Please Clarify "Clarifying"

[mellie]

I don't really understand what "clarifying" means exactly, when pertaining to hair, at least! :-) Can someone please clarify?

What does clarifying do? How is different than shampooing?

What natural products are clarifying?

How do you know if you need to clarify?

[Ursula]

Clarifying is doing a more intense wash than usual, to remove any buildup from products or hard water.

I'm not sure about "natural" things that clarify.

My usual suggestion for clarifying is to wash with a shampoo that contains ALS (aluminum lauryl sulfide), as it cleanses thoroughly and rinses verly cleanly. TreSemme Vit. C is good. You want a shampoo that is detergent and not much else.

If you have hard water, you may want to follow with a chelating shampoo or treatment, to remove mineral buildup.

[mellie]

So. if you have been been shampooing with sulfates already, then you probably wouldn't need to clarify?

[heidi w.]

Clarifying is a specific type of hair wash where one removes "buildup". Clarifying essentially strips the hair bare neked, removing all product, minerals (from water, usually hard water), sebum, detris (skin cells), dirt/grime .... all of it. All gone. Hair in this state is without applied moisture such as from conditioner or leave-ins or oils. Clarifying removes what's on the surface of hair strands.

Chelating is a similar treatment -- the difference being is it removes bonds at the cortex level. SO Clarifying removes stuff from the surface of the hair, on top of the cuticle; chelating removes at the cortex level. You do not want to chelate until you've first tried clarifying, once to two times before proceeding to chelating. The order to try is shampoo normally (twice); then clarify (up to two times); then chelate. Never straight to chelating.

Most people do not need to chelate. This is a salon service that is sometimes conducted (as is clarifying) in a shampoo prior to specific types of hair processes, although not all.

There are store bought products that will have the word CLARIFY in the label, so you can use these products, OR you can use BAKING SODA. (NOT Baking POWDER...USE BAKING SODA). Baking soda is fairly natural, considering. (Natural does not always mean good for you. Bleach is natural, for example.)

You can blend 3 Tablespoons of Baking Soda with your shampoo choice, again 3 Tablespoons of shampoo. Equal parts! Others just blend in water. Stir til creamy smooth, no lumps. Some shampoos have colorants and the creamy color may turn a slight hue from those colorants.

I wash my hair first, normally, to break the surface tension of the glompiness of my hair so that the effectiveness of the clarifying will work faster. I tend to do an application of the Baking Soda blend, rinse extremely well, then Baking Soda again, rinse extremely well, and then deep condition.

ANY CLARIFY METHOD (store bought, home recipe) YOU USE SHOULD INCLUDE, AS PART OF THE PROCESS, A SOLID AND HIGH QUALITY CONDITIONING AS PART OF THE PROCESS. If you fail to condition sufficiently, or worse, do not apply any conditioner at all, your hair will come out a bit flyaway, a kind of funny feeling of brittleness (but it won't break). Curlies will likely frizz more. It's IMPERATIVE TO CONDITION. You see, you've removed all weight from product, grime, etc. You've removed all conditioner, all moisture. Therefore, YOU MUST REPLACE WHAT'S BEEN REMOVED (and begin again).

A common error is to not condition or do so woefully insufficiently and then complain that the clarifying didn't work. Actually, it DID. The point is to remove everything off the surface of the cuticle!

ACV or other type of Vinegar rinse (Apple Cider Vinegar) will only remove residual product or minerals from hard water that remains on in that specific hair wash. Once anything has dried on to the surface of hair strands, no vinegar rinse will remove it. If anything, it will feel even more weird if you try to use ACV or other vinegar as a clarify hair wash: tacky, tangly, a film. The prime benefit of an ACV rinse or other vinegar is re-setting the acid mantle to a more acidic state on the pH scale, which human skin prefers. Shampoos and conditioners tend to leave the skin in a more alkali state. This can leave the acid mantle alkali sometimes, and it prefers more acidic, around 5.0 - 6.5 or so. (6.5/7.0 is approaching neutral on the pH scale.) ACV or any other vinegar (never use balsamic vinegar as it has sugar in it -- white or ACV vinegar only) should be used well diluted -- perhaps as much as 1-3 Tablespoons in an 8 oz glass of water. Many like using distilled water for this rinse. It can be applied between shampooing and conditioning, or my preference was after conditioning (I no longer do any vinegar rinse of any sort as I was using it to manage my acid mantle, and I have long since now found products that work extremely well for my seborrheic dermatitus.) Vinegar also binds the cuticle meaning helps the cuticle to lie closer and tighter together imparting a trace amount of increased softness and sheen. It will help the cuticle to lie in its natural state: curlies have a more lifted cuticle compared to straight hair. The prime benefit of a vinegar rinse is pH balancing the scalp skin. In an ACV Rinse, malic acid is known to be beneficial to scalp skin (malic acid is what apples have in it). I do not recommend ACV for blondes, anymore. Brunettes may, over a great deal of time (years), notice a kind of reddish hue/tone to the hair if using ACV rinse. But all vinegars are acidic, so you can get the pH benefit from any vinegar. Second is binding the cuticle, and right next to it is removing product left on residually and not rinsed out sufficiently in that SPECIFIC HAIR WASH. Remember, doesn't work, once dried on the hair!

To improve water quality if you have hard water there are many options depending on your dwelling and budget: water filter on shower head arm (easy to install, even if renting, inexpensive solution); water softener or osmosis filter -- they all increase in expense and depend if you own your dwelling or not.

