Shopping for the best shampoo for Afro hair can feel like navigating a minefield. These shampoos must strike a balance between effectively cleansing the hair and scalp without stripping away essential hydration. Because of the unique shape of coily strands, natural oils from the scalp often don’t reach the tips, leading to dryness compared to other hair types. These strands can also be weaker, so it's crucial to choose a shampoo that won't cause tangling or breakage.
Fortunately, there are many excellent options available. Here's a comprehensive guide to help you find the perfect shampoo for your specific needs.
Understanding Black Hair
The best way to treat and care for Black hair is to understand its unique characteristics. Black hair is structurally unique and can present in varying degrees of tightly curled strands, from coils to spirals. The cross-section of Black hair tends to be oval or flat instead of round, allowing the hair to grow up and out rather than down.
Curly or coily hair is more fragile than other hair types and can be very prone to dryness and damage, especially breakage. That’s why hydrating shampoos and other products are so necessary for Black hair.
Key Considerations When Choosing a Shampoo
There are a few important things to think about when choosing the best shampoo for Black hair:
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- No Sulfates: Sulfates are found in many shampoos, but they can strip the naturally occurring moisture in curly hair.
- Clarify: Product and mineral build-up can cause hair to appear dry, dull, and brittle. A clarifying shampoo works to remove product build-up, as well as build-up from oil, dirt, and minerals.
- Hair Type: From straight to wavy, curly to coiled, it's important to know which distinct category your hair falls into so that you’re picking the right shampoo and products.
- Thickness and Porosity: Understanding the thickness and porosity of your hair is essential for selecting the right products.
As Louis Driver, Avlon educator and freelance hair stylist, explains, “Choosing the correct shampoo for curls for me depends on two things: the job I want it to do or the type of hair I'm working with. For example, if the hair and scalp have a heavy build-up of product on them, then I'm going to use a detox or clarifying shampoo.” He continues, "If the hair is really dry, then we want moisturising [properties]. If the curls or coils have been coloured, then we’re looking at something colour-safe; I'm also looking for a shampoo that's nutrient-rich and devoid of harsh sulphates or chemicals.”
“Scalp health is super important, so a shampoo that supports that, along with the hair’s requirements, gets extra points from me," Driver confirms. "A good shampoo should leave your hair and scalp feeling clean without being brittle or crunchy.”
What Shampoo is good How to Choosing the Right Shampoo for your hair & Scalp|That Mallu Nextdoor
Top Shampoo Recommendations for Black Hair
While there are more products for Black hair care now than there ever have been, a few stand out from the pack and are better options than others.
- Blu Atlas Shampoo: Packed with moisture-rich ingredients like jojoba oil, aloe, and saw palmetto.
- Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus: Great for thicker curly or kinky hair.
- Carol’s Daughter Black Vanilla: A sulfate-free choice that can be used on colored hair.
- Mielle Pomegranate & Honey: Another sulfate-free option that helps to detangle.
- Kuza Jamaican Black Castor Oil: Sulfate-free and uses Jamaican black castor oil, coconut oil, aloe, and argan oil for ultimate moisture and strength.
- Bouclème Hydrating Hair Cleanser: This sulphate-free formula helps to lift away build-up, but the focus is on drenching the hair in moisture at the same time.
- Cantu Shea Butter for Natural Hair Sulfate-Free Cleansing Cream Shampoo: There's a real creaminess to the texture but it is firmly a shampoo, so while it's "sulphate free" it does contain foaming agents.
Keeks Reid, an award-winning freelance beauty editor and broadcaster, recommends:
- Monpure Nourish and Stimulate Shampoo: Not only that, it also contains aloe vera and babassu oil for a smooth and tangle-free wash day.
- Afrocenchix Sheen Shampoo: It cleanses hair thoroughly without leaving it feeling stripped, which makes for a good canvas for a deep treatment.
- Cécred Hydrating Shampoo: It lathers well despite being free from harsh sulphates and gives hair a nice slip even before applying conditioner, despite not containing any silicones.
- Palmer's Natural Fusions Watermelon Infused Cleansing Shampoo: This one is sulphate-free and enriched with coconut extract to step coils and curls towards the natural lubrication that this texture can sometimes lack.
- Color Wow Curl Wow Shampoo: That’s exactly what this shampoo from Color Wow’s curl range delivers.
