Are your once alive and luscious curls now looking dull and flat, and no matter how many moisturizing products you use, they still refuse to come back to life?
Let us tell you that the full potential of your curls is locked underneath the unbearable weight of product buildup, and the only way to get through it is to get a clarifying shampoo!
But what is the best clarifying shampoo for curly hair? And how can you choose the one that suits you best? Let’s find out!
Why Do You Need a Clarifying Shampoo?
The constant use of moisturizing products and leave-in conditioners
without deep cleaning your hair every now and then can cause a stubborn buildup of residues and oil on your scalp.
Over time, this buildup can prevent your regular shampoo from cleaning your scalp thoroughly, resulting in dull hair, flat curls, and white flakes.
That’s where clarifying shampoos come in. They penetrate even the most stubborn of buildups, clean all the oil and residues, and leave you with fresh curls and clean hair.
At a Glance
- Best Overall – Bumble and Bumble Sunday Shampoo
- Runner Up – MopTop Detox Shampoo
- Most Nourishing – Morraconoil Clarifying Shampoo
- Most Refreshing – Eden BodyWorks Peppermint Tea Tree Clear Clarifying Shampoo
- Most Volumizing – Bounce Curl Enzyme Gentle Clarifying Shampoo
The 5 Best Clarifying Shampoos for Curly Hair – Detailed Reviews
Here are our reviews of the best shampoos on the market for clarifying your scalp and leaving you with clean, bouncy curls!
1. Best Overall – Bumble and Bumble Sunday Shampoo
Bumble and Bumble Sunday Shampoo is a must-have product if you have greasy hair, as it leaves you with a healthy scalp and shiny curls. It has a perfect consistency that lathers on your hair nicely without weighing it down further. Its unique formulation as a deep cleaning shampoo makes it effective as a preparatory cleanser before chemical hair treatments.
Its selling point is its cleaning abilities. If used weekly, it cleans hard water residues, conditioner buildups, dust, oil, and more, all of which are culprits to your dull or damaged hair. However, it isn’t suitable for recently color-treated hair.
Pros:
- Perfect for greasy hair
- Works as a preparatory cleanser
- Suitable for all hair types
Cons:
- Not suitable for colored hair
Bottom Line
If you have greasy hair and don’t like hopping in the shower every other day, use Bumble and Bumble Sunday Shampoo weekly and enjoy your fresh hair and clean scalp!
2. Runner Up – MopTop Detox Shampoo
There are a few shampoos on the market that can compete with the effectiveness of MopTop Detox Shampoo. It’s highly concentrated to give it the ability to penetrate even the most stubborn of grease buildups, and it works for all hair types.
The shampoo doesn’t contain any sulfates, parabens, or phthalates, making it suitable for the curly girl method rules. Instead, it contains a natural coconut cleanser to keep your hair bright and healthy. Because of its high concentration, it’s recommended you use the shampoo once every 4-6 weeks and moisturize your hair afterward.
Pros:
- Suitable for all hair types
- Free of sulfates, parabens, and phthalates
- Cleans grease and oil buildups efficiently
Cons:
- It might leave your hair a little dry because of its high concentration.
Bottom Line
If you have thick hair that’s challenging to reach through and a greasy scalp prone to buildup, MopTop Detox Shampoo is here to the rescue with its high concentration and unique cleansing formulation!
3. Most Nourishing – Morraconoil Clarifying Shampoo
Formulated with keratin and infused with jojoba extracts and lavender, Morraconoil Clarifying Shampoo has it all among clarifying shampoos. It penetrates through grease buildups and cleans all the dust and oil, leaving behind clean hair and an attractive smell. While it may leave your hair a little dry, it’s nothing a moisturizer won’t fix!
What sets it apart from the other products on this list is its excellent nourishing effect. It’s enriched with avocado oil and argan oil to help reset the shine and bounce of your curls and nourish your strands.
Pros:
- Has an attractive scent
- Excellent nourishing
Cons:
- It might dry your hair if you lather aggressively
Bottom Line
If you want to clean your scalp thoroughly and have nourished and healthy hair in the long run, Morraconoil Clarifying Shampoo is your go-to hair product!
