The best shampoos for naturally curly hair are gentle, don’t contain harmful ingredients, and cleanse without stripping hair of natural oils.
Due to the curly nature of natural hair, it’s harder for the natural oils emitted from the scalp to travel down the hair shaft.
With this challenge, it becomes important to use natural and organic shampoos that don’t strip natural hair.
6 Ingredients to Avoid in Shampoos
1. Alcohols
Just as it sounds, alcohols are very harsh and dry out the hair and scalp making it very hard to retain moisture.
If you see ingredients such as ethyl alcohol, SD alcohol, etc, set it right back on the shelf and walk away.
2. Diethanolamine (DEA) & Triethanolamine (TEA)
These ingredients cause scalp irritation and aggravate scalp conditions such as dandruff. They are also known to cause allergic reactions.
3. Fragrance & Parfum
This is usually a combination of many different types of chemicals, which may irritate the scalp and lead to conditions such as dandruff.
4. Parabens
This appears as methylparaben and propylparaben on ingredient lists. They irritate the scalp and cause itching and hormonal imbalance.
5. Polyethylene Glycol (PEG)
This is used for thickening shampoos but it also strips hair of moisture.
6. Sulfates
This is the reason shampoos are able to lather up so much. Unfortunately, they also strip the hair completely of all moisture and oils. Sulfates are usually labeled as SLS, SLES, or ALS.
Now that we got that out of the way, which shampoos are safe to use on natural hair then? I got you covered from my PJ days.
Additionally, as a recovered PJ, I’ve found staples that work well yet leave my hair so squeaky clean whenever I need to shampoo.
Top 23 Gentle Best Shampoos for Natural Hair
1. Alikay Naturals Black Soap Shampoo
Key ingredients include aloe vera leaf juice, palm kernel oil, cocoa butter, shea butter, potash of plantain skins, cocoa pods, shea tree bark, tea tree oil, and coconut oil. BUY HERE.
2. Jane Carter Solution Hydrating Shampoo
Jane Carter Solution Hydrating Shampoo provides gentle cleansing for all hair types.
Key ingredients include aloe vera, wheat protein, amino acids, and panthenol. BUY HERE.
3. DevaCurl No-Poo Decadence Cleanser
DevaCurl No-Poo Decadence Cleanser smoothes dry and coarse curls. Key ingredients include glycerine and grapeseed oil. BUY HERE.
4. Briogeo Rosarco Reparative Shampoo
Briogeo Rosarco Reparative Shampoo’s key ingredients include argan oil, coconut oil, and rosehip seed oil. BUY HERE.
5. Eden BodyWorks Peppermint Shampoo
Eden BodyWorks Peppermint Shampoo provides an excellent rejuvenating treat for the scalp.
Key ingredients include peppermint oil, vitamin E, glycerine, glycerine, tea tree oil, and panthenol. BUY HERE.
6. Giovanni Tea Tree Triple Treat Shampoo
Giovanni Tea Tree Triple Treat Shampoo is a wonderful experience for the scalp.
Key ingredients include glycerine, peppermint oil, aloe vera leaf juice, safflower oil, eucalyptus oil, and plant extracts.
Read my full review of Giovanni Tea Tree Triple Treat Shampoo here.
7. Honey Baby Naturals Honeychild Shampoo
Honey Baby Naturals Honeychild Shampoo’s key ingredients include honey, flower extracts, and chamomile. BUY HERE.
8. Green People Daily Aloe Shampoo
Green People Daily Aloe Shampoo’s key ingredients include glycerine, aloe vera powder, and olive oil. BUY HERE.
9. Elucence Moisture Benefits Shampoo
Elucence Moisture Benefits Shampoo corrects and prevents dryness while it also enhances hair color.
Key ingredients include Irish moss, ginkgo biloba, panthenol, anise, peach and ginseng extract, and coconut oil surfactant. BUY HERE.
