Picking the proper shampoo

You have a myriad of shampoo options, but selecting the right one
for your hair isn’t really that difficult when you understand the cat-
egories. Shampoos are generally geared toward use on normal,
fine, or dry hair; you just have to figure out which one you have.
Here’s a breakdown:
 Normal hair
• Is neither greasy nor dry.
• Isn’t permed or color treated.
• Generally holds its style well, without the use of lots of
products.
• Looks good most of the time.
 Fine hair
• Tends to be limp.
• Looks flat and lacks volume.
• Is difficult to manage.
• Becomes greasy soon after it’s washed.
 Dry hair
• Is dull.
• Is frizzy.
• Feels rough.
• Has been treated with perms or coloring agents.
• Tangles easily.
Excess oils tend to weigh the hair down, making it difficult to
manage, because the oil clings to dirt and particulate matter.
Because sebum is easily spread by passing your fingers through
your hair, don’t run your fingers through your hair after you finish
drying and styling it.
And if your hair is greasy, be sure to use a shampoo designed for
greasy hair. It has more powerful surfactants to get the grease off
of the scalp and hair shafts, but be aware that more powerful
surfactants may be more irritating to the eyes and skin.
Shampoos don’t alter the physical properties of the hair, so hair
will be just as pliable and strong after a shampoo as it was before.
But conditioners in the shampoo can interfere with perming and
coloring. You can offset the impact by using shampoos that con-
tain silicone micro-emulsifiers.
Knowing when to trust the label
Because the FDA is involved in the regulation of claims on the labels and the adver-
tising material on these products, you can generally trust the claims if the company
is well known. On the other hand, many fly-by-night companies will risk making
incredible claims, hoping to fly under the FDA radar, to get you to buy their product.
These products often show up on late night infomercials and feature someone
wearing a white lab coat (who almost assuredly is not a doctor, although you’re
meant to think he is).
Because hair products don’t have to be cleared by the FDA before they go on the
market, there’s no central place to go to find out if a product is safe and their ads are
truthful. If the FDA finds that the product is being falsely advertised, they will first act
by serving the company a “cease and desist” letter. It can take considerable time
before a company removes a product from the market under these circumstances.
The safety and effectiveness of these products may not have been rigorously tested
and you don’t want to become a victim of some possibly unsafe product while wait-
ing for the FDA to answer a complaint and then put them out of business; the best
thing to do is to buy products from companies that are well known rather than those
that advertise on late night TV.