4. Most Refreshing – Eden BodyWorks Peppermint Tea Tree Clear Clarifying Shampoo
Do you have an itchy scalp besides your flat curls and lifeless hair? Add the Eden BodyWorks Peppermint Tea Tree Clear Clarifying Shampoo to your hair care routine and say goodbye to all these inconveniences!
Formulated with peppermint and tea tree oil, the shampoo treats your scalp to a tingling feeling while showering to improve the blood flow to your hair. It also goes through all the grease and oil effectively and regulates your hair’s pH in the process, leaving it more nourished and healthier than ever.
Best of all, the Eden shampoo doubles as a treatment for dandruff and is a sulfate-free cleanser. The only catch is that its bottle tends to leak at times.
Pros:
- Treats dandruff
- Has a refreshing smell of peppermint oil
- Sulfate-free shampoo
Cons:
- The packaging isn’t the best, as it often leaks
Bottom Line
If your hair suffers from more than a product buildup and has dandruff, the ever-refreshing Eden BodyWorks sulfate-free clarifying shampoo will leave it all restored, nourished, and clean!
5. Most Volumizing – Bounce Curl Enzyme Gentle Clarifying Shampoo
The best you can do to restore the life of your curls and give them volume is to add Bounce Curl Enzyme Gentle Clarifying Shampoo to your hair care regimen. Not only does it clean product buildups efficiently without leaving you with a dry scalp, but it also adds volume and leaves you with shiny, luscious curls.
The shampoo is infused with enzymes, rosemary, black seed oil, biotin, and more strengthening and volumizing ingredients that all work to give you hard-to-tame curls. Thanks to the essential oils, it also has a citrus scent and leaves your hair feeling soft and moisturized without flattening it.
But the shampoo might be too heavy for thin and fine hair.
Pros:
- Calming citrus scent
- Gives you voluminous, bouncy, and clean curls
Cons:
- Not suitable for thin and fine hair
Bottom Line
The Bounce Curl Enzyme Gentle Clarifying Shampoo is one of the best curly hair products for cleansing your oily hair and boosting the volume of your curls without stripping your hair follicles of their natural oils.
Factors You Should Consider While Buying Clarifying Shampoo
You should consider a few factors while buying a clarifying shampoo for your curly hair.
Moisturizing Ingredients
Clarifying shampoos have a reputation for drying hair, even on oily scalps. If you already suffer from dryness and dandruff, you should go for a shampoo that can cleanse and moisturize hair at the same time.
The most well-known moisturizing ingredients in shampoos are shea butter, coconut oil, argan oil, aloe vera juice, and glycerin.
Sulfates
Shampoos that contain sulfates, most famously sodium laureth sulfate, clean better than sulfate-free ones, especially in the case of clarifying shampoos.
However, sulfates aren’t ideal for curly hair because they mess with the proper moisture balance of your curls and can leave you with dull and dry hair.
Fragrances
Most clarifying hair products dry your hair while removing buildup, which is easily fixed but can leave your scalp a bit irritated. In this case, a heavily scented shampoo will only make matters worse.
If you have sensitive skin that gets irritated easily, look for cleansing agents with mild or no fragrances.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Often Should I Use My Clarifying Shampoo?
Ideally, you should use your clarifying shampoo once or twice a month unless the bottle label says otherwise. This is because it can dry your hair if used excessively.
What Is the Difference Between a Regular and a Chelating Clarifying Shampoo?
Chelating shampoos clean deeper and more efficiently than regular clarifying shampoos, but they’re also harsher on the scalp. Only use one if you wash your hair with hard water or swim in chlorinated swimming pools.
How Should I Use My Clarifying Shampoo?
Lather only a small amount of it onto your hair for a few minutes, then rinse. Don’t be too generous with the amount you put on your hair to avoid drying it out and follow up with a deep conditioning treatment every now and then to keep your hair hydrated and healthy.
To Wrap Up
Bumble and Bumble Sunday Shampoo reigns the market of clarifying shampoos with its deep cleansing effect and light yet rich lather. It’s definitely our top choice, followed closely by MopTop Detox Shampoo because of its high concentration and sulfate-free formula.
Take a look at the products above, and choose the best one for your hair needs!
