Going silicone free, GHDs, Naked products and expensive stuff from hairdresser - confused please help!

[PincessLuna]

My hair is a horrible, frizzy, curly mess.

Have decided to go 'silicone free' to see if I can improve it at all. Are Naked range conditioners silicone free? I note lots of their styling products say silicone free on them but the conditioners do not and they appear to have a '-cone' in the ingredients. Are their conditioners actually silicone free?

Can anyone recommend a heat protective product that protects up to GHD temperatures - apparently 260 degrees? According to my hairdresser most heat protective sprays on the market don't actually protect high enough for GHDs and are actually therefore useless. The only one my hairdresser recommends is £20 a bottle! I cannot afford that. Is there anything cheaper on the market that protects up to GHD temperature and is silicone free?

Hairdressers are trying to sell me lots of shampoos, conditioners, products for £20 per bottle saying that is what I need and there is nothing cheaper on the market that is as good. Is this just a big con, or is it actually worth spending a bit more on expensive products from the hairdressers?

I am so confused, please help!

I think it's a big con lol, there's a hairdressers near me that sells bottles of shampoo and conditioner for £15 and you can buy them now in b&m for a fiver, the exact same thing, tigi I think it's called, bed head ect... I love Aussie hair things which are 3 for £10 condition shampoo and protectors in asda and boots and other places, never heard of using silicone free though... I had a hair disaster 4 years ago where I frazzled my hair with peroxide and just laid off dying it for a year and then it was healthy and shiny :) also people who've got extremely dry hair rave about that hair mayo, never tried it myself but know a few people who are made up with it

So I just called up Naked, and they have confirmed that not all their conditioners are silicone free. Some are, and they will say so on the bottle.

Apparently all their styling range is silicone free though.

I have curly hair and went silicon free a couple of years ago - I use the Jessicurl range from the british curlies website along with argan oil. I don't use straighteners very often though, so that's not a consideration for me. Worth having a look on that website to see if there's anything suitable. The stuff I use is salon priced, but after trying every curly hair product on the high street, and a wide range of salon products, the Jessicurl stuff was the first product range I was happy with.

I have been looking for some more 'natural' options and just ordered so of this
Don't know if it will work but is silicone free etc, good price and a well known brand.

working link

Yes I got caught out by Naked conditioner. I already had some of the styling products (really good) so just picked up the bounce conditioner without thinking about it then saw it has silicones. It looks a lot less silicone full than most other brands so I think I'll just finish the tube then move on to something else, and do a very occasional clarifying shampoo (followed by loads of moisture).

I gave up heat styling at the same time as silicones so I don't know about a heat protector but I think hairdressers are good at believing what they're told by sales reps and passing it on as fact . Looking after your hair more should give it protection too.

Tresemme Naturals are silicone free and quite cheap, not really rich enough for me though. I love the Body Shop Rainforest Moisture Butter for deep conditioning and might try some of the ranges in Holland & Barrett. I love pure argan oil too, I use it as a pre shampoo treatment and as a leave in. If my hair gets a bit dry between washes I just rub it all over my hands and then run them through my hair.

I use l'oreal everpure. The shampoo is sulphate free, I'm pretty sure the conditioner is silicone free - I just checked the ingredients and can't see anything in it
I use those and boots curl cream and umburto gianni gel in pink tube. Have curly v v dry hair

The tresemme naturals range is good I find and I do sometimes use coconut oil on my hair as a deep conditioner. I would say to be really careful about hairdressers selling argan oil stuff. Mine kept on about how natural their stuff was, sold it to me (expensive), used it, it broke me out in cystic acne all along my hairline. Looked at ingredients and it is packed full of silicones and I might as well use Frizzease.

I actually bought my Argan oil directly from the farm where it was made in Morocco when I was travelling there - so it is 100% pure (and a lot cheaper than in the UK!)

Naked products ruined my hair, it ended up like straw!

L'Oreal Extraordinary oil or Argan oil is fab for taming frizzy hair.

Another vote for pure Argan oil, it's made my really frizzy hair soft and ringletty. Its a bit of trial and error as to how much to use but get that right and it fab.

I've been so pleased with it i've started using it on my face and hands and what a revelation friends have commented on how good my skin looks!

I've got this argan oil and it's great. Really nice consistency. Agreed you need to use the right amount, just remember you can always add more but too much and you'll need to wash!

I agree that pure argan oil is great - just so much of the stuff being sold in salons is packed with silicone. Some of the new hair oils also have silicone - eg Mythic Oil and Extraordinary Oil. I have nothing against silicone mind you and when I went silicone free for a while it was a bit of a shock as I was used to the silky silicone feeling. I do get annoyed when the big beauty companies sell silicone products/silicone and oil blends as natural oils however.
I have never come across a natural heat protection serum and am not sure whether heat styling on oiled up hair will fry it?

