Any Shampoo Ingredients I Should Avoid?

I am well-aware, as an avid reader of your blog, that there is no shampoo that will help to treat hair loss. This question is different. Are there any shampoos, or ingredients within shampoos, that you would recommend against. In other words, is there a particular ingredient that may cause damage to hair, or increase hair loss in some fashion? Thanks very much for your time and wonderful site.

I do not know of any shampoos to actively avoid. Over the years, I’ve read unverified reports from readers that suggest Head and Shoulders causes their hair to fall out, but if that were the case I’d expect there would be warnings and news items all over the place about it. It’s a very popular shampoo, but there’s a very active comments section at this old post.

I’ve also received emails from readers over the years asking about hair loss from sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) found in many shampoos, but I’ve pointed out before that it seems to be propaganda used by some companies just to sell SLS-free shampoo.

I don’t think there’s anything in commercial shampoos found on store shelves that will cause you problems, unless perhaps you’re allergic to something. I generally recommend that everyone try different shampoos and use the one that they like the most. I don’t have any particular shampoo preference over another.