Finding a good daily use shampoo to recommend to your tape-in extension clients can be tricky. No worries though! We’ve got you covered with our top tips on how to find a great everyday shampoo for your clients in a few quick glances through the ingredient list.
At-home maintenance of hair extensions can involve a bit of trial and error for you and your clients. Naturally, it’s a priority for stylists to know what shampoos their clients can use safely – without damaging their extensions and affecting hold times. This can feel a bit daunting, so we want to help by giving you a few key things to watch out for. This is part of the Beautify Bond too! This approach helps keep your clients coming back to see you and helps foster great client relationships.
What makes a great shampoo for tape-ins? Let’s break it down.
Ingredients to Avoid
- Sulfates
- Oils
- Synthetic Fragrances
- A Few Other Things to Keep An Eye Out For
When talking about what to look for in a shampoo, the key is the ingredients list. A good or a bad shampoo isn’t definitive. This is because every person is different and may need different ingredients for their hair type, hair texture, or skin type.
When it comes to tape-in extensions though, there are a few ingredients to steer clear of.
Sulfates
At this point, we’re all getting on the same page about sulfates as more and more brands have stopped using them.
If you’re unfamiliar with what sulfates are, here’s a quick crash course. Sulfates are a type of salt that forms when sulfuric acid and another chemical react. They typically are used as cleansing agents in beauty and household products. While they aren’t necessarily bad, they can damage the hair when used too often.
You may be wondering what qualifies as too often? Well, everyday to every three days can be super drying and can strip the hair’s natural oils. It can also be too harsh on hair extension adhesive.
In particular, sulfates could cause problems with the extensions because they have to rely on natural scalp oils for repair. The body can start to overproduce oil to avoid drying out, so it can be a safe bet to avoid daily shampoos that contain sulfates.
Oils
This gets a little tricky as a lot of shampoos use some kind of oil in them. This is because certain oils (like avocado oil, for example) are considered good for hair health. So, why would oils be an issue?
Much like sulfates, the problem tends to stem from excess use. If a shampoo contains too many oils, it could break down the hold of the tape that’s keeping the extensions held in place.
So, some oils can be good and keep both extension and bio hair healthy. But too many oils could cause the extensions to come loose sooner than normal.
Synthetic Fragrances
Who doesn’t love a good fruity or flowery scent while showering? Those scents can be relaxing and invigorating at the same time. Unfortunately, how those fragrances are made can make a difference.
Synthetic fragrances tend to be made with harsh chemicals. While they smell good, they can be damaging if used too often. Extensions can’t repair like bio hair can, so that lovely, fruity smell may cost your clients in the long run.
Others
This last category of ingredients to avoid is very broad. It has everything to do with the biochemistry of each client. When it comes to shampoos to recommend, avoid ones that have ingredients that could harm their bio hair.
Everyone’s hair is different. We all require different things to keep it happy and healthy. After working with it, you’ll know your client’s hair type pretty well. That way, you should know if particular ingredients could dry it out or make it too oily.
You should also ask them about any allergies that they may have. This way, you can help avoid any unneeded discomfort on their scalp.
Ingredients to Look For
- Organic Ingredients
- Ingredients That Encourage Hair Health
Now we get to focus on the things that could make a shampoo great for tape-in extensions. This list is a lot shorter, and the categories are a lot broader. But that’s the exciting part! There are so many different options you could explore with your clients.
So, what makes a good shampoo?
Organic Ingredients
A lot of different shampoos rely on lab-developed chemicals. While these chemicals can make the shampoo less expensive, they also make them much harsher.
For an everyday shampoo that your client is going to use on their extensions, tell them to keep an eye out for organic ingredients. Generally, these tend to be much gentler and provide the care they’re looking for without that harshness.
Ingredients That Encourage Hair Health
The last group of ingredients that you should encourage your clients to look for are any that are good for their bio hair.
Like with the ingredients to avoid, everyone is going to have different ingredients that work best for them. You’ll likely be able to pick up on it based on their hair type. However, they likely already know. Ask them if there are any ingredients or certain shampoo formulations that they like using.
Once you start doing more in-depth research, you’ll likely start to develop a list in your head of the right shampoos. These will be your go-to recommendations for your clients, but it’s good to encourage them to explore. They may find a great one that you haven’t heard of yet!
While looking at this list, you may be wondering about our Extension Prep Shampoo. Yes, we do carry our own shampoo made for extensions, but we don’t recommend it for everyday use.
Our shampoo is very strong. It’s designed to get rid of anything in the bio hair or extensions that could keep the tape from sticking, like buildup or residue. As a result, it could strip the hair if used too much. It is a great tool for prep, but not so much for upkeep.
Washing Hair with Extensions
After you help your client pick a shampoo, they’ll likely ask how to wash their hair with tape-in extensions. For help with that, check out our blog! We have posts dedicated entirely to shampooing with extensions.
If they have other questions, we can help support you by providing more answers. We have a couple of blogs focused on things to do with tape-ins and things to avoid. A quick read and refresh on these topics will help you build trust with them, and encourage the Beautify Bond.
In the meantime, be sure to check out all of our Beautify products. You can find all the tape and tools you’ll need to keep your extension installs going smoothly.
