Beauty: on silicones, sulfates and Yves Rocher Low Shampoo

Hi guys! It's Sunday night again, and I'm getting ready for the work week. My week wil be short and interspersed with days off, because my brother and his family have come over for a visit! We only see each other once every few years because they live in the US, and tickets are expensive. I love my family, so I'm determined to make the most of our time together. I'll share some pics soon!

But I also have an after-hours job: this blog. So let me get down to business :-) Today I'm reviewing a product I was very excited to try, Yves Rocher's Low Shampoo. 



Yves Rocher's Low Shampoo is supposed to be ultra soft on your hair, and contains no silicones or sulfates. This product was inspired by the no-poo movement, which preaches not using shampoo anymore to make your scalp stop over-producing oils, leaving your hair in a healthy state of equilibrium where your own oils nourish your hair without making it dirty. Well, I think the no-poo method might be nice for people with very dry, brittle hair, but if you have mostly straight and fine hair like me, it just doesn't work. I could wait years between shampoos and my hair would still be greasy rather than magically healthy and clean. 

However, I did learn a thing or two from the no-poo movement. F.e., to be mindful of sulfates and silicones. Sulfates are what makes your soaps and shampoos lather up, creating the suds that we are so used to. Silicones come in a wide variety of types, but most of them are supposed to coat your hair in a protective layer that, for example, keeps it from getting frizzy in humid conditions, or makes it silky and easy to comb through. Both sound pretty good right? Well, they are! In some cases. The thing is that silicones can build up in your hair, making it dull and dry. And sulfates are harsh on your hair, stripping it of dirt but also of natural oils. Additionally, using silicones makes it necessary to use sulfates as well, because some silicones are not water-soluble so you need the lather to get the silicone build up out. So if you want to stop using sulfates, you also have to stop using some silicones.

That's sort of the story. So. After experimenting with different shampoos and conditioners as well as not washing my hair for stretches of time, I have figured out what works for me and makes my hair look best. Basically, I alternate between washing my hair once every 4-5 days with one of my favourite shampoos, and maintaining volume and cleanliness with dry shampoo in between (I reviewed my favourite brand of dry shampoo here). For shampoos, I switch it up with Garnier's Vita Boost Fresh shampoo, which contains sulfates but no silicones, and The Body Shop's Rainforest Moisture, which contains sulfates nor silicones.


I generally pick Garnier for those days when I'm in a hurry, because getting your hair clean without sulfates takes more work - you really have to massage the product into your roots meticulously, or you'll still have dirty spots. My other go-to shampoo used to be Rainforest Moisture, but now I have a third favourite: Yves Rocher's Low Shampoo. 

The product feels amazing when you massage it into your hair and scalp: soothing, creamy, smelling of soft, sweet white floral. And yes, despite the lack of suds and lathering, it really does leave your hair just as clean as a regular shampoo as long as you make an effort to really massage it in. This gets harder if your hair is longer, though. I have a lot of hair, and when I use non-sulfate shampoos, I sometimes miss spots on the back of my head. That's the first downside of using products like these. The second is that you need more product to wash your hair, because a non-lather formula doesn't cover as much hair as your regular sulfate shampoo does. So you're likely to run out quite fast if you use the Low Shampoo. This means that I don't see myself making this product my one and only shampoo - it just doesn't cut it on those mornings when I'm in a hurry.

However, your mileage may vary - if you have less hair than I have, or a shorter haircut, this will be no issue for you. My boyfriend has totally fallen head over heels for this shampoo because it leaves his short, thin, wavy, fine hair soft but with body, and it makes it easy to style. I've noticed a huge change for his hair. Additionally, Yves Rocher's Low Shampoo functions as shampoo and conditioner in one, leaving your hair moisturized and incredibly soft. In general, I can totally recommend experimenting with time between washes as well as sulfates and silicones, to see what works best for your hair. Let me illustrate what a difference it has made for me.


On the left, I'm about 17, and at that time I used to wash my hair just about every other day with a pretty harsh shampoo. My haircut isn't that different from the one I'm rocking now, being long hair with some layers starting at chin length, but my hair looks so. different. More body, thicker, not as frizzy (seriously just check my frizzy ends in the left picture) and just all around BETTER. I don't even have to explain it, do I? My hair thrives when I dial back the sulfates and silicones and wash it less often. It also brings out the natural wave in my hair when I let it air-dry. So I can only recommend that you start experimenting yourself if you're not 100% happy with the way your hair looks!