One clarifies when they have build up. One does not need to conduct this process on a regular schedule. It doesn't need to be done daily. I don't recommend this. Conduct a clarify hair was on an as-needed.

Buildup is what occurs on the surface of the hair, on top of the cuticle layer -- it builds on top of the cuticle layer -- buildup. Buildup is determined by a variety of factors that come together: there's a film on the hair that no matter a regular hair wash or shampoo or cleaning method of your choice is not removing this film. Film still exists after a fresh hair wash. Hair is overly tangly in areas more than the bottom 2-3 inches, depending on length--, and doesn't behave well per usual -- usually somewhat suddenly. Conditioner suddenly doesn't seem to work. Some may complain of a kind of crunchiness, but be careful, this may not be an indicator for needing to clarify -- this could be something about oil choice (if oiling) or another issue -- although sometimes it is an indicator for needing to clarify. (You can clarify a section of hair too, and not all of it!) If the film exists, hair may well be kind of section-y, clomping in chunks in an unusual way.

Again, I recommend proceeding in steps: always conduct a normal hair wash just to see if that will work. Maybe even try twice. Then proceed to clarifying. Do this twice. (It's rare that you will need to try it twice.) Then proceed to chelating. Do not ever go straight to chelating.

Clarifying is considered a harsh process, so be SURE TO CONDITION WELL!!

heidi w.
PS Note, there are products titled "daily clarify shampoo" -- this product is intended for folks who use a lot of styling products, gels, mousse, flat iron serums -- that kind of thing. Most of these types of styling products have silicone in them for shine boosting and hold.

[mellie]

If baking soda is a clarifier, when people wash exclusively with diluted baking soda followed by an ACV rinse, then they are actually clarifying every time they wash? Is the ACV rinse acting as a conditioner for them, also?

And if one uses sulfates and no cones in their shampoo, then there really should be no buildup to clarify, correct?

[heidi w.]

If baking soda is a clarifier, when people wash exclusively with diluted baking soda followed by an ACV rinse, then they are actually clarifying every time they wash? Is the ACV rinse acting as a conditioner for them, also?

And if one uses sulfates and no cones in their shampoo, then there really should be no buildup to clarify, correct?

Yes, when washing daily with Baking Soda, no matter how diluted or in water or shampoo or whatever, it's a clarify hair wash. ACV rinse is not a conditioner. There's always the unusual exception perhaps, but ACV doesn't condition hair the way conditioner does. It lacks the same chemical structure as conditioner. One should NEVER BLEND Baking Soda WITH any type of vinegar (whether ACV or white vinegar). You're not unclogging a drain!

If you oil, if you condition-only wash, or any other method of washing, if you use a leave-in or any styling products, there is a chance that you can experience buildup after some time -- whether cone free or sulfate free or not. Just the mere act of sebum doing its thing from the sebacious gland and skin cells sloughing, over extended time can become a bit gummy on the hair. It may be the case that going sulfate and cone free means a sincere decrease in a need to clarify, but most people end up needing to clarify once-in-a-while. Again, clarify on an as-needed basis only.

heidi w.

[MeMyselfandI]

Heidi, Thank you for the detailed explanations.

My experience, after using sulfate free shampoo for about 6 months neither my hair or scalp felt clean. I went back to a sulfate shampoo, clarifying with neutrogena helped get my head and hair feeling clean. Now I use sulfate free for about a month, clarify before henna. Depending on the conditioners I use, I either stay sulfate free or use sulfate shampoo,

The biggest surprise:My daughter's hair, who has been using kids L'oreal shampoos for years, always looked dirty and greasy. Even after shampooing, it looked like she had just wet it. I finally told her to use the neutrogena clarifying on her head and hair. After that she went back to her normal shampoo and her hair looked good again.

I would not know when to clarify, other then the fact that the hair does not feel and/or look clean after it has been shampooed.

My worry is if I henna to often, I may end up clarifying to often since I clarify just before I henna my hair.

[mellie]

I guess perhaps I've never had buildup then, which would explain my confusion as to the need to clarify...I've never used conditioners or oils, or any kind of styling products, and use a very simple few-ingredient cone-free shampoo.

If baking soda clarifying must be followed up with conditioner, how do the people who use exclusively baking soda followed by ACV rinses keep their hair conditioned?

[Ohio Sky]

I guess perhaps I've never had buildup then, which would explain my confusion as to the need to clarify...I've never used conditioners or oils, or any kind of styling products, and use a very simple few-ingredient cone-free shampoo.

If baking soda clarifying must be followed up with conditioner, how do the people who use exclusively baking soda followed by ACV rinses keep their hair conditioned?

I've wondered this, too. I know some use oil after ACV rinse, and that acts as a conditioner, but I now some use only BS and ACV nad never condition. ACV does condition, to a certain extent, as it smooths the cuticle and increases shine and managability for many, but it does not impart moisture, so I suppose it depends on whether you hair needs the extra moisture.

It doesn't sound like you would need to clarify often, if at all, on your routine. Some say that even cone free COs build up over enough time, but then some have also said that they use cones and never feel like they need to clarify.

[Haith]

Thank you for the very informative posts, especially from you, heidi w.. I had always had a pretty good idea about clarifying, vinegar rinses and buildup, but seeing it all in one place has really helped me out!