The Best Shampoo Without Chemicals | My Top 8 Nontoxic Brands!

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Chemical-Free Shampoo

Are you ready to switch out your toxic shampoo for a better shampoo without chemicals? Or do you need some new suggestions from someone who has tried it all? Look no further! As a person who has been into the clean beauty scene for well over eight years, I know it can be tough to pick something new.

These nontoxic shampoos are all vetted to be made with completely natural ingredients that nourish your hair and promote healthy growth. Just about any of them would do wonders for your hair! And there are options to fit every budget. But what makes these shampoos so great in the first place?

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Which Shampoo is Best without Chemicals?

There’s really no “holy grail shampoo” because everyone has very different hair types! But the best way to determine if a shampoo doesn’t have chemicals is if it’s free of these popular ingredients (source):

• Sulfates—The foaming agent in most shampoos, Sulfates (aka sodium lauryl sulfate) are so harsh on hair that they can accelerate damage and create frizz. It’s typically found in clean agents for car engines!

• Parabens—Used as a preservative in just about any cosmetic. It absorbs quickly into the skin and mimics the hormone estrogen. This has lead researchers to believe it’s linked with infertility, breast cancer, hormonal imbalance, and a plethora of other things that happen as a result of too much estrogen in the body.

• Formaldehyde—A known carcinogen and one of the scariest things to find on an ingredient list. Unfortunately, you won’t find the name on a list, but rather, an ingredient that releases it over time. The most common ingredient being quarternium-15.

• PEG’s—A slightly controversial ingredient because science hasn’t found the ingredient itself to be toxic, but because it’s petroleum-derived it’s best to be avoided because petroleum filtering processes aren’t the best. Also, carcinogens are a common by-product of PEG’s that aren’t required to be filtered out.

• Alcohol—A drying agent to get rid of excess oil. Alcohol itself isn’t terrible, but it can dry out hair and make it prone to damage. People with already dry hair should steer clear of isopropyl or propanol alcohol.

• Fragrance—A sneaky loophole for companies to keep what makes their product smell so good a secret. That one word can be a cover-up for hundreds of questionable ingredients that the company isn’t required to disclose. Be in the know!

• Triclosan—A cleaning agent that’s so harsh it was banned from hand soaps in 2016 (It’s still allowed in everything else). It’s also been known to create hormonal imbalance and harder-to-fight strains of bacteria.

Learn to Read Ingredient Lists!

Unfortunately, this only scratches the surface of all the nasty stuff that we can find in our beauty and personal care products. And since there are little to no regulations that companies are required to follow, we have to be our own detective to find out what is really going into our bodies.

We also have to be on the lookout for greenwashing practices, or a company painting itself to be all natural when it’s not natural at all. You have to learn to look past the fun advertising and really dive into that ingredient list and the company’s values. Are all of their products “natural?” Do they give fair compensation to their workers? Looking into the company itself can usually answer most of these kinds of questions.

It takes a little research and a lot of practice, but in time you’ll be an ingredient list master! One of the easiest things you can do is to find a few brands that you know you can trust and talk to people like me that have been doing this thing for a while. I’d be happy to show you even more recommendations if you need them.

Which Shampoos are Chemical-Free?

All of these suggestions are for a great shampoo without chemicals that anyone will love! I can also say with confidence that their entire brand is trustworthy. I’ve seen thousands of people swoon over these products, and I’m so excited to see which one you’ll like the best!

I’ll give a brief background of each brand and my favorite shampoo from each of them, as well as where they fall on the price spectrum. Most of these brands have several nontoxic shampoos to pick from, so go ahead and see which one would fit your hair type the most!

I also want to quickly mention that almost every shampoo without chemicals on this list can be bought online from The Detox Market. It’s an amazing online marketplace that tests all products for purity and effectiveness. You can read all about the amazing benefits of shopping at The Detox Market to learn more!

Just Nutritive Shampoos

This brand was one of the very first natural shampoos I ever tried! This shampoo without chemicals even helped me along the beginning stages of my clean beauty journey so I could understand what I was putting into my body.

Just Nutritive is a somewhat small brand that I discovered when Pinterest was in its early stages back in 2012. I had just made the realization that baking soda was not a good form of shampoo, so I bit the bullet and decided to research shampoo without chemicals you can buy at the store.

I bought their oily hair shampoo and fell in love! It’s more effective to dilute it with a 1-4 ratio of shampoo to water, which made this massive bottle of shampoo last well over a year! It’s the best natural shampoo for fine hair that I’ve come across!

If you don’t have oily hair, Just Nutritive makes products for just about any hair type. I recommend their normal hair shampoo if you don’t know where to start. Or, you can read some more in-depth thoughts on Just Nutritive at my haircare review of them.

Rahua Hydration Shampoo

As someone who not only has fine hair, but also dry hair, I was super excited to hear about this shampoo! Rahua is known to be one of the more expensive natural haircare brands, but you certainly get what you pay for.

While there are several shampoos made by Rahua, I had to highlight their Hydration Shampoo because it’s so dang good! The ingredients in this shampoo without chemicals is full of goodness from the Amazon rainforest. In fact, that’s where the company’s name comes from.

A celebrity hairstylist took a trip to the Amazon and noticed that all the locals had gorgeous, long hair. When asked for their secret, the locals simply said “rahua oil.” Since then, local Amazon families have worked to bring theses amazing benefits of this oil to your shower.

I’m always a bit apprehensive to try moisturizing shampoos because of the fear that they’ll weigh my very fine hair down. But this isn’t the case at all with this nontoxic shampoo! It leaves my hair feeling nice and clean while balancing on that fine line between moisturized and heavy.

Plus, if you don’t want to throw down the money on this, you can try one of their smaller bottles for a much reasonable price! I love to get a bottle of this whenever The Detox Market has a sale!

