So many stupid ideas emerge from the beauty industry (currently squatting in my dining room: foaming lip cleanser, self-adhesive ear correctors, a new skincare range for testicles) that it’s disappointing when genuinely good ones fail to take off. The most recent case in point: cleansing conditioners. These are conditioners with mild cleansing agents, inspired by “co-washing”, a popular method for keeping afro hair clean and odour-free with only conditioner, rather than loading it up with drying, frizz-causing, detergent-based shampoos.
Despite considerable efforts to re-educate the masses, brands failed to convince that cleansing conditioners wouldn’t make European hair lank and greasy (trust me, a woman with lamentably fine hair – many don’t). Admirably refusing to wave the white flag, brands are simply changing tack. Enter no-sulphate shampoos, foamless or low-foaming shampoos with increased conditioning properties for dry, curly and coloured hair.
Among the first is L’Oréal Elvive, which has rarely put a foot wrong these past couple of years. Its Low Shampoo, £6.99, cleanses very well and leaves dry, coloured hair ungreasy and smelling delicious. Charles Worthington has gone further, and taken the technology from hugely popular micellar waters (those clear, watery makeup removers so useful when too tired or drunk to make it to the sink) and applied it to Everyday Gentle Micellar Shampoo, £5.99. It works in the same way as the facial cleansers – by using micelles, ball-shaped clusters of very mild surfactants that attract dirt and hold on to it. This makes for an extremely mild but effective cleanse that, during testing by myself and a thick-haired friend, proved a huge hit. Hair felt clean and weightless, but soft, bouncy and devoid of frizz. Another personal favourite is Percy & Reed’s Perfectly Perfecting Wonder Cleanse & Nourish, £18, a no-foam hair cleanser packed with essential oils that doesn’t beat out any bulk in finer hair.
There are marked benefits in going sulphate-free, at least most of the time (I’d still suggest an old-fashioned shampoo at least once a week). Colour remains brighter for longer, scalp and hair dryness should improve, you save time by skipping the separate conditioner – all while making a smaller contribution to the environmental impact of detergents. Everyone’s a winner. I just hope that this time we believe it.
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