Yes, I wondered if it would fry it! But a lot of the commercial heat protectors have oils in? Maybe use the oil as a pre wash treatment and a tiny touch after styling to replenish moisture?

It is annoying that these things are sold as oils, but often the actual oil is far down the ingredients list.

Silicone free is really suiting my hair for now but I think it's so individual and trial and error for what works for you.

I went silicone free, and it has been really great. My hair was frazzled and straw like (basically varnished with silicone and baked on with GHDs). Now it is all swishy!

Try and do a clarifying shampoo to get any build up off. I use Organixx Keratin straight shampoo which is luverly and about £6 a bottle (not cheap but not ridiculous either). Can get in Boots. I tried tresemme naturals but didnt rate it. I also use organixx keratin hair protector which is nice but not sure how much it protects.

My hair was dry and straw like because of all the silicone in it ( Extraordinary oil, I'm looking at you). I used a clarifying shampoo to get it out. I now use Treseme Naturals shampoo and Fructis triple oil ( or something like that) silicone free conditioner from the pound shop. I use coconut oil as a pre conditioner and a finishing product. It has completely transformed my hair.

I have switched to naked products and coconut oil but have not really noticed a great change yet although it's only been a week or so.....

So talk to me about clarifying shampoo then?

Tigi is what us hairdressers would call more of a "cosmetic" brand rather than a brand that's actually gonna help repair/moisturise/colour protect such as joico, Kerastase, redken ect, Tigi will just make your hair feel as if it is nice. Not to say its a bad range, I quite like some of their styling range but I wouldn't recommend their shampoos and conditioners.

Salon brands may seem more expensive but I promise you need a faction of the amount you would probably usually use and they do actually last a lot longer, I was having a bowse in the supermarket this week and a good brand high street shampoo is £6/7 so you may as well pay a tiny bit more and get a more decent product.

Not all silicone is bad for you hair, most products need it to help give home to your hair. The difference between professional and high street products is that the silicone in most high street things is not water soluble, so instead if the silicone breaking down whenever you wash your hair, it's actually building up on the hair.

If your looking for something to smooth your hair then try something which is sulphate free, this tends to be the stuff that an make your hair go fluffy.

Silicone free doesn't make a huge difference to my hair, it was cutting out the SLS - sodium laureth sulfate - which I think Naked have cut out? It's basically detergent and strips your hair of all moisture.

I co wash now with either Alberto Balsam or at the moment a massive bottle of Sainsbury's own Apple conditioner. Both are silicone and SLS free and are super cheap as well - which is lucky as my hair drinks product! I use Tresemme Naturals (also SLS and silicone free) conditioner to style. I would love to use pure Argan oil as I love the curly cloud of hair I get with it, I just can't afford it.

PS - very curly girl here!

I used Herbal Essences clarifying shampoo. It's bright green. It is designed to get rid of the build up of products on your hair. If you don't get rid of the silicone coating your hair the conditioners won't be able to penetrate the hair. Coconut oil will just make your hair feel crispy if you don't get rid if the silicone first. You only need to clarify once, or twice if its really bad.

The Aussie every day shampoo gets rid of build up too.

In your shoes, I would not use such a high heat setting on your straighteners, as heat always damages hair. Try the lowest heat setting.

I use REN conditioner, which is completely silicone free and leaves my long hair very soft and managable. You use a lot less of it than normal conditioner, soworks out not as expensive as it seems.

Also, I do not wash and dry my hair every day. The more heat, the more damage, there is just no way around that...

I have similar hair to yours and love the Davines Oi range. It doesn't have silicones and parabens in it and it really improved my hair. Not cheap but you don't need to use much so it lasts for a while. These are the products that I use.

www.cultbeauty.co.uk/davines-ol-shampoo.html
www.cultbeauty.co.uk/davines-ol-conditioner.html
www.cultbeauty.co.uk/davines-ol-all-in-one-milk.html

er1507 Totally scientifically incorrect :The difference between professional and high street products is that the silicone in most high street things is not water soluble, so instead if the silicone breaking down whenever you wash your hair, it's actually building up on the hair.

In terms of molecules- there is no difference between the "professional " and high street products! They are manufactured by the same companies. What is the difference is the silicone length , shape and thus strength! These characteristics this entail a price difference to the end user, you and I.

Silicones can help to keep and bind moisture to the hair, along with the silicone itself. The silicone can give the appearance of shine, and also be a heat protector which is important when applying heat not to damage the cuticles. Silicones used for hair and body, as according to the FDA (the Food and drug administration in the US, which is one of the most advanced and also most stringent groups for the research and standards for personal care and medicines), are all water soluble. They must be according to the FDA if they are for human use. Solubility is a scale.

Please don't purport technically incorrect information.