Is This The End For Shampoo?

Shampoo and conditioner, our trusty shower staples. Love them? Couldn't live without them? Soon you just might...

It's not often we say this but there's a beauty revolution a'coming. Don't freak out but it turns out shampoo and conditoner might not be the essentials we think they are.

All shampoos contain detergent, whether they are sulfate-free or not. To us that's the lovely foaming quality that means it's working but that's not actually true. Detergents strip away hair's natural oils which is why hair goes all cotton wool-like and then we need to slather on conditioner (which is actually loaded with silicones) to make hair manageable and pleasingly shiny.

Put it this way, you wouldn't keep using a face wash that dried your skin would you? Most of us use a creamy, cleanser that cleans our skin and leaves it hydrated. So why don't we have the same for hair?

Enter the cleansing conditioners. Absolutely no relation to the 2-in-1, Wash & Go types of the eighties, these are formulas that clean the hair using natural ingredients that don't strip away all the goodness but just shift the dirt, letting hair stay healthy. That means no breaking off tangles and no flatness from over conditioning. And they work on every hair type there is.

Granted, hair isn't dazzlingly shiny like in the TV ads but has more of an airy, softness texture like when you're a kid, (before you tortured it for decades with colour and hairdryers).

It takes a good few weeks for hair to adjust to the new approach so don't expect any great hair days straight away but it's because hair's gotten lazy.

Michael Gordon, founder of Bumble & Bumble (ergo we love him), is the leader of this new hair-volution with his own version, Purely Perfect Cleansing Creme. 'Cleansing Creme has neither detergents or sulfates. It is virtually free of everything that your typical traditional shampoo would contain, and it is the one product that cleanses any type of hair. It completely negates the need for a conditioner or mask and over time the will leave the hair in better condition. Not only does coloured hair begin to look and feel like virgin hair, colour is preserved twice as long as with conventional shampoos.'

Here are three of the best cleansing conditioners:

Ojon Rare Blend Moisture Rich Cleansing Conditioner, £18.50 Shifts oil and product build-up using natural oils (oil sticks to oil) with the added bonus of taming flyaways and boosting shine levels. Has also been proved to reduce breakage by a whopping 94 per cent.

Wen Cucumber & Aloe Cleansing Condioner, £26.95 Calming and kind to sensitive scalps, so great for those who love a regular blow dry or heated tools. Almost zero lather so feels like it's doing nothing but stick with it because it detangles a treat.

Purely Perfect Cleansing Creme, £35, available from BeautyMart.com Branded 'the first shampoo that won't f*** up your hair', the lack of stripping agents mean coloured hair will stay vibrant for much longer. You should also find you need to wash your hair less often as a result.