Lots of lather is how it’s always been done before. But have you ever stopped for a moment and wondered why?

Why do most shampoos foam?  
Well, traditionally, sodium lauryl sulfate has been used as the main detergent in shampoos. It’s a powerful degreaser and it’s cheap! So you can use a little and get a lot of bubbles. But, this isn’t a good thing.

Using such a strong detergent strips your hair of your natural oils and your natural oils aid in keeping your hair and scalp healthy. Sodium lauryl sulfate can also make dry, damaged hair even drier and damaged, it can remove too much oil so it weakens strands, leading to breakage and split ends, and it can also irritate your scalp and exacerbate eczema.

There are a lot more sulfate free shampoos on the market these days. But, you will find most of them produce a lot of foam as well.

What causes all those suds?
All that foam are just extra soap bubbles filled with air. If you have a lot of foam, then you can imagine how much extra detergents are in your shampoo. Not only did it pick up all the dirt and oil it could find on your hair and scalp, but all this extra detergent is laying around. It’s not being used so you don’t need it!

FACT: Your hair does not need a huge amount of lather or foam to make it clean. At NIUCOCO, we’ve moved away from high lather and foam and we combine gentle cleansers to keep your natural oils in balance.

Here is the dirt on lather and foam! 

We have been programmed to believe that shampoos should have a lot of lather and foam.  

The prickly truth about lather:

1. If you have dry, damaged hair, a low suds shampoo will still clean hair but won’t strip away all of your natural oils. This gives your hair a chance to replenish your natural oil layer thereby helping hair to retain moisture and hydration.

2. If you have dry scalp, NIUCOCO’S Hydrating Shampoo doesn’t strip away all your natural sebum, so it helps to rebuild sebum production to aid with dry scalp.

3. If you’ve noticed you have a greasy scalp the next day after shampooing, it’s because your shampoo is too stripping for your scalp. It is cleaning your hair, no doubt, but it’s also stripping away all of your good scalp sebum. So, your scalp compensates by releasing A LOT of sebum!  Using a gentler shampoo will keep your sebum production balanced and greasy scalp will be a thing of the past!

4. Using a gentler shampoo, like NIUCOCO’S Hydrating Shampoo, means it’s not stripping, and so your hair colour lasts longer and appears more vibrant longer. A gentler shampoo is also more likely to keep the cuticles from opening, which also helps to keep hair colour intact and prevents colour from fading.

Here are some tips when using a low foaming shampoo:

1. Apply to wet hair (OK – I guess we all know this one).
2. After applying the shampoo to the top of your head, massage the scalp.  
3. Add a bit more water to the top of your scalp to help the shampoo spread and enhance the foam.

So, with so many reasons to use a low foaming shampoo, why would you ever use a traditional high foaming shampoo ever again?!  It may take some getting used to, but your hair and scalp will thank you for using a low suds shampoo! Everybody deserves great hair!