There shouldn’t be any comparisons or debate on which is more important; shampoo or conditioner.
While both are hair washing products, they work very differently on your hair, and hence, they are very important to maintain the luster and looks of your precious manes.
Let’s discuss how shampoo and conditioner work and the results they produce so that you understand why both of them are a vital part of your hair washing routine.
What is Shampoo?
In simple words, shampoo is a hair care product that is used to remove excess oil, dirt, and build-ups from your hair and scalp and clean them thoroughly. Its main purpose is to keep your head clean so that your tresses are not weighed down and you feel refreshed.
The primary ingredient of shampoo is a surfactant. Surfactants like ammonium lauryl sulfate, ammonium laureth sulfate and Cocamidopropyl work as a detergent and remove impurities and dirt from the scalp so that you can rinse them away easily with water. Even though these surfactants wash away buildups and debris, they don’t strip off too much oil and moisture from your hair and doesn’t make them super dry and brittle.
Other than washing and cleaning your tresses, shampoo doesn’t serve any other purposes on your tresses.
Why It is Important to Use Shampoo on Your Hair?
Your hair is exposed to dirt, smoke, sun, and sweat daily. These external factors make your hair and scalp dirty and produce buildups which can make your hair roots weak. Weaker hair roots eventually cause severe hair fall resulting in hair thinning and that’s why you must wash your tresses regularly.
Cleaning your hair and scalp regularly with a suitable shampoo not only removes impurities and dirt from them but also revive them so that the hair roots are not weighed down and look flat and lifeless.
READ MORE: How Often Should You Wash Your Hair With Shampoo
What is the Right Shampoo for Your Hair?
While you understand why shampoo is one of the most important products in your hair care regime, you must also know that not all the shampoos can produce the same kind of silky smooth results in your hair. For instance, a shampoo (like the Herbal Essences BioRenew Coconut Milk Shampoo) that is meant to hydrate and tame down your thick tresses won’t do anything for your fine thin hair other than cleaning them. For fine thin manes, we are suggesting to use a volumizing shampoo (such as the Bumble and Bumble Thickening Volume Shampoo) to add extra body to your hair and make it look more voluminous.
For straight hair, we suggest picking a straightening shampoo with Keratin Protein and Coconut Oil.
As different shampoos have different purposes (obviously aside from cleaning the hair and scalp), you should be careful when buying one for you.
Now let’s move to conditioners.
What is a Conditioner?
On the other hand, a conditioner is a hair care product that is used to add moisture and nourishment to the hair strands and soften them so that they feel soft and smooth and look silky and shiny. It is applied right after you are done washing your tresses with shampoo to restore the moisture and natural oils lost during the cleaning session.
Unlike shampoos, a conditioner doesn’t contain any surfactants. Instead, it is packed with moisturizing and hydrating agents like Dimethicone and Dimethiconol to make your hair soft and manageable after every wash.
Why It is Important to Use a Conditioner?
Even a good shampoo can strip off natural oils and hydration from your tresses making them dry and brittle. To save your precious manes from dryness and breakage, you must condition them regularly as the conditioning agents provide an adequate amount of nourishment to your hair to smooth out the cuticles and make your tresses silky, soft and healthy.
If you avoid the conditioning part after washing your hair, it is more likely that your precious manes will suffer from dryness and damage soon resulting in hair fall and thinning hair.
What is the Right Conditioner for Your Hair?
Even though the main purpose of a conditioner is to restore moisture in your hair locks, similar to shampoos, different types of tresses need different types of conditioners. If you have dry damaged hair, then a super moisturizing conditioner (like this Neutrogena Triple Moisture Daily Deep Conditioner) would be an excellent choice for you to intensely hydrate your manes and make them super smooth and manageable.
On the other hand, curly tresses, hair experts suggest adopting a conditioner that seals out humidity and make the curls frizz-free and bouncy. This DevaCurl One Condition Original would be an excellent choice for your curly tresses.
Wrapping Up
From the above discussion, we clearly understood that both the shampoo and conditioner are equally important in your daily hair care routine to keep your tresses clean, healthy and smooth, and there cannot be and shouldn’t be any comparisons between these amazing products.
Sources
- The Small Things, Which is more important? Shampoo or Conditioner?
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Sylvia is one of the most joyful people you’ll ever meet. She is a high advocate of self-love and encourages women to take care of themselves both mentally and physically. She loves girly talks especially salon talks (a little gossip doesn’t hurt) and spends most of her free time on skincare or hair care. You can find more about here HERE. Find her on LINKEDIN
Hello people,
There is no doubt that this article is an excellent piece of writing with so much useful information. However, I found a minor glitch. If you had mentioned “dry shampoo” and “deep conditioners” then I think this article would have been more useful and informative to the readers.
This is just my opinion.
Other than this small glitch, this is an excellent writer.
I enjoyed it very much.
Dear Margaret,
First of all, thank you very much for your sweet praising words. We are overwhelmed with your response.
Secondly, we also thank you for your suggestion. We would keep it in mind in the future.
Till then, please keep visiting us for more informative articles.
Thank you for writing such an impressive piece of writing. I am impressed with the way you have described the concept of shampoo and conditioner. It’s very explanatory and quite easy to understand, even for people who have very limited ideas about these hair products.
I want to thank you guys for coming up with such contemporary ideas and always educating us.
Keep up the good work.
All the very best.
Dear Stephanie,
Thank you very much for your kind inspiring words. We are overwhelmed with your response. Our readers’ feedback helps us to think and write better.
Please keep coming back for more informative articles in the future.