Shampoo

Shampoo has one job: removing sebum, sweat and product build-up from your scalp without stripping the hair itself. It does that with surfactants, cleansing molecules that hold on to oil at one end and to water at the other, so the grease rinses away. The rest of the formula decides how the result feels: conditioning agents, proteins, oils and sometimes active ingredients for flaking or for colour.

The cleansing base tells you more than the front of the bottle

Most real differences between shampoos come from the surfactant system. Sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS) and sodium laureth sulphate (SLES) foam heavily and clear styling products in a single wash. Milder bases, such as coco-glucoside or amino acid surfactants, foam less and leave more of the scalp's own oil in place. Less lather does not mean less clean, because foam is mostly cosmetic. If your scalp feels tight after washing, or your colour fades quickly, the base is the first thing to change. Pair a mild shampoo with a matching conditioner so the mid-lengths stay smooth.

Bottles, bars, dry and toning shampoos

Liquid shampoo offers the widest choice of formulas, from clarifying washes that remove hard water and silicone build-up, to bond-repair formulas for bleached or heat-damaged hair. It is also the easiest form to dose: a coin-sized amount on the scalp, emulsified in your hands with a little water first, spreads far better than neat shampoo straight from the bottle.

Solid formats work differently. Solid shampoo bars use a concentrated surfactant base without a plastic bottle, which makes them practical for travel. In hard water areas the first weeks can feel coated, so an acidic rinse or a clarifying wash helps during the switch.

Between washes, dry shampoo for the roots absorbs oil with starch or clay powder. It refreshes the look of your hair, but it does not clean the scalp, so it works as an extra step and not as a replacement. For blonde, highlighted or grey hair, Silver Shampoo deposits violet pigment that counters brassy yellow tones, used once or twice a week instead of your regular wash.

How we choose the shampoos we stock

We look at three things before a shampoo enters the range: the cleansing base, the strength of the active ingredients, and whether the rest of the formula serves the same purpose. A bond-repair shampoo only makes sense alongside the treatment it was built around, so we carry the full routine rather than one bottle from it. We buy directly from the brands, with no intermediaries, so what arrives is authentic, and our compliance team checks every label before a product goes live. We test products ourselves and independent labs spot-check batches. See how we select brands and products.

Be realistic about the timeline. A different shampoo changes how your hair feels from the first wash, but give a new routine two to three weeks before you judge it, because your scalp and your water both play a part. For thinning hair, a shampoo can make hair look fuller and keep the scalp comfortable, which is worth having; what happens inside the follicle needs a different approach.