Yves Rocher's Low Shampoo retails at 9.90€ and is currently marked down 50% online, and I'd recommend it to anyone who has a sensitive scalp, or anyone with fine, thin, dry, brittle, damaged and/or short hair.

19 comments

  1. Net wat ik nodig had sinds mijn huidige (en verschrikkelijke) shampoo gelukkig zo goed als op is! Mijn shampoo maakt mijn haar de laatste tijd alleen maar vettiger, niet oké :(

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  2. Ik hou wel van het principe van shampoo zonder siliconen en sulfaten maar ik heb gekleurd haar dus dan is deze hierboven waarschijnlijk ook niet zo geschikt.. dat wordt nog even een zoektocht :-)

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  3. Waarom zou dat niet geschikt zijn? Shampoo zonder siliconen en vooral zonder sulfaten is echt ideaal voor gekleurd haar omdat het de kleur minder doet vervagen en zachter is voor je haar! Ik ben er juist mee begonnen in de periode dat ik gebleekte en gekleurde dip dye had :-)

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  4. een "herstellende" van schwarzkopf, er zit iets te veel olie in dan mijn haar aankan ;)

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  5. Hm. Dit was leerzaam. Ik heb zelf ook erg fijn, dun en weinig haar.. maar 4-5 dagen zonder te wassen zorgt voor major grease bij mij.. zelfs als ik een droogshampoo gebruik. Volume heb ik maar de eerste en tweede dag. Meh. Ik was mijn haar zelf wel om de 3-4 dagen, so I just take it as it is haha. Ik heb kort haar.. dus het proberen waard, hm?

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  6. ik gebruik dan echt ELKE dag droogshampoo tussen de wasbeurten, dan is er toch geen kans op major grease? Maar 3-4 dagen is op zich ook best OK hoor, als je een milde shampoo gebruikt. Ik zou deze echt eens proberen!

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  7. I may have just put it in order for this plus two of the Kajal liners from another of your posts simply based on your reviews of them...! This sounds amazing - I only wash my hair every 4 to 5 days now too - I used to do it every other day too, but I'm so lazy I tried to stretch it out to more and managed it, woop! And after reading your review of the liners, I actually dreamed about them, what?! So I kind of had to buy them just based off that!

    Sian xx Rebel Angel

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  8. haha which ones do you plan on getting? :D

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  9. I've ordered the black one and the Feuille d'Or, excited to try them now! I always used to piggyback on my mum's catalogue orders from Yves Rocher when I was younger, but haven't had anything from them for ages.

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  10. oh jaa, dat heb ik niet gedaan! ik gebruik eigenlijk alleen maar 1 dag (vaak na de 2e dag na het wassen) nog droogshampoo. Maar ik ga het eens proberen :D dat wordt een stuk meer droogshampoo gebruiken haha :D thnx!

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  11. je merkt vanzelf wanneer het teveel wordt, dan is je haar dof en onhandelbaar en dan is het tijd om te wassen :D en die van batiste gaat het langst mee, andere bussen zijn vaak heel snel leeg!

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  12. I hope you like them! the black is very intense and great for smudging, and the gold is subtle but very pretty incorporated in a more elaborate make up look.

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  13. Hmm, die van Yves Rocher zal ik zeker proberen:)! Tof artikel. Je haar ziet er nu inderdaad veel beter uit. MIjn haar ziet er nu heel vreemd uit, ik krijg het de laatste tijd nooit zoals ik het wil. Het ligt waarschijnlijk ook aan te veel wassen met dezelfde shampoo.

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  14. Interessant! Ik ben de laatste tijd echt niet meer tevreden over de toestand van mijn haar, dus ik ga zeker eens proberen om mijn "ritueel" en producten aan te passen.

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  15. Als je dan elke dag droogshampoo gebruikt tussen de wasbeurten, is dat dan wel gezond voor je haar? Bevat droogshampoo dan geen schadelijke bestanddelen?

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  16. Boo! I can't find this on their US website. I am working on washing my hair less but it looks more like your picture on the left. I want to try this but maybe I'll have to find a substitute for it here. Thanks for all of your great product reviews!

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  17. Heb vandaag die rainforest moisture shampoo gekocht, klinkt interessant...

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