'LeaveIn (which works as a styling product for me, rather than as a leave in). You might also like EcoStyler's Olive Oil gel (but not the Krystal Ice, which is high in protein).

HTH

jkg7770

You have summarized everything that would take me a long time to find and read!! And you answered a lot of my questions!

I have to run to Walgreens to pick up a prescription now, so I'm going to check out their selection. Then hopefully I can do the final clarifying wash tonight.

Thanks again!

nandiknits

Just another note from a coarse haired curly - if your hair is coarse, you will likely want to stay away with anything that has protein in it.

vtcurlie

You might find that after you clarify Wen will work better than it did before. I think it has the a-cone in it which does cause some curlies problems, but not everyone. I use Wen quite often as a co-wash & LI and I love it. I alternate between it and [buylink=http://www.curlmart.com/DevaCurl-No-Poo-p-53.html?utm_source=naturallycurly.com&utm_medium=text-link&utm_content=curltalk-post-text&utm_campaign=devacurl-devacurl-nopoo]devacurl no-poo[/buylink] and my curls are very moisturized. I actually find that it's the styling products that cause me the most problems, and that gel dries me out no matter what I have under it. So maybe after you clarify you'll find that Wen works better than it did before. It's too expensive to throw out! So I'd at least try again after clarifying and maybe you can use it up and be happy with it after all.

Morgan_Adcock

They used to think that amodimethicone was watersoluble as long as another chemical was present, but IIRC it has to be present with it in suspension for that to be true. So it's not going to come out with a co-wash.

You're right that the Wen styling products are cone city: Cyclopentasiloxane, Cyclotetrasiloxane, Dimethiconol, Dimethicone, and Trimethylsilylamodimethicone. Yikes!

lianeandthemusic

If you're looking for a cleansing conditioner similiar in terms of usage to Wen, make sure it's silicone free. The buildup from silicones will not a lovely head of hair make. I use Curl Junkie Daily Fix Cleansing Conditioner and I love it! There are definitely other ones that are great. Also, if you use styling products, make sure they are silicone free. This way, your cleansing conditioner can do its job. These can be hard to find (and pricey!) but getting rid of silicones in your hair diet will really help. I wish I had figured this out sooner.

Meghan94

I haven't used any good sulfate-free shampoos, but I can recommend Tresemme's conditioner from its Naturals line. It's silicone free and conditions my hair without build up.
Actually I've been no poo for a little over two weeks now and have only been using that to wash my hair. I didn't even go through the greasy phase most people do. My hair pretty much went straight to being awesome. So I really do recommend it.