Though silicones help give hair care products a satisfyingly silky, slippery feel, the best silicone-free shampoos use alternative ingredients to give products the same smoothing and detangling benefits withoutweighing down your hair. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that similar to alcohols, there are "good" and "bad" silicones. A shampoo that's labeled "silicone-free" may only mean it's free of those "bad" silicones — not all silicones. "Good" silicones include dimethicone copolyol, stearoxy dimethicone, and behenoxy dimethicone, while the not-so-good ones (which can make some people's hair appear limp and dull) include the widely used dimethicone, cetyl dimethicone, and many others.
Since most people want their silicone-free shampoo to be free of all silicones, you can either do some detective work when you're reading labels by avoiding ingredients ending in “-cone” or “-oxane," or make things even less complicated by choosing from this list of entirely silicone-free shampoos.
From under-$10 drugstore finds to eco-friendly bar soaps, scroll on to shop six of the best silicone-free shampoos on the market right now.
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