What Makes the Best Moisturizing Shampoo and Conditioner?
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Time to read 6 min
There are so many types of shampoo and conditioner formulas on the market, each one touting unique benefits and claiming to be the “best” in their respective categories. One of the largest categories of shampoo and conditioner is the moisturizing shampoo and conditioner segment, catering to the more than one in three people who report having dry hair.
If you’re one of the nearly 40% of women or 33% of men who has dry, dehydrated hair, chances are you seek out moisturizing shampoos and conditioners already. But you probably don’t want to just settle for any old formulas - you want the best shampoo and conditioner for dry hair! Read on for how to identify the best moisturizing shampoo and conditioner, including benefits to expect, ingredients to look for and avoid, and how to create your own comprehensive moisturizing hair care regimen.
What You'll Learn about Moisturizing Shampoo and Conditioner
Signs Your Hair Needs More Moisture
First off, let’s determine if your hair lacks sufficient moisture. Fortunately, this isn’t a difficult proposition - it’s pretty clear when hair is dehydrated. Dry or damaged hair will feel rough to the touch instead of soft and silky, especially at the ends, and it will likely have flyaways and be difficult to smooth or style.
But it’s not just the dryness of the hair that matters - it’s what dehydration causes over time. When hydration and moisture aren’t properly maintained in the hair shaft, hair is far more prone to heat damage, color fading, split ends, and even breakage. Hydration is what keeps hair pliable and maintains elasticity, which in turn promotes healthy body, shine and styling manageability. The longer your hair goes without proper moisture, the quicker its condition will deteriorate, and the harder it will be to return it to a healthy state. Keeping hair moisturized and hydrated starts with using a moisturizing shampoo and conditioner.
"Hair requires proper moisture balance to maintain strength, elasticity, and overall health."
Benefits of Moisturizing Shampoo and Conditioner
As mentioned above, ensuring that hair is well hydrated and moisturized keeps it looking, feeling and performing its best. Moisturizing shampoos and conditioners are formulated to not only add moisture to the hair, but to maintain hair’s moisture level as well.
The function of shampoo and conditioner, of course, is to clean and condition the hair and scalp. However, while water has a pH of 7, hair’s own ideal pH is more acidic at 4.5 to 5.5. Water’s higher pH causes the hair to “swell” and open its cuticle - creating a literal escape hatch for moisture. An open hair cuticle causes external roughness in addition to moisture loss, which can in turn lead to tangles, brittleness, and hair damage.
The pH levels of proper moisturizing shampoos and moisturizing conditioners - like ours at Virgo de Novo - are closer to hair’s natural optimal pH level. This keeps the cuticle from remaining open after being washed, instead closing the cuticle and sealing in moisture to keep the hair shaft from dehydrating. In turn, this closed cuticle gives hair a smoother, shinier, more resilient finish and better protection from heat and color fade.
Best Ingredients for Hydrating Hair Care
While there are virtually countless healthy hair care ingredients to look for in moisturizing shampoos and conditioners, a few stand out from the crowd:
Vegetable Proteins: protein nourishes and moisturizes hair, reinforcing its natural barrier function and tensile strength to reduce breakage and improve elasticity
Panthenol: also known as provitamin B5, this moisturizing agent coats the hair surface, sealing in moisture to enhance strength and shine
Botanical Extracts: plant and fruit extracts can improve overall hair and scalp health, helping to fortify follicles, provide antioxidant protection and even reduce hair fall
Lightweight Oils: low molecular weight oils are able to penetrate the hair shaft and provide moisturizing, frizz-taming and protective benefits without a heavy or greasy feel
Sometimes the ingredients to watch for are the ingredients that aren’t there! Here are ingredients to avoid in your shampoos and conditioners, whether moisturizing formulas or not:
Sulfates: sulfates can strip hair of natural oils, leading to dehydration, causing color fade and making hair more susceptible to damage
Sodium Chloride: salt can be abrasive and dehydrating, especially to color-treated or processed hair
Isopropyl Alcohol: unlike fatty alcohols, this short-chain alcohol is often used to help styling products dry quickly, which in turn dehydrates hair
DMDM hydantoin and Imidazolidinyl Urea: these formaldehyde-releasing preservatives can cause irregularities in the cuticle that weaken hair, especially when exposed to heat
A Word about pH Levels
Despite how critical pH level is to how shampoo and conditioner affect the hair, not all shampoo and conditioner products list their pH levels. At Virgo de Novo, we say ours loud and proud! Our shampoos range in pH from 4.6 to 5.0 for moisturizing and toning formulas to up to 5.4 for volumizing formulas, while our conditioners range from 3.0 to 4.4. Clearly, maintaining hair’s moisture content, protecting the integrity of the hair cuticle and optimizing hair condition are key priorities for our professional haircare products. If you can’t find the pH level of a shampoo or conditioner currently in your repertoire, we encourage you to reach out to the manufacturer and ask to be sure it’s in a hair healthy range.
How to Build a Moisturizing Hair Routine
There are three basic steps to any healthy hair care regimen, whether moisturizing, volumizing or both:
1. shampoo
2. conditioner
3. leave-in
While most people consider shampoo and conditioner de rigueur, many overlook a leave-in conditioner or treatment, or just use one if hair seems to need extra TLC. The fact is, if hair looks like it needs conditioning, the damage has already been done!
Using a leave-in should be as essential to your haircare routine as using a shampoo and rinse-out conditioner, especially for dehydrated or damaged hair. Quite literally, a leave-in conditioner or treatment provides an added layer of moisture and protection that dry hair thirsts for. In addition to providing lasting defense against heat, environmental and styling damage that any hair type benefits from, a leave-in also enhances shine and manageability.
Some people with thin or fine hair fear that a leave-in will be too heavy or greasy. However, this can easily be avoided by choosing lightweight formulas and using them properly, meaning using small amounts and applying sparingly from ends of hair up to midshaft.
Once these three essential haircare steps are completed, styling comes into play. While some styling products such as lotions, creams or serums might possess inherent moisturizing properties, the most critical consideration for styling products is to avoid formulas that dry out the hair. Like with shampoos and conditioners, this means opting for sulfate-free, alcohol-free styling products. All the better if they also contain ingredients that promote hair health, as is the case with Virgo de Novo’s healthy hair styling products.
Virgo de Novo: Your Best Choice for Moisturizing Shampoo and Conditioner
When looking for the best shampoo and conditioner for dry hair, look no further than Virgo de Novo's Drench Moisturizing Shampoo and Drench Moisturizing Conditioner. Not only do our hair-healthy formulas contain - and not contain! - the critical ingredients listed above, but their pH levels allow them to infuse moisture and nutrients into the hair and seal them in, leaving tresses smoother, shiner, and more resilient.
With decades of experience behind the chair as a salon owner and master stylist, our founder Diana Bernard leveraged her extensive knowledge, dedication and passion for healthy hair care to create these moisturizing shampoo and conditioner formulas to meet her exacting standards and exceed your expectations. (Did we mention they smell great, too?) We hope you’ll see - and smell - for yourself!
Benefits of Virgo de Novo Drench Moisturizing Shampoo and Conditioner
smooths + seals the hair cuticle > enhanced smoothness + shine
prevents moisture loss > better elasticity + bounce
prolongs color life > more time between colorings
protects from heat + environment > healthier, more resilient hair