sodium ???sulfate??? same thing??

[claires hair]

im so confused with after treatment shampoos and conditioners sodium is not recommended to use but trying to find shampoo is hard work
im using a tigi one that says sulfate free thinking this would be ok but it had sodium in it
clueless

 

[indium]

What you're probably thinking of is SLS free (sodium lauryl sulphate). Sodium and sulphate/ sulfate are not the same thing so don't worry. It will have other sodium compounds in apart from SLS

 

[Fuzion]

im so confused with after treatment shampoos and conditioners sodium is not recommended to use but trying to find shampoo is hard work
im using a tigi one that says sulfate free thinking this would be ok but it had sodium in it
clueless

R u thinking to go with a keratin treatment/ Brazilian blow dry? The shampoo needs to be Sodium Chloride free, sulphates will probably be in there, that makes the foam. You're correct Sulphate free is most definitely not Sodium free. Total head minefield!

 

[claires hair]

yes just looking for shampoos to use after Brazilian blow wave

the one im using says you dont have to use any particular type but i think if you can find one sodium free it will help keep it although i have been using any and its lasting great better than la brasiliana that came back wild after 3 weeks this is 100 times better showing no signs of coming out and without using the sodium free shampoos called nov max and its great

 

[Fuzion]

yes just looking for shampoos to use after Brazilian blow wave

the one im using says you dont have to use any particular type but i think if you can find one sodium free it will help keep it although i have been using any and its lasting great better than la brasiliana that came back wild after 3 weeks this is 100 times better showing no signs of coming out and without using the sodium free shampoos called nov max and its great

I supply my clients with Nexxus, that's Sodium Chloride free, not sulphate free, which is the imporant ingredient, and there's Pureology, Lakme for coloured hair is also Sodium Chloride free, the organic ones are the best, but you will see other sodiums in the ingredients, but don't panic.

 

[comptonhr]

What you're probably thinking of is SLS free (sodium lauryl sulphate). Sodium and sulphate/ sulfate are not the same thing so don't worry. It will have other sodium compounds in apart from SLS

Thanks for your great advice! It can be helpful for me but my hair is so hard. Please suggest me a shampoo.

 

[Ruth Mills]

Sodium chloride is just common salt (the same stuff you put on your fish and chips).

Sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) is a surfactant (surface active agent) - it has a hydrophilic head (the sulfate bit) which mixes well with water, and a hydrophobic tail (the lauryl bit - which is a hydrocarbon chain) - which mixes well with fats and oils. So in a shampoo, this acts to remove oils and dirt from the hair, by forming "micelles" around oils/dirt - where you have a blob with the oils/dirt in the middle, surrounded by the hydrophobic tails of the surfactant molecules - with the hydrophilic heads of each surfactant molecule pointing outwards towards the water - so that the oils and dirt from the hair can be easily washed away when the hair is rinsed.

As for the sodium? The sulfate bit of the surfactant molecule is negatively charged, so you need something with a positive charge (e.g. Sodium ions) to balance it out. Potassium ions would do a similar job, for example.

 

[Ruth Mills]

Also, sodium salts tend to be highly soluble in water, e.g. Stearic acid is a "fatty acid" that wouldn't dissolve well in water - but if you react it with caustic soda (sodium hydroxide) then you get sodium stearate (which is a commom ingredient in soap) - the process of reacting fatty acids with caustic soda (or similar caustic alkali) being known as saponification.

Where sodium stearate in soap is again working as a surfactant - removing oils and dirt from the skin and keeping them dissolved in water by forming micelles.