How to Choose a Natural Shampoo: 7 Things Worth Checking

Natural shampoo has come a long way. You no longer have to choose between hair that feels good and a product you feel good about buying. But the shelf has got crowded, and a lot of the language on it is doing more marketing than explaining.

We have been making natural personal care products since 2017, and haircare is now the biggest part of what we do. So here is what we would look at, in the order we would look at it.

1. Read the ingredient list, not the front of the bottle

Lovely packaging and the word "botanical" tell you about a brand's positioning. The INCI list tells you about the formula. It is the part of the label that has to be accurate and complete by law, and it is ordered by quantity, so the first five or six ingredients are doing most of the work.

What you want to see is a formula that makes sense as a whole. Every ingredient with a job. In our Caffeine + Rosemary Shampoo Powder that means coconut-derived cleansers doing the washing, with caffeine, rosemary oil and coconut milk powder chosen for what they bring to the scalp and hair, not for how they look on a label.

Don't be put off by unfamiliar names, either. Natural ingredients appear under their botanical or scientific names, so Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf Oil is just rosemary leaf oil. The more lists you read, the faster this gets.

2. It has to clean your hair and scalp

The most common worry we hear is that going natural means accepting hair that never feels properly clean. It shouldn't.

A shampoo has one non-negotiable job: to lift away oil, dirt and product build-up from your scalp and hair. The interesting question is how it does that. Ours uses coconut-derived cleansing agents, without SLS, silicones or drying alcohols. Natural doesn't have to mean weak. It means the formulating has to be more thoughtful.

3. "Natural" doesn't always mean no synthetics

This one surprises people. A product can have botanical ingredients, earthy packaging and all the right words on the front, and still list "Parfum" or "Fragrance" in the INCI. That single word can cover a long list of undisclosed fragrance chemicals, and it is one of the least transparent parts of a cosmetic formula.

We don't use synthetic perfume. Where we add scent, it comes from essential oils and naturally aromatic ingredients, and we list them. We have gone much deeper into this in our piece on synthetic perfume, fragrance chemicals and hormone disruption.

Natural fragrance isn't automatically right for everyone either. Essential oils contain naturally occurring allergens, which is exactly why they should be declared, and why patch testing anything new is a sensible habit.

4. Performance is not a trade-off 

There is a stubborn idea that choosing natural means settling for something that almost works. We started Awake because we didn't accept that.

Our shampoo powder is the clearest example. It is concentrated and water-free, with caffeine and rosemary oil alongside the coconut-derived cleansers, chosen to support a healthy-feeling scalp and hair that looks like itself again. It lathers properly. It rinses clean. It behaves like a good shampoo, because that is the whole point.

5. Shampoo doesn't have to come in a big plastic bottle

Most shampoo is largely water, packaged in plastic, and shipped around the world in that state. It doesn't have to be.

Our Caffeine + Rosemary Shampoo Powder is water-activated. You tip a small amount into a wet palm, add water with your hands, work it into a rich lather, then apply it to your roots and rinse as normal. It is shampoo. The water just joins in at your sink instead of ours.

It comes in an aluminium bottle, compact, lightweight and plastic free. And because the formula is concentrated, a small bottle goes a great deal further than you would expect.

Shampoo powder is not THE SAME AS dry shampoo

Worth saying, because the names sound alike. Dry shampoo is designed to freshen hair between washes without water. Shampoo powder is a proper cleansing shampoo that you mix with water and rinse out.

6. You don't need to replace everything at once

Switching to natural haircare doesn't mean emptying the bathroom cabinet into the bin. Please don't. Use up what you have and replace things as they run out.

Shampoo is a good first swap simply because you use it often, so you learn quickly whether it suits you. From there you can add a natural conditioner, and later something like our Hair & Scalp Super Oil if your scalp wants a little more attention. A few considered swaps will get you further than one dramatic clear-out.

7. Look at the whole picture, including where it is made

A few questions that cut through most of the noise.

• What is in it? Are the ingredients clearly listed, and does the brand explain why each one is there?
• Does it perform? Will it genuinely cleanse and leave your hair feeling good?
• How is it packaged? Does it need that much bottle? Could it be concentrated instead?
• Where is it made? A brand can be based in one country and have its products manufactured and shipped from another.
• Who is behind it? Is there a real person, a real workshop, a real explanation?

Making our products in England matters to us for practical reasons as much as principled ones. We formulate and manufacture close to home, in small batches, so nothing has to travel halfway around the world before it reaches you.

Natural haircare can be simple

Read the ingredients. Expect it to work. Be curious about the claims on the front. And look for brands willing to explain how and why their products are made.

That is the approach we have taken from the beginning: carefully considered ingredients, concentrated formulas, