A woman safely detangles her hair with the Arey wide-tooth Comb $22

What Are the Best Haircare Ingredients for Your Hair Type?

June 17, 2023 BY JAY SMALL, HAIRSTYLIST AND CO-FOUNDER OF AREY

Why All Hair Types Need a Well-Balanced Shampoo and Conditioner

Do you ever feel like your hair looks better the day after you wash it? Or maybe it looks great on shampoo day but is weighed down and dull the next morning?

It can be so frustrating. Your shampoo and conditioner are packed with powerhouse ingredients for optimum hair health. But they aren’t working.

My clients often blame their hair type but the real issue is balance. Too much of a good thing is still too much. You might be suffering from an imbalance due to over-cleansing or over-conditioning.

In my 20 years as a stylist, I have hands-on experience with many shampoos and conditioners. Different hair types need individualized care. But all hair types have one thing in common – they need gentle, clean, balanced haircare.

When I entered the haircare industry in 2003, the average customer was using up to four hair products daily. I was no exception. As I started to understand hair better, I realized that I had been over-cleansing and over-conditioning my hair for years. My hair and scalp were out of balance.

That’s why one of my first priorities as co-founder of Arey was to research the best ingredients for a multi-tasking shampoo and conditioner for all hair types.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed trying to pick the right shampoo and conditioner for your hair type, you’re not alone. That’s why I wanted to share my haircare ingredients checklist with you.

How to Choose Clean, Gentle Haircare Ingredients for Your Healthiest Hair and Scalp

It can be confusing trying to choose between all the haircare ingredients out there. Who wants another expensive bottle on the bathroom shelf that doesn’t deliver results? I always tell my clients to start with what they don’t want in a shampoo or conditioner.

Here’s my checklist of haircare ingredients to avoid:

❌ Sulfates: sulfates are powerful cleaning agents that strip too much sebum from your scalp and hair. A definite no-no for curly hair, they also dehydrate grey hair. The result – dry, frizzy, brittle hair.

❌ Phthalates: used to create soft texture in shampoos and sprays. Phthalates have been linked to cancer and heart disease.¹

❌ Formaldehyde: a cancer-causing chemical found in hair straightening and smoothing treatments.²

❌ Parabens: widely-used preservatives in cosmetics. They have been linked to a risk of breast cancer.³

❌ Synthetic fragrance: a potential scalp irritant.

❌ Synthetic colors: synthetic colors such as D&C Red 27 or FD&C Blue 1, have been linked to cancer, skin irritation, and ADHD. These ingredients are already banned in Europe.

At Arey, our core belief is that haircare should be easy, clean, healthy, and effective.

Whatever your hair type, we want you to have your best hair. That’s why we don’t use harsh chemicals in our products. We always look for ingredients that deliver gentle cleansing and scalp hydration.

A woman lathers her hair with Wash - Arey’s balanced shampoo

Meet Four of Arey’s Favorite Haircare Ingredients

Here are some of our favorite haircare ingredients that we use in our shampoo and conditioner:

✅ Amodimethicone - A Weightless Conditioner for Fine Hair

Fine hair has thinner, more delicate hair strands so it tends to be fragile. It can also be easily damaged by heat and styling. If you have fine hair, it’s important to find the right balance of cleansing and moisturizing. You should also avoid using products that weigh down your hair.

Many conditioners contain silicones that are too heavy for fine hair, leaving your hair limp and lifeless. That’s why we use Amodimethicone in our shampoo and conditioner. Amodimethicone is lighter than other silicones and doesn’t weigh down your fine hair.

Arey uses a clean, lightweight silicone to smooth your hair

We love Amodimethicone because it not only smoothes your hair, it also:

Controls frizz
Improves the texture of fine or wavy hair
Targets damaged hair and repairs the hair shaft
Reduces hair damage by preventing tangling
Softens and smoothes your hair
Makes your hair shine

Unlike other silicones commonly found in hair products, Amodimethicone doesn’t cause pore-clogging buildup on your hair and scalp over time. Amodimethicone coats each strand to lock in moisture, smooth your hair, and control frizz.

✅ Shea Butter – Balanced Moisture for Curly or Wavy Hair

Textured or wavy hair is often dry because of the coiling structure of your hair. This makes it hard for your scalp’s natural moisturizer (sebum) to travel down the strands. Moisture is a key ingredient for all hair types and especially for textured or wavy hair.

If your curls lose moisture, they lose their bounce and shine and can become brittle, frizzy, and dull. The answer – shea butter.

Arey shampoo and conditioner contain shea butter to protect and hydrate hair

Shea butter is rich in fatty acids which are clinically-proven to moisturize hair – especially textured hair.⁴ Shea butter is so much more than just a moisturizer. We love it for its multi-tasking benefits for all hair types.

