There are some common shampoo ingredients that everyone has heard warnings about: sulfate, alcohol, and artificial fragrance. These popular ingredients are generally blamed for drying out your hair, turning it brittle and breakable. Plus, they can irritate your scalp.
Although avoiding these potentiall harmful ingredients is a good start, there's also value in searching for the beneficial ingredients that can actually help your hair grow.
Finding shampoos with these scalp-soothing and hair-strengthening ingredients is a always a good idea, particularly if you are dealing with any hair fallout.
Suneel Chilukuri, MD, and director of cosmetic surgery at Refresh Dermatology in Houston, Texas, tells Byrdie: "The right shampoo can promote a healthier scalp to keep the hair in the anagen (growing phase) longer, which results in less hair fall."
But what is the "right shampoo?"
Look out for hair products that contain rosemary oil, a natural ingredient that can help promote a fuller head of hair. Francesca Fusco, a dermatologist and assistant clinical professor of dermatology at Wexler Dermatology in New York City, tells Allure, "I recommend rosemary oil to patients with hair shedding or hair loss. There’s a study showing it promotes hair growth as well as minoxidil, without side effects like itching."
According to the article, trying a shampoo that contain seaweed as one of its first 5 ingredients can also be beneficial in combatting hair loss: "A new study in the journal Archives of Plastic Surgery suggests that a mix of two seaweed extracts (Saccharina japonicaand Undaria pinnatifida) stimulates hair-growth-promoting hormones in as little as two weeks."
With that in mind, next time you're picking out a shampoo, keep your eyes peeled for these ingredients, which could help strengthen your hair and prevent future fallout.