Innersense

I love this brand for their super simple ingredient lists that certainly deliver on what they promise! Innersense is known primarily for their extensive line of haircare options, with their shampoos being a crowd favorite.

They make shampoos and conditioners for dry, curly, color-treated, just about any hair type you can think of! I personally love their “pure” line, because it’s the most basic for my fine hair. The Pure Harmony Hair Bath is great for fine to normal hair, and it’s made with ingredients like coconut oil, shea butter and aloe vera.

I’ll admit that seeing shea butter on the ingredient list made me nervous at first, because I was afraid that it would weigh down my hair. But that wasn’t the case at all! These luxury haircare brands certainly know how to deliver. My hair felt perfectly moisturized, and I was able to go longer in between washes.

I highly recommend you try their Pure Haircare Trio if you want to go all-in with your natural haircare regiment! It’s an investment for sure, but it should last you a while if you don’t wash your hair every day.

Acure

This list of shampoo without chemicals possibly couldn’t be complete without this brand!! I recently wrote an in-depth Acure review and it’s totally worth checking out. Acure is one of my favorite companies to recommend to people who are brand new to clean beauty, because you can find them pretty much anywhere.

Acure is an American-owned brand that was founded in honor of the CEO’s late grandmother who died of breast cancer. I absolutely love their message of bringing better products to everyone to reduce their risk of a life-threatening illness.

Where do I even start with their shampoos?! They’re the best cheap natural shampoo for anyone at all. First off, their nontoxic shampoos are the products that you’re likely to find everywhere the most, and there are three main categories to choose from: Vivacious Volume, Curiously Clarifying, and Ultra Hydrating.

They make waaay more shampoos than that, but those are the basic ones that you’re likely to find in stores. I’ve tried all three and love them completely! In fact, I have some ultra-hydrating shampoo in my shower right now. You can read my Acure review for what I think of each one!

Evolvh

Say hello to another golden brand of luxury haircare! Evolvh is known for 90% of their ingredients to be completely organic, so if you’re trying to get on the organic beauty train, this is the brand for you!

Evolvh’s selection is limited to color-treated and curly hair shampoos, so I personally haven’t tried them myself. But their leave-in conditioner is to die for! I even mentioned it in my latest list of organic gifts for her. 

You’ll find that both shampoos are filled with moisture-rich ingredients to ensure the health of color-treated hair, as well as the look and feel of curly hair. I know that both can be very hard to manage but Evolvh is a great alternative to stylist-quality hair products!

Yarok

If you’re looking for a new brand of shampoo that has an emphasis on ethics and sustainability, I highly recommend you give Yarok a try! I was super curious about what the name meant, and it means green in Hebrew, which I think is super fitting for this brand’s message.

All ingredients are organic and sourced ethically, and the world could use a lot more of that! I recently included them on my list of best organic hairsprays, but their shampoo also deserves a shoutout because of how it’s made my hair smell and feel.

The Feed Your Moisture and Feed Your Volume shampoos are both great in my book. I’ve found that a little bit of the moisture shampoo goes a long way, and I have to be careful that it doesn’t weigh down my fine hair.

The Feed Your Volume shampoo, on the other hand, makes my hair feel clean and fresh! I also worry that voluminous shampoos will dry out my hair, but this wasn’t the case at all, thankfully. I love how bouncy and shiny it makes my hair!

Josh Rosebrook

To any of you who absolutely cannot live without their stylist brands, allow me to introduce you to Josh Rosebrook! The name is also the founder’s name, who is a super sought-after hair stylist that decided to turn to plants to make his own high-quality products.

Depending on which size bottle you get, these shampoos can get pretty pricey! But their smallest bottle is only $8 coming in at a measly 2 oz. I like the small size just so that you can try it without having to waste a bunch of money if you end up hating it.

Their Balance shampoo is great for normal to oily hair types, which is where I fall into! Not only do I have very fine hair, but also an oily scalp thanks to genetics. On the rare occasion that I can afford this shampoo, it does great with helping me go longer between washes!

Another great option is their Nourish shampoo, which is designed for those with dry or deeply damaged hair. This particular shampoo has very little foaming agents to keep the damage as low as possible so your hair can heal. That personally makes me a bit nervous, but I’m sure it would greatly improve your hair’s health over time!

John Masters

Last but certainly not least is John Masters Organics! This is a great company with prices that aren’t up there but definitely not super cheap. Again, you definitely get what you pay for when it comes to shampoo without chemicals, so try to keep that in mind.

My personal favorite shampoo is the Rosemary and Peppermint Shampoo for Fine Hair, for obvious reasons! It smells just like my high-quality essential oils and helps wake me up if I need to shower first thing in the morning.

There are a couple more shampoos that you can check out at The Detox Market. They also make the only truly organic hairspray on the market that’s totally worth checking out. But you can trust that John Masters will give you salon-quality products without all those harsh chemicals you’re trying to stay away from.

Final Thoughts on the Best Shampoo without Chemicals

As you can see from this list, there’s something for everybody at any price point when it comes to shampoo without chemicals. If you’re a total beginner, I highly recommend Acure Organics because there’s a few options to choose from and you can find them anywhere.

If you’re looking for something more luxurious, I highly recommend Evolvh, Rahua, or Josh Rosebrook for truly stunning hair. I’m personally not a big fan of spending more than $20 on a bottle of shampoo unless I know it’s going to last me for more than a year.

And that’s where Just Nutritive fits into the equation! I don’t have a problem investing in their products because it’s going to be forever until I need to buy from them again. They have any kind of haircare product you’ll need to set you up for major hair success.

Which one of these natural shampoos is your favorite? What other brands did I miss? Let me know in the comments below!

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