'Natural' shampoo

[Snoozebox]

I'm on the hunt for a shampoo and conditioner with as few synthetic chemicals as possible. I was a fan of Tresemme for years but since coming off the Pill and moving to a hard water area, products with SLS and silicones leave a horrid buildup on my hair.

I've tried the Naked range from Boots but it left my hair coarse,Menotti and dry, and quite like the Holland and Barratts Dr Organic range but am after something which won't leave quite as much residue and yet will smooth down my frizzy locks more! Is it just a case of sticking with this and going down the apple cider vinegar route more...but not too much to avoid drying? I'm so confused, going 'natural' is really hard!

www.soapnuts.co.uk

They do shampoo bars, and a liquid. I love them. I do live in a soft water area though - maybe check out hard water compatibility.

For conditioner, I make my own.

Empty spray bottle.

Rose water - about 30ml
Pure aloe vera gel - about 1 tsp
Argan oil, jojoba oil - about half tsp
Essential oils - chamomile, lemon, tea tree (good to protect against lice, I have a toddler).

Shake it up. Shake each time you use it.

Sorry, that's a leave in spray conditioner, obviously.

Aubrey Organics is highly rated for natural haircare, I believe. Pricey though.

I think Avalon organics are good too waitrose stock them.

The best shampoos and related products I have ever used are by MISTRY and they literally have NO weird ingredients in them. Google them I'm not good with links.

They are fabulous. I also live in a hard water area and I always add water softener to my bath water and or rinse with softened water. In between washes I use\gently rub rosemary essential oil on my scalp which works well too.

Great tips, thanks everyone!

Oh and Mistry is unfeasibly cheap They do lovely calendula and other creams also liquid baby organic soap which is out of this world!

faith in nature is good. I like the coconut one, and the neem one

lush solid shampoo is good and lasts ages.

Faith in Nature is lovely and cheap too - bottles are big so it works out v good value. they also do gorgeous Chocolate shower stuff

I have very fine tangly flat greasy hair. Or so I thought til I started using the Body Shop rainforest shampoos and conditioners

They take a bit of getting used to as don't foam like usual shampoo. It took about 1-2 weeks for the silicones to come out of my hair. Since then it's been amazing - I can go 4 days without washing - totally unheard of! My hair feels clean all the time and whikst the conditioner doesn't feel very rich if I wait for my hair to dry it's always shiny and brushable

Sunshine we have similar hair, which one are you using? I tried one of them but only a couple of times as I didn't like it, it didn't seem moisturising enough but maybe I didn't give it long enough?

Me too, I've got a sample of the Body Shop rainforest shampoo for coloured hair and it made my hair look limp and dull so I haven't used it since. The sales assistant also recommended the spray conditioner. Do I need to persevere?

Lush solid shampoo still has SLS in it, if I remember correctly. Odd for a solid one. You'd think it would essentially be like soap, but apparently not.

Jason shampoos

Really nothing harsh in and lovely and foam just enough

Hair is clean and nice and I like it a lot

ppeatfruit - where do you get the Mistry stuff? I fancy some of that but not the delivery charges...

Lush shampoo has SLS, unfortunately.

Yes I do think you need to persevere. I think I wore mine tied back for a week or so. I guess you have to wait for all the silicone to be removed from your hair and get used to the new lack of foaming shampoo and non-creamy conditioner. I use the volumising shampoo and moisturising/shine conditioner and I also have a radiance rainforest hair mask that I use once a week as my hair is highlighted.

I haven't tried the spray conditioner. But honestly at first I used the rainforest shampoo and a cheap boots almond spray in conditioner and that worked great as it also doesn't have silicone/dimethicone.

I think if you have fine hair then getting rid of the 'cones' is definitely the priority - once they stop coating your hair It feels much cleaner and lighter, mine used to be lovely after washing and greasy the next day. Now without the 'cones' it feels freshly washed even when it isn't.

there is also a shop on eBay called funky soap. I quite fancy trying out some of their stuff. I use lush atm. It took me a while to adjust to it. I have thick, but fine hair. It was in a terrible state; itchy, greasy scalp and I just couldn't seem to get my hair clean. It's much, much better with lush, but lush is expensive and not completely 'natural', so am on the look out for something else.

TelephoneIgnoring The actual shop is in Hampstead (near the Heath overground stop) or you can buy it in independent Health Food shops. I order mine from a shop in Golders Green.

The postage would be a lot due to the weight I suppose because the products are very reasonably priced.

I have yet to find a shampoo without SLS or other sulphates. Some claim not too but foam (which you cannot do without sulphates) and when you investigate further they call their sulphates "natural" as they are derived from coconut oil. I know that lush is derived from Coconut oil but to get the foam it is so processed they believe it's unethical to call it natural.

As I said I would be interested to see find any but at the moment is prefer to use a company that's truthful then using fancy talk to lie.

SacredHeart Mistry are the only company that doesn't use any coco products AFAIK or SLS's. They make my hair lovely and soft.

Mistry instruct you to lather their products interestingly.
Though I've got lather off a "soap leaf" (an actual plant) before, so there are some natural products that do lather/foam.

I bought some Dr Organic shampoo & conditioner from Holland & barrett today. It claims to be SLS & parabens free. Haven't tried it yet. I've got eczema type thingy on the sole of one foot & testing to see if its an allergy to shampoo etc. They were buy one get one half price in there.