Nawww, not a waste if it's good shampoo. To me, a good shampoo is one that leaves my hair naturally laying in a way I like, so I don't have to mess with it. Cheap shampoo leaves it feeling dry, looking dull, and really, really hard to style. I do not want to be wasting 15 minutes every morning trying to fix my hair. It's all wash and go for me, so good products do make a big difference.

That said, just because it's more expensive doesn't mean it is the right product for your hair, but in my experience, the cheap stuff is just junk.

I do have a lot of grey and white so that makes my hair harder to style, mind you. When I was young, I could use the cheap stuff, but not now, with aging hair (I'm 54).

 

I tend to read the ingredients label and go for mild shampoos without added pthalates and other things I don't want in my bloodstream. Sukin is a good no-harsh-chemicals manufacturer in Australia and there are things I want to avoid in many hairdresser as well as supermarket shampoos.

Shampoo bars are also worth trying as they reduce plastics pollution. Lather in hands not scalp or you'll "sand" your hair.

Radical thing I tried and recommend: Every second time you wash your hair, don't use shampoo at all, just use warm water and massage your scalp. Use conditioner if you need it. With conditioners, again I look for genuinely natural ingredients products instead of industrial goo. Many commercial conditioners are similar to fabric softeners (which I don't use at all).

If you do that and like it, pretty soon you'll only be shampooing your hair if it gets really greasy. Your hair will then be softer and more manageable and your shampoo bill slashed by at least half.

 

I have heard of the Shampoo bars but never have used them, I'll look and see if any stores around carry them, My hair is thick and long so I like how the gel is fast and easy to lather and I do like how shampoos leave a fresh smell. I also like switching up the shampoo brands, I get bored with just using one type so got to switch them up every few weeks.

 

I don't buy shampoo from a hair salon since a special trip needs made to buy if I run low or out...
For me, that is a 45 minute drive to my salon....nope.

I do purchase better than generic or low quality hair care products from my local store.
There is much on the market of similar, sometimes better than salon sold products at much less cost.
Do some research and know what it is your hair and body dictates needed. Look for comparison studies.
I love the research & comparisons of brands and style in the brand....amazing what you discover and sometimes you go why did I spend so much more than needed and other times, being frugal hurt the hair that will impact you in future.

So, nope....won't get me paying those exorbitant fees in some salon.
With few exception you can buy almost anything online at a place like Amazon or a hair care website and have $ in your pocket ....
🐎...

 

In my experience with shampoos is the cheaper ones just dont make my hair feel as soft and easy to brush, my hair would feel kinda stiff straw like, the better shampoos leave my hair softer and easier to brush.
And also for me the conditioner plays a big part in how my hair feels also. I have long Gray hair so I switch types of shampoos since I have to use a purple shampoo to keep that brassy/yellowing out so a good conditioner is a big plus for my hair, since the purple shampoo takes alot out of you hair and make it feel straw like, I only use the purple shampoo once or twice every other week, but other wise the normal shampoo.

I just feel better money is spent on a better shampoo. Less money spent would be a lesser shampoo. So No you are not wasting money.

And I like a good conditioner, my hair is also thick so I need that conditioner to help with tangles.

 

The sulphates added to cheap shampoos, to make them foamier, tend to dry out the hair, and cause buildup, and other unpleasant things. I don’t personally worry about additives in shampoo from a health perspective. I just really prefer the way nicer shampoo makes my hair feel.

 

Forgot to say,
I dont buy Salon shampoos I buy grocery store shampoos (not the store brand) and sometimes off of Amazon, but not the 8 dollar ones, I buy known brands. Heck I dont even go to a hair salon, been years since I've been.

 

Look at the contents and compare them.
A lot of times you’re paying for the name and not what’s in the bottle
A mild dish soap liquid can often contain much the same stuff

My hair tends to be very dry so I mostly just use plain water and just shampoo one a week

 

I went NoPoo for a long time then when I started using Lume I found their body wash works better than anything for everything. I use it a couple of times a week. Use a massage thingy like the grooma groomer for horses with water every day. Now considering you have lowlights you want to protect Id look at ingredients and go from there. Ill ask my nephew's girlfriend as she does hair for a living.

