Neutralizing Shampoo On Natural Hair: Should You Use It?

Using organic hair products is the way forward and also the best choice when trying to groom or grow healthy hair. Natural ingredients in hair products save you the stress of worrying about chemical damage and how to fix it.

However, some hair products need an added chemical to produce your desired results such as hair dyes, hair sprays, and relaxers.

Neutralizing shampoos are made to treat your hair after using such chemical-based products but are they safe for use? 

What is Neutralizing shampoo?  

A neutralizing shampoo which is also known as counterbalancing shampoo is a hair product that is made to balance the pH level of the hair.

Several products ranging from gels, hair dyes, hair relaxers, hair sprays, and other products that have chemicals in them leave some chemicals in our hair that unbalances the natural pH of your hair. 

Neutralizing shampoo steps in as the hero and gets rid of those bad chemicals present in your hair and balances your hair’s pH level as it should be.

Neutralizing shampoos can be used right after applying a chemical product such as is the case with relaxing your hair where you are required to wash out the relaxer using a neutralizing shampoo or they can be included in a hair care routine where you use them weekly to rebalance your hair’s natural pH level.

So Should You Use Neutralizing Shampoos On Natural Hair?

Your hair comes in contact with harmful or damaging toxins as a result of using chemical-based hair products from time to time, these products might not have an immediate damaging effect on your hair but they affect the natural pH balance of your hair.

Neutralizing shampoos can easily rinse away these toxins and restore the natural pH level of your hair, so you should definitely use them if you want to keep your hair healthy.

Keeping your hair’s natural pH level balanced is very important for hair care although it may sound trivial and is not often spoken about moisturizing and other integral parts of hair care.

Your normal hair pH level helps to keep your hair cuticles sealed and protected from bacteria or fungus which could, in turn, cause hair breakage.

A natural hair pH level is also instrumental for encouraging healthy hair growth, it protects the hair from losing moisture and locks it in instead, it supports the cleansing of your hair without losing natural oils or moisture, it also keeps your hair looking and feeling healthy because it keeps it from getting dry, frizzy or damaged.

Why Consider Using Neutralizing Shampoos?

When you use a hair relaxer or hair dyes on your hair, it increases the pH level of your hair – and no, that’s not a good thing. When your hair’s natural pH level is increased past 5 or 4.5, it causes damage to your hair.

It could result in hair breakage, a dry scalp, an infected scalp, or some sort of inflammation being triggered in your scalp.

None of these side effects of using a relaxer or hair dyes are desirable so it is best you use a neutralizing shampoo after using either of them to keep your hair’s natural pH level intact.

Neutralizing shampoos are made using low pH ingredients such as sodium hydroxide or sodium chloride and other deep cleansing agents so that they can reduce the pH level of your hair when it has been heightened by harmful toxins from certain chemical hair products. 

How often can I use a neutralizing shampoo?

Now that we know just how beneficial and crucial using neutralizing shampoos is, we need to learn that we should use it with moderation and not just take advantage of its deep cleansing and pH balancing abilities.

As a heavy-duty shampoo, neutralizing shampoos can not be used as often as a regular shampoo. A high pH level means the alkaline levels in your hair have increased and neutralizing shampoos introduce just the right amount of acidity needed to balance your hair’s pH levels.

Using a neutralizing shampoo daily means you are introducing those acidic ingredients to your hair in an unhealthy amount. It is best to use a neutralizing shampoo once a month and no more until a month has passed by, the effects of a neutralizing shampoo are long-lasting so you do not need to use it too often.

Summary 

Neutralizing shampoos are undoubtedly a perfect fix for getting rid of unwanted and damaging chemicals that have made contact with your hair before they cause any harm to it.

Not everyone is aware of how important or essential they are to your hair care journey, but keeping your hair’s natural pH level balanced is a big deal as it determines the general health and well being of your hair no matter how many products you have lying in your hair care collection.