We use Shea butter in our conditioner because it will:

Protect your hair and scalp from sun damage: Shea butter acts as a natural sunscreen for your hair⁵ because it contains compounds that absorb UV rays.
Prevent hair damage from heat-styling: Shea butter in our Mend heat-protectant seals your hair shaft to prevent dryness and breakage from heat-styling.
Restore dry, frizzy, dull hair and repair split ends: Shea butter contains vitamins B and E which add shine and strength to your hair.
Hydrate and soften your hair: over time your hair will appear stronger and more nourished. You should see less breakage.
Promote hair growth: Shea butter is rich in minerals that increase hair growth.⁶

Shea butter is an important haircare ingredient for all hair types because it seals your hair shaft to lock in moisture. The result is soft, hydrated, and glossy hair.

✅ Jojoba – Soothing Repair for Dry Hair and Split Ends

Dry hair is usually dull, flat, and lifeless. It also breaks easily. Dry hair can be difficult to style and you may notice more knots and tangles. This is a sign that your hair strands need moisture.

A popular ingredient in hair care products, Jojoba oil is used to boost moisture and shine. Jojoba, pronounced “ho-ho-ba”, is rich in fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals that repair split ends and moisturize dry hair and scalp.

Because it is similar in texture to the natural sebum produced by our scalps, Jojoba does not clog pores or cause

We love using Jojoba as an ingredient in our haircare products because of these benefits:

Moisturized hair: Jojoba oil contains behenic and oleic acids that plump and soften your hair.
A balanced scalp: Jojoba’s anti-microbial and moisturizing properties heal and soothe a dry, itchy scalp.⁷
Increased hair growth: vitamins B, C, and E and minerals like zinc and copper nourish your hair, making it longer and thicker.

Jojoba moisturizes your scalp effectively without making it oily. This makes it a key ingredient for hair and scalp health for all hair types because it helps maintain your scalp’s natural pH balance.⁸

✅ Sesame Seed Oil to Moisturize and Heal Damaged Hair

Damaged hair has a roughened hair shaft with gaps in the surface. It may feel coarse, dry, and tangle easily. Damaged hair is also prone to breakage and often has split ends.

Sesame seed oil has been used for centuries to restore and repair damaged hair. Sesame oil is an emollient.⁹ This means that it actively fills the gaps in your damaged hair shaft with fatty lipids. This leaves you with smooth, healthy strands.

Sesame seed oil is a safe shampoo ingredient that repairs hair damage.

Here are some of the benefits sesame seed oil brings to your damaged hair:

Strengthens hair: fatty acids, vitamin E, phosphorus, and other nutrients strengthen your hair from within and prevent breakage.¹⁰
Combats scalp dryness: sesame oil moisturizes your scalp without causing buildup. A dry scalp can lead to flakiness and itching.
Acts as a natural heat protectant: dry, brittle hair and breakage are all caused by heat styling. Sesame oil as a haircare ingredient helps protect all hair types from harsh heat.

We love sesame seed oil because it’s easily absorbed by your hair strands without weighing your hair down. It softens coarse dry hair and restores elasticity and bounce to damaged hair.

✅ The Best Ingredients for Greying and Aging Hair

Greying and aging hair is more vulnerable to heat and sun damage than pigmented hair, so you can find yourself struggling with dry locks. Grey hair also tends to be coarser and more brittle than pigmented hair.

Don’t despair – grey hair can be as beautiful and healthy as pigmented hair. If you use the right balancing products, your grey hair will be smooth and manageable again.

Like dry and damaged hair, grey hair needs a shampoo and conditioner that provides gentle cleansing and lots of moisture.

When my client and Arey co-founder, Allison Conrad, saw her first grey, we decided to dig deep into the science of greying. We wanted to approach hair aging in a positive way. That’s why we came up with Arey – a haircare system offering clean, creative, effective grey hair solutions.

All of our products are designed for overall hair health but also contain powerful ingredients that address premature greying, and slow and potentially reverse grey hair.

Discover the Benefits of Science-Backed Ingredients for All Types of Hair

I’m very proud of our shampoo and conditioner. Scented naturally with cedar and sage, the ingredients in Wash and Smooth leave all hair types balanced, silky-soft and clean. Like all our products, Wash and Smooth are vegan, cruelty-free, and gluten-free.

At Arey, we care about your hair health. That’s what motivates us to create innovative science-backed haircare solutions that slow the signs of aging hair and improve hair health. We want to make it easy for you to do the right thing for your hair.

Your hair health is important to us – that’s why we offer 25% off on all subscriptions to help keep you on track with your hair health goals. Because we believe that science + consistency = results.

We are Arey.

Aging is beautiful – but if your greys are growing faster than you wish, we are here for you with science-based, effective solutions. We want you to feel happy and confident with your hair. Have questions? Send us an email hey@areygrey.com or go to our FAQ page.

Jay Small, Stylist and co-founder of Arey, cuts a client’s hair.

AuthorJay SmallJay Small is a sought-after hair stylist and Trichologist in Los Angeles with over 22 years of experience. His clients consist of high-profile business and creative leaders. He trained as an apprentice to the owner of Paul Mitchell and worked in education and product development for Paul Mitchell Systems. Jay is incredibly passionate about the creative process both in terms of styling hair and developing effective products.

REFERENCES:

Repigment Grey Hair Naturally with Our Most Powerful New Ingredient

How to Choose the Best Shampoo and Conditioner for Grey Hair

Back to blog