Shampoo Types: Clarifying, Sulfate-Free & More

At Compar, we have spent many years researching beauty consumers' needs and wishes when washing their hair. We found that no hair is equal and a movement for more gentle cleansing of hair is rising. This led us to create your Natural Hair Journey focusing on embracing your natural hair by avoiding damaging and drying ingredients.

We are tapping into the movement by presenting you with four different kinds of cleansers in our Compar App:

Shampoo, Clarifying Shampoo, Sulfate-Free Shampoo, and Cleansing Conditioner.

But first things first, what defines a cleanser?

A cleanser utilizes surfactants to remove dirt, styling products, and excess oil from your hair and scalp. These surfactants come in various forms, with some being gentler than others.

Let's break them down for you. We are starting with the most harsh version and working our way down to more gentle options. 

Shampoo

Traditional shampoos as you know them contain sulfates. Sulfates are the strongest surfactants and are great at removing environmental dirt, sebum, sweat, dead cells, and build-up from other hair care products and hard water. They are actually so great at their job that they tend to strip away too much of your vital sebum, leading to dry, dull, and frizzy hair. Further, sulfates can irritate the skin and cause allergic reactions.

The wavy, curly, and coily hair is prone to dryness and frizz, so shampoo is not recommended for these types of hair. Straight hair is more resistant to dryness as the natural oil can easily travel from roots to ends so a shampoo may be just fine for this type of hair.

A shampoo is often too harsh for dry scalps due to the intense stripping of the natural oils a dry scalp is lacking. Shampoos are good for oily scalps as long as you don’t over-wash, which will make your scalp overproduce oil and you'll end up relying on daily washing to get rid of the oil. For the same reason, a normal scalp can act oily if you overwash it with a shampoo.

While effective for some hair types, frequent shampooing with harsh sulfates is generally not recommended by us. Shampoos are not used in the Natural Hair Journey.

Clarifying Shampoo

A clarifying shampoo in the Compar App contains surfactants similar to the traditional shampoo, but a bit gentler sulfate-free version. This makes them ideal for deep cleansing without the same harshness of traditional shampoos to remove build-up from hair products, minerals in hard water, and chlorine. Be mindful of over-washing as it can still dry out your hair.

Our recommendations for different hair- and scalp types are similar to traditional shampoos as the surfactants in clarifying shampoos are almost as strong - don't let the sulfate-free trick you in this case.

Frequent washing with strong surfactants is not recommended by us, hence, clarifying shampoos are not a part of the Natural Hair Journey.

If you experience stubborn build-up from products, hard water etc. that you can't get rid off with gentle clarifying techniques approved on the Natural Hair Journey, you can consider using a clarifying shampoo once in a while to get a deeper cleanse. Remember to follow up with deep conditioning to restore the loss of moisture. Read our article about Three Ways of Clarifying Your Hair.

Sulfate-Free Shampoo

A sulfate-free shampoo in our Compar App contains mild surfactants that remove dirt, oil, and build-up without stripping away your hair's natural oils. These are the "good" sulfate-free surfactants that preserve your hair's health, shine, and softness.

A sulfate-free shampoo is recommended for wavy, curly, and coily hair. In fact, Curly Girl communities have been using sulfate-free shampoos for decades under the term Low Poo.

Sulfate-free shampoos are great for dry scalps due to the minimal stripping of natural oils. They can also help rebalance sebum production for people with oily scalps, or normal scalp acting oily.

Further, this cleanser helps to prolong the vibrancy of color-treated hair by being less harsh on the hair cuticle.

The downside of using a sulfate-free shampoo is that this mild cleanser can't remove silicones and waxes from your hair. This means that you have to ditch these ingredients if you go sulfate-free. Otherwise, they will build up on your hair, blocking moisture from penetrating your hair shaft, and causing frizz and knots. Remove silicones and waxes with a traditional shampoo before you go sulfate-free or if you accidentally use products with these ingredients.

In the Natural Hair Journey, you can use a sulfate-free shampoo as your regular cleanser - all other products are without silicones and waxes, so no need to worry!

We recommend clarifying your hair 1-2 times a month with gentle apple cider vinegar or lemon juice rinses to remove any build-up that a sulfate-free shampoo can't take. Read more in Three Ways of Clarifying Your Hair.

Cleansing Conditioner

A cleansing conditioner (or cowash) contains mild surfactants on even lower levels than sulfate-free shampoos, making it the mildest cleanser on the market and a great choice for daily use. These need some extra scrubbing on the scalp to successfully clean the scalp and remove the oil.

Cleansing conditioners are ideal for wavy, curly, and coily hair and people suffering from dry scalps. Straight hair and oily scalps may not benefit from these as the cleansing is simply too mild to remove the extra sebum these types possess.

Like a sulfate-free shampoo, a cleansing conditioner can't remove silicones and waxes from your hair, so you must avoid these ingredients and remove them with a traditional shampoo before you go sulfate-free.

In the Natural Hair Journey, you can choose a cleansing conditioner as your regular cleanser or combine it with a sulfate-free shampoo. You'll not be using any products with silicones and waxes when following this journey.

Again, we recommend clarifying your hair 1-2 times a month with gentle apple cider vinegar or lemon juice rinses to remove build-up. Read more in Three Ways of Clarifying Your Hair.

How do I find the right cleanser for my hair?

Finding the right cleanser for your hair has never been easier with the Compar App. Our AI hair care advisor helps you identify your hair- and scalp type among other hair features and suggests suitable products from various brands incl. cleansers categorized within our modern division. Say goodbye to traditional shampoos and hello to sulfate-free options offering more gentle cleansing of your hair with Compar!