10. Renpure Organics Argan Oil Shampoo
Renpure Organics Argan Oil Shampoo’s key ingredients include coconut oil, rapeseed oil, biotin, cocoa extract, and pea protein. BUY HERE.
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11. Kinky Curly Come Clean Shampoo
Kinky Curly Come Clean Shampoo’s key ingredients include mandarin orange extract, willow bark, and sea kelp. BUY HERE.
12. Jessicurl Hair Cleansing Cream
Jessicurl Hair Cleansing Cream’s key ingredients include glycerine, avocado oil, decyl polyglucose, and sodium cocoyl isethionate. BUY HERE.
13. Ouidad Coil Infusion™ Like New Gentle Clarifying Shampoo
Ouidad’s gentle clarifying shampoo detoxifies as well as it adds moisture back into the hair.
Key ingredients include shea butter, murumuru butter, grapeseed oil, castor oil, buriti oil, and plant extracts. BUY HERE.
14. Briogeo Be Gentle, Be Kind Green Tea Shampoo
Key ingredients include soybean extract, glycerine, bamboo extract, rose extract, avocado extract, green tea extract and panthenol. BUY HERE.
15. NYC Curls The Curl Cleanser
This award winning cleanser does wonders on dry and damaged curls.
Key ingredients include grapeseed oil, aloe vera lefa powder, peppermint oil and plant extracts. BUY HERE.
16. Giovanni Smooth As Silk Moisture Shampoo
Giovanni Smooth As Silk Moisture Shampoo is one of my favorite shampoos because it’s so moisturizing.
Key ingredients include glycerine, aloe vera leaf juice, plant extracts and panthenol. BUY HERE.
Read my full review of Giovanni Smooth As Silk Moisture Shampoo here.
17. Davines Love Curl Enhancing Shampoo
Key ingredients include glycerine, sweet almond extract and limonene. BUY HERE.
18. U R Curly Soya Moisturizing Shampoo
Strengthening shampoo enriched with abyssinian oil, tea tree oil, echinacea, aloe and soy protein. BUY HERE.
19. Rene Furterer Karite Nourishing Shampoo
Rene Furterer Karite Nourishing Shampoo features the best plant ingredients. Key ingredients include shea butter, cimentrio, and wheat microproteins. BUY HERE.
20. Yelani Moisture Blast Conditioning Shampoo
Yelani Moisture Blast Conditioning Shampoo contains 100% plant-based ingredients.
Key ingredients include aloe vera leaf juice, honey, and castor seed oil. BUY HERE.
21. Ouai Detox Shampoo
Key ingredients include certain, apple cider vinegar and other chelating ingredients. BUY HERE.
22. Klorane Ultra-Gentle Shampoo
The key ingredient in Klorane Ultra-Gentle Shampoo is oat milk which promotes softness and moisture. BUY HERE.
23. Aveda Rosemary Mint Purifying Shampoo
Key ingredients in this bestselling shampoo include glycerine, peppermint extract, rosemary extract, vinegar and methol. BUY HERE.
These shampoos have all the good things you want to be in your natural hair. Despite this, your hair may not like some or like some more than others. That’s the beauty and versatility of natural hair.
If you want more specific shampoo recommendations for high porosity hair, read Best Shampoos for High Porosity Hair.
For more specific shampoo recommendations for low porosity hair, read Protein Free Shampoos for Low Porosity Hair.
Do you have any best shampoo recommendations you think should be on the list? Let me know in the comments section.
The next article will examine the best shampoos for clarifying hair without causing damage.
Abi is a curly hair expert and author of the successful Healthy Hair Care Series. She is also the founder of Healthy Natural Hair Products & Natural Oils for Hair & Beauty. Learn more…
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The deva curl shampoo works really good on my hair. I have type 4c hair and that shampoo melted my tangles away and doesn’t dry out my hair!❤️It!
Thank you great article I will have to try some of the shampoos listed
Let us know how it turns out 🙂