 

I have waist length, thick hair with a varying wave on top and ringlets underneath.

It still has most of my red/chestnut, but I'm roaning with age and the hair is dryer and frizzer than when I was younger.

The weather, if I dry it naturally (without the heat from a hairdryer) or wash it more than once or twice a week, all affect the condition, so I find that I don't have one brand of shampoo, it depends on how it feels.

Generally the cheaper ones make it straw-like but neither would I buy one of the expensive salon bottles.

I try to avoid sulphate and silicone, due to build up on the hair and scalp, however I need something that will help with tangles and frizz and dryness. I'm using one with coconut oil at the moment.

I've tried nopoo and only washing the scalp but it got heavy and greasy.

 

I've tried nopoo and only washing the scalp but it got heavy and greasy.

It is so interesting to me how different everyone's hair is! I have hair of a similar length/texture/thickness, and I found that just washing the scalp made a huge difference for me. If I wash all my hair, it gets dried out, and I end up using a lot of shampoo that I didn't need to use.

 

I added a drop, literally, of Dawn dish detergent when that would happen to me @Caledonian

 

Some people with strong hair and good scalps can use whatever. If I continually use cheap store shampoo, my hair dries out and I get small blisters on my scalp. I buy salon products from beauty supply stores, a bit cheaper than salons, sometimes. My mother used the cheapest hair care products all her life, and had beautiful hair until the day she died. I didn't inherit that at all!

 

You have to use what your hair gets along with.
RIght now, I am using the most expensive shampoo and conditioner I have ever tried. Why? It's said, and has high reviews for, helping with hair loss.
With having glaucoma, I have to use eye drops morning and night that hair loss is one of the side effects. I have lost probably half the thickness of hair. I'm not real anxious to lose any more! I am going to be talking to my eye dr about if there is another drop that I could use that hair loss is not one of the side effects.
I know age causes hair loss as well, but doubt it's like this. It sucks.

 

Laugh if you will...
Orvus did a great job when I was grooming for a week at a show and forgot.... 😁

I will also grab a small amount of blue Dawn dish soap when my hair gets that heavy, greasy feel. Takes the "heavy" away but not strip hair nor my scalp of needed nutrients. SMALL amount is the key of success with this.
🐎...

 

I use the best... Cheapest... Nothing.

EDIT: Cropped pix of my DL image.

 

I go with whatever my hair is happy with. I have very fine, easily damaged hair. I so envy people with thick, full heads of hair.

In the past I've used Dove and Pantene. Currently using a medley of Viori Shampoo bar, Kerastase and Amika products.

I've been using the shampoo bar for 2? years now but I'm wondering if the company changed their ingredients/process as it seems my hair is less strong and more dry.

 

@farmpony84 : Sorry... I have a weird (different to put it mildly) sense of humor. The buzz cut is intentional and has been so for 30+ years.

Carry on, all. I'll be counting my pennies that I save from not buying shampoo! 😘

 

I used to use any cheap human or horse shampoo. After having covid I did lose a lot of hair. Woman that cut it suggested a type. Not the cheapest, but not like salon prices.

I did pick up bars out of curiosity. I like the idea of mo plastic waste. They worked well but it still have a lot of the stuff that woman suggested. It's really concentrated and I have shoulder length hair. Everyone else is using the bars and I will too when I finish what I have.

 

@Horse & Dog Mom I don't have the head shape to pull off the buzz. I did have a pixie about a million years ago and I actually loved it but my husband would croak if I did that and I kind of like him so ... LOL.

I did go shoulder length last week and have gotten more complements than I ever had before so it must have been looking pretty straggly!

I bought a shampoo / conditioner set and then a purple shampoo that I haven't tried yet but this new shampoo has really made my hair soft. I do give it that....

 

@farmpony84:

My former Barber in Wisconsin said I have a good melon. 😉

If people don't know my hubby, and he has the same haircut, they'll say to me what does your husband think? And I'll say he doesn't count. All joking aside, he is the most pro-feminist person I have ever met in my life... He grew up with women who were powerful at home and in business.

He will get a little jealous if my hair is even a smidge shorter than his.

