SLS and shedding

[glitterati]

Do sulphates cause excess shedding? I co-washed my hair today and I lost maybe a 10th of what i normally lose with an sulphate shampoo... Has anyone else noticed a reduction in shedding from co-washing?

[wintersun99]

...............

[Riot Crrl]

I have a halo of obnoxiously sticking up baby hairs that can testify to growing in right about the time I quit sulfates.

[Curlsgirl]

You know come to think of it, I recently switched mostly to a non-SLS shampoo and I have had much less shedding. I often shed more at certain times of the year but maybe it does have something to do with it. Not sure with me actually. I do have to use an SLS occasionally to get buildup off from the cone conditioner I have been using.

[Riot Crrl]

Lol, I guess I didn't answer the question since I only talked about new growth.

Shedding... I really don't know. I quit sulfates before I quit dry brushing my hair out before I washed it. So while I shed drastically less than I used to (barely at all really), so much of that can be attributed to the brushing that I can't tell what all else changed it.

[Kirin]

I've found cutting down to two washes with shampoo a week, and cutting out the "wash rinse repeat" and just wash once, the shedding went down. I CO daily, and shampoo just one lathering twice a week.

[BrianaFineHair]

I have a halo of obnoxiously sticking up baby hairs that can testify to growing in right about the time I quit sulfates.


Me too! :p :cheese:

[flapjack]

I think for everyone's head it's going to vary. For me, I have oily skin, my scalp makes a lot of oil. I can manage to distribute it through my hair length to some degree, but too much oil on my scalp causes problems for me. Most of the time I use watered down shampoo that will have one mild sulfate in it (some are more harsh than others) or I use one without any sulfates. But ultimately, I just do that to be more gentle than I really "need" to. I notice no difference now in shedding than I did with a lot of sulfates in my shampoos. It's important that my scalp doesn't get super oily because for me, THAT actually causes more shedding. I would say on average, I lose about 20 hairs per day (that I can SEE, obviously some will fall out when I don't notice) when I do things this way, which means washing every other day or every day with really mild stuff. Your best bet is to play around a bit and see what works the best and meanwhile try to keep track (to some extent) how much hair you shed when you do this, that, etc. until you find something that works for you. Because myself and everyone else here can only give general advice about things like... not ripping out your hair, being gentle, not bleaching the crap out of it, etc. But many other things are going to vary, there is no one size fits all.

[Florida Mom]

I've noticed that SLS definitely increase my shedding.

So I've actually changed my twice weekly routine (for what it's worth) to:
Shampoo roots only with SLS.
Shampoo length with cones.
Condition length only with cones.

On in between days I CO or WO (I have to from swimming daily and exercising daily).
I think part of the problem is the damage from coloring my virgin hair twice in a row this year.

[AJoifulNoise]

I do lose more hair on my shampoo days. Less when I CO. I don't know if the shampoo causes more shedding, or if it's because I scrub a bit more with the shampoo.

[Flaxen]

Yes, I was stunned the first time I tried a sulfate free shampoo. My shedding was down to just a few strands compared to the squirrels I shed with sulfates. shudder:

[jivete]

I shed way less without SLS. I also noticed a bunch of baby hairs sprout up at the same time. I'm hoping it'll translate to thicker hair eventually.