You probably thought all shampoos were the same, right? Just cleaning your hair. But the truth is, there are actually different types of shampoos! Who knew?
Let’s have a look at what this means for your hair and what shampoo you need.
Here’s a list with great clarifying shampoos for black hair, including a quick guide to explain the primary difference between a regular, clarifying and a chelating shampoo and what they’re actually good for.
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Why can’t I just use my regular shampoo?
There are a few different ways you can cleanse your hair during wash day. Some people prefer using their daily conditioners to make sure their curl definition stays superb.
Others who suffer from seborrheic dermatitis or other scalp conditions, love washing their hair with apple cider vinegar or other natural ingredients like Bentonite clay (clay made from volcanic ash).
If you want healthy hair, you need to make sure your hair and scalp get a good cleanse every now and then. Especially if you only wash your hair with sulfate-free shampoo or a regular conditioner.
A regular shampoo is simply designed to cleanse your hair, but it’s not strong enough to deeply clean your scalp and hair.
So, when you start noticing buildup on your scalp or your hair starts to feel greasy, it’s time to switch to a clarifying shampoo. In some cases you might even need a chelating shampoo.
What are clarifying shampoos?
If you use a lot of styling products or oil, a regular shampoo can’t always get rid of all the gunk in your hair. If that happens a clarifying shampoo will give you the best results, since it’s designed to deeply cleanse your hair.
Adding a shampoo like this to your natural hair routine can really help your curls. When they feel weighed down by product build up, a clarifying formula will almost ‘reset’ your curls so they look their best after styling.
You may find that a clarifying shampoo is needed more frequently if:
- you use products of a heavy consistency – If you use heavy products such as butters or heavy natural oils it can be hard to fully rinse them out of your hair. Over time, they will sit on the surface. A clarifying shampoo can lift them from your hair so your natural curls aren’t weighed down.
- You suffer from itchy scalp – Itchiness is common when you have curly and coily hair. A dry scalp can be the cause, but also product build-up, excess oil and dirt. Often, regular shampoos don’t properly cleanse the scalp, so dirt is simply layering on top of each other and causing irritation to the scalp. Alternatively, a clarifying shampoo is great for dry hair as it will keep your scalp feeling fresh and less itchy.
How often should you clarify your hair?
So in short, clarifying shampoos deep clean your hair and scalp. This can leave your lifeless hair feeling refreshed and free from:
- any environmental pollutants,
- sebum
- and product residue latching on the surface of your hair (such as hair products with silicones or hair gels). Yet, you have to be careful.
Avoid using this kind of shampoo too often as it can be drying. Instead, use it once a month or bi-weekly alongside other moisturizing shampoos or co-washes.
If you have an oily scalp, it’s best to wash your hair no more than 1 or 2 times a week with a shampoo like this to prevent dry and frizzy hair.
Also keep in mind, the best clarifying shampoos don’t have harsh ingredients that leave your scalp and hair strands all dried out. You can buy them with or without lauryl sulfate.
If you’d like to know what is the best clarifying shampoo with mild cleansing agents I’ve used, here’s a top 5 of my favorite shampoo.
Top 5 Clarifying Shampoo
If your looking for good clarifying shampoos for black hair, here’s a top 5 of the best shampoos:
- Kinky-Curly Come Clean Moisturizing Shampoo
- As I Am – Curl Clarity Shampoo
- Uncle Funky’s Daughter Squeaky Deep Cleansing Shampoo
- Curlsmith Wash & Scrub Detox Pro-Biotic
- Aunt Jackie’s – Power Wash – Clarifiying Shampoo
Clarifying and chelating shampoo: what’s the difference?
If you live in a city, just like I do, it’s a good idea to use a clarifying shampoo each month to remove stubborn residue and pollutants from your hair and scalp. But in some cases you need an extra deep cleansing shampoo: a chelating shampoo.
A chelating shampoo is stronger than a clarifying shampoo and removes:
- mineral deposits,
- residue of environmental factors
Chelating shampoos are great for swimmers or people with hard water, because they help get rid of mineral build-up on your hair by latching on to the impurities with its active molecules called chelating agents.
