Letting Go Of Silicone-Based Haircare
Detoxing Your Hair and Scalp the Bondi Beach Way
Silicones are almost like hair magic, right? These inexpensive lab-made ingredients (look for ingredients that end with “-cone” on the list) coat the hair to help with frizz, protect against heat, boost shine, and give your hair that nice, slippy feeling that makes it seem healthy, hydrated, brushable and well-behaved. But to pull off all those slick tricks, silicone has to coat your hair with a synthetic compound. And that silicone coating builds up on your hair with every treatment—keeping your hair sealed off from the nourishment of the rest of your haircare routine.
After continuous use, your hair’s lack of nourishment begins to show. The ends of your hair might begin to look dull and might be more prone to damage and you may experience buildup on your scalp and follicles. If you’re using a heavy silicone, it will require a cleansing shampoo to strip it out of your hair which will also strip out your natural oils that keep your hair shiny and supple.
So how do get your hair hydrated, shiny, frizz-free without silicones?
Well, the Bondi Beach way is to condition it with nourishing moisture from botanical sources like aloe vera, shea butter, and jojoba oil. A skinification approach to haircare. If you’ve been using silicones for a while and you want to break the cycle, you may experience the dreaded detox period.
SILICONE DETOX: Getting your hair through it, so you can renew it
Once you decide to make the to switch to silicone-free haircare, prepare for a process.
It’s kind of like how your skin initially responds to the exfoliating effects of retinol treatment, by purging itself, and simultaneously losing its balance—opening the way for acne, blackheads, whiteheads and rashes to pop up. It’s a mess for a bit, but once the bad stuff cycles out, most people experience skin that starts looking great. Same goes for silicone detox. Cleansing away all the silicone buildup on your scalp and hair takes time and gentle repetition over the course of a few weeks. But once you cycle the silicones out, your locks will thank you and will look shiny, bouncy, and healthy. Check out this educational video about transitioning to natural haircare to get you started.
Here are a few of the lovely things you can expect to encounter in the process:
1. Dry hair, oily scalp
This confusing condition pops up because your scalp is used to balancing out the effect of silicone by producing extra oils.
Tip: Try rinsing with apple cider vinegar to control this.
2. Hard-to-comb hair
Combing your hair while it’s wet may be tricky as you detox, without silicone to add that extra slip that you’re used to, your hair might not be as manageable as you’re used to.
Tips: Use the BondiBoost Wide Tooth Comb with the BondiBoost Tangle Therapy to easily glide through hair without causing unnecessary damage.
And be sure to give your hair some natural, nourishing alternatives to silicone that’ll produce the same soft, shiny, touchworthy result, like the jojoba and argan oils used in all BondiBoost systems.
3. Unusually oily or flat hair
Now’s the time to use the BondiBoost Scalp Salt Scrub, to unclog pores silicone may have stopped up. Double cleanse to speed up the removal of silicones. We partnered with hair stylist Kylee Heath to provide advice for using the salt scrub to remove silicone build up. You can check out her educational video here.
While this detox period might not be fun, these tips should help you get through the worst of it. Soon, you’ll be on your way to naturally healthy, bouncy, and shiny hair without the added weight of silicone! However you get through the detox period, share your experience in the comments, or on our
BondiBoost Babes Facebook page. We want to know how you get on!
1 comment
The little detox period is worth it. The sea salt scrub is what got me over the hump. That stuff is amazing and I still use it regularly, 2 years later! I haven’t put a silicone on my hair since I started with BB!