4 Ways to Make Your Shampoo Less Harsh – The Best Alternative To Sulphate Free Shampoos

Sulphate shampoos can be really drying to curly hair since curly hair is extremely dry.  Co washing is great for washing regularly, but once in a while we need a good clarifying to remove buildup and give bounce to curls. Instead of going for hard-to-find sulphate free shampoos, here are 4 ways to turn your current shampoo into a really mild yet effective cleanser.

1) Dilute shampoo with water
In my post on how to wash curly hair I had mentioned that I always dilute my shampoo in a mug with water before applying it directly. Turns out there is a scientific explanation to it! Check this out – How to tame strong shampoo

2) Mix shampoo with oil
Just like prepooing with oil reduces the harshness of a shampoo wash, mixing some (about 1 spoon) oil into your shampoo will make sure it doesn’t lather much and strip your hair off its moisture. Any oil works good – I like coconut and olive oil.

3) Mix shampoo with aloe vera gel, flax seed gel, glycerin or honey
Aloe vera gel (store bought or fresh off the plant), homemade flax seed gel, glycerin or honey can be mixed in, to make your shampoo more nourishing and less harsh simultaneously. A good measurement would be twice the amount of the ingredient as the amount of shampoo.

4) Mix shampoo with a cheap conditioner
Mixing equal parts of a cheap conditioner into your shampoo will also make it milder. But it is important to note that this does not mean that you can skip the conditioning step after this. The purpose of the conditioner in this way is to merely make your shampoo mild and not to condition your hair. So you have to follow this with your regular conditioning. I don’t advocate this step too much though for the following reasons – Buffering Shampoo with Conditioner – Bad or Good Idea?

These 4 options are great considering the fact that I have noticed that these modified sulphate shampoos are actually milder and less drying than some sulphate free shampoos that I’ve tried *gasp*. Plus, they are easy on the pocket.

Here’s a List of curly hair products in India