So, a clarifying shampoo is designed to remove built-up from your hair, while a chelating shampoo is designed to remove mineral deposits.
If you’re looking for a deep cleanser that does a great job of removing surface-level product build-up, a clarifying shampoo is a great choice for curly hair. It’s strong enough to make your hair feel refreshed on wash day without completely drying it out, offering the ideal balance.
How often should you use a chelating shampoo?
A chelating shampoo is a detox shampoo and significantly stronger than a clarifying shampoo. So be mindful of not using it too frequently. This can result in seriously dried out hair!
That being said, if you wash your hair with very hard water or suffer from significant product build-up, a chelating shampoo can be used once a month — this should be enough to remove heavy residue.
You may find that a chelating shampoo is needed more frequently if:
- Your hair is washed in hard water – Hard water contains a high concentration of minerals and metals such as calcium and magnesium, which can cause build-up over time and prevent moisture from entering the hair. Chelating shampoos can help by removing these minerals and rebalancing your hair’s moisture levels.
- You swim regularly – You shouldn’t let your hair get in the way of your hobbies such as swimming, but you may need to alter your hair care routine. Chlorine and saltwater are top offenders when it comes to dry hair. But, a chelating shampoo will remove harsh chemicals so your curls don’t become frazzled and unmanageable.
Top 3 Chelating Shampoo
Looking for a good chelating shampoo? Here’s a top 3 of the best shampoos:
Can you also use clay to clarify natural hair?
As an alternative to clarifying and chelating shampoos, clay masks can also be used to remove impurities from natural hair.
Although clay masks are popular in the natural hair community, they are a relatively new concept in the modern beauty world. There are many different types of clay with different properties.
Bentonite (also known as Indian healing clay) and Ghassoul are the most commonly used clays. They are mineral-based fine-grained natural soils that attracts dirt and buildup from our hair and scalp, like a magnet.
Clays have the unusual property of swelling when wet and shrinking when dry. When it swells, it attracts dirt and buildup from your hair and holds it in place even after it dries.
This is a process known as adsorption. Washing out the clay takes all of the build up with it.
When is it best to use clay?
Clay is like a shampoo, mask and conditioner in 1. You can use it as a clarifying and detox shampoo, but also as a treatment by adding additional ingredients such as:
- sea kelp powder,
- castor oil
- or any other type of oil like coconut oil.
As explained, clay is a great natural ingredient for pulling out ingrained dirt and product buildup from your hair.
Even using it once a month can still be effective and will prevent your curly hair from looking and feeling excessively dry from the lack of natural oils.
Do you need both (chelating and clarifying shampoo)?
A chelating shampoo is different to a clarifying shampoo, so depending on your needs you probably only need one of the two. Using both won’t provide any major benefits and will most likely result in dry hair.
Instead, choose one and use it alongside a mild shampoo or co-wash (which can be used more regularly on washday) for a healthy scalp and hydrated curls.
How often should you wash natural black hair?
How often you need to wash your hair depends on your hair type and personal preference. But, at the most, your curls should be cleansed once a week.
Although if you lead an active lifestyle you may choose to co-wash or thoroughly clean your curls too.
Base your washday on how your curls feel. You should wash your hair when:
- You can see flakes, product buildup or dirt on your scalp.
- Your hair feels itchy.
- Your curls look dull and lackluster.
Furthermore, don’t put off washing your natural hair because of the hassle of styling your curls. A good washday can be followed by simple styles such as twists and braids, to cut your time in half!
The scalp can be a perfect breeding ground for bacteria and fungi. Simply washing your hair with a regular shampoo will not eliminate these impurities from your hair.
If you use a chelating or clarifying shampoo regularly, it will help keep your scalp and hair healthy and prevent clogged hair follicles. This will in turn promote healthy hair growth and retention.
About the author
Angela is a curly girl and has been a beauty blogger since 2012. Because of her passion for beauty and hair, she has been a certified makeup artist since 2016 and has done multiple hair styling trainings. As a cosmetics lover, she writes reviews on cosmetics and provides different solutions that facilitate your daily beauty and curls routine.
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