 

Just going to add a post about adverse health effects of common toiletries ingredients, which are definitely an issue not just for human health but for other species who share the planet with us. In Melbourne for instance, frog sexual development and general health has been adversely impacted by shampoo residues in the wastewater entering Port Phillip Bay. I had an excellent environmental toxicologist teaching me all sorts of hair-raising stuff when I did my undergraduate work and have continued to be interested in the topic because I care about human and animal health and adverse effects on water bodies etc etc so I've written articles on the toxicity of various common and seemingly innocuous products for public education in Australian magazines, and how to harm minimise.

For a highly readable general introduction that doesn't require a science background I really recommend this book.

Slow death by rubber duck : how the toxic chemistry of everyday life affects our health / Rick Smith, Bruce Lourie.

www.vgls.vic.gov.au

 

I buy grocery store shampoo - Pantene. But I spend bucks on my conditioner. It works great. I used to buy the salon shampoo too but I saw something years ago said that once you have the soap element you are basically just washing all the supposedly good properties out.

 

Cheap stuff that I switch to a different kind after every bottle. Rotate brands I guess I should say because it seems by the end of the bottle it's leaving my hair greasy looking. Prell is probably my favorite for getting hair squeaky clean. Hair is blonde with a liberal dose of gray (white), fine but a lot of it, straight, oily and currently short. The longest I can go between shampoos is every other day in the winter, every day in the summer. When I was younger I had to wash it morning and then again in the evening if I was going out. Anyway, besides Prell I use Pantene, Suave, sometimes the purple stuff, and anything else that looks interesting and is fairly low cost. If I get some I don't like I give it to hubby to use. LOL

 

probably the best thing you can do is shampoo less. no more than once a week.

 

It's interesting that frequent shampooing actually increases scalp sebum production as the body desperately tries to replace the stripped oil and restore its protective barrier. That's why just washing and scalp massaging with warm water every second time you're washing hair, instead of using shampoo, starts to slow down oil production again and restore that equilibrium a bit.

When you think about it, humans lived for millions of years without shampoo just as every other animal has. We've got natural oils to condition our hair but somehow have been socialised (because it's the done thing, and because someone makes money out of it) to chemically strip those oils out and then replace them with things like silicone which really has no business being in our hair and isn't compatible with our protective microflora. Meanwhile we're creating health hazards for ourselves with some of the additives and also the detergents themselves, and inflicting them on aquatic organisms through our wastewater, etc.

I was very surprised what happened when I stopped using shampoo every second time I washed my hair! I still used (more natural substances) conditioner because otherwise it would tangle but as time goes on I'm needing it less as my natural oils have a chance to hang around and do the conditioning.

 

I've always had a more oily scalp so this works best for me-- · "Miessence Lemon Myrtle Shampoo cleanses and purifies for those with oily hair or for when you have been using too many styling products.· Ingredients Certified Organic Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe Vera) Leaf Juice, Coco Glucoside, D-Panthenol (Pro-Vitamin B5), Citrus Aurantium Amara (Bitter Orange) Fruit Extract, Non-GMO Xanthan Gum, Certified Organic Backhousia Citriadora (Lemon Myrtle) Essential Oil, Citric Acid, Certified Organic Equisetum Arvense (Horsetail) Extract, Certified Organic Urtica Dioica (Nettle) Extract, Certified Organic Arctium Lappa (Burdock) Extract, Certified Organic Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Extract, Certified Organic Salvia Officinalis (Sage) Leaf Extract. Notes This shampoo can be too drying for some people for everyday use. We think its best used as a clarifying shampoo once a week or when needed to remove excess oil or product build up." It comes in bottles made from sugar now so no plastic! Costs around $25-$28 for 8.5 oz. I dilute with water as it is somewhat concentrated. My hair is shiny and has good body. No residue left at all. I don't use a conditioner as they weigh my hair down and make it too unmanageable. Wash hair maybe 2-3 times a week.

 

@SueC The Miessence is made in Australia--have you tried it? They have one for normal to dry hair also and a conditioner. And some early peoples did actually wash their hair with yucca and other soap plants--Tribes of the Southwest used the yucca's leaves to make soaps, shampoos and other hygiene related items, including dental floss....