- Davines LOVE Curl Shampoo: The stand-out ingredients in this formula - namely glycerin, urea H and hibiscus seed extract - work together to keep coils and curls soft and moisturised while cleansing.
- Bleach London Reincarnation Shampoo: This shampoo from Bleach London was created for hair that has been stressed by the colouring process and works well for all hair types, including textured hair.
- Redken Acidic Bonding Concentrate Shampoo: Infused with citric acid, it helps restore lost strength from any harmful processes, including bleach, chemical straightening and heat styling.
- Flora & Curl African Citrus Bloom Shampoo: If you are an avid co-washer or if you are easing yourself into low-foam wash days, you’ll love this texture.
- R+Co ACID WASH ACV Cleansing Rinse: This cleansing foam from R+Co is the perfect way to kick off a weightless wash day.
- Color Wow Dream Filter: If you have to descale your kettle, you live in a hard water area. Now just imagine what that build-up can do to our hair.
- The Steam Bar Clean Slate Scalp Shampoo: This shampoo by disruptor hair brand The Steam Bar offers a gentle formula with an expensive-smelling scent.
- Philip Kingsley Scalp Detox Shampoo: For an overhauling wash day after you've removed your braids or weave, or upon returning from holiday, for example, this gives a clarifying cleanse that invigorates the scalp without leading to dryness.
Proper Washing Technique
Having healthy hair requires the proper washing technique:
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- First, you should wet the hair thoroughly, avoiding hot water, as that can strip moisture and weaken the hair.
- Once saturated, gently detangle the hair.
- Apply shampoo liberally, and be sure to massage your scalp while shampooing.
- Lather from the scalp all the way to the ends of the hair.
- It is important to be gentle with the hair. Don’t scratch or rub too hard.
Additional Tips for Black Hair Care
Aside from shampooing, there are many other ways to protect and care for Black hair:
- Hydration: Hydration and maintaining moisture are key for this process.
- Deep Conditioning: Add a deep conditioner or hair mask to the wash day routine, as they contain ingredients that can penetrate the hair cuticle and provide longer-lasting hydration.
- Gentle Handling: It’s also important not to be too rough with natural hair, as natural curls can be fragile and prone to breakage and damage.
- Protective Styles: Protective styles, like braids and coils, are meant to protect hair from damage, making them a great option for Black hair.
- Regular Trims: Be sure to trim the hair regularly to remove damaged ends.
- Sleep Protection: What you sleep on is important. Use a satin pillowcase or bonnet to reduce friction and breakage.
How Often Should You Wash Afro Textured Hair?
This answer really varies depending on the person, but a weekly wash is advisable across the board. "I think the frequency of washing curly or coily hair depends on the individual or lifestyle, but at a minimum, the hair should be washed once a week," says Driver.
Understanding Shampoo Types
Instead of thinking of shampoo like one monolithic product out to destroy our hair, we like to think of shampoo as primer for the hair that comes in a spectrum of cleansing strengths that prepare the hair for everything we want to do to it.
Popular Shampoo Types from Most Cleansing to Least Cleansing:
- Chelating shampoos are some of the strongest shampoos on the market. In addition to removing dirt, debris, and oil, they also remove minerals, metals, and chlorine (often from hard water) that can cause damage to the hair.
- Clarifying shampoos are designed to remove buildup from product and environmental sources allowing the bare hair strand to be exposed. These types of shampoo are important in all routines but the frequency of usage should be determined by how dirty your hair and scalp is.
- All Purpose shampoos have the ability to remove dirt, oil, buildup and environmental debris on a regular basis.
- Moisturizing shampoos are more conditioning, less cleansing. The more often you are cleansing your hair, the less cleansing your shampoo will need to be. Also, how water soluble your products are will determine which category of shampoo would be most effective for your cleansing session.
Just like choosing a shampoo formulation, how many times you shampoo will be determined by the needs of your scalp and hair. Waxy sebum buildup, alternative styling (braids/weaves/crochet) and heavy non water-soluble product usage will likely be a reason to shampoo more than one time. But determine how many times you need to shampoo based on what your hair is doing in the moment. There is no correct number of times to shampoo, just make sure that your hair/scalp is clean whatever you use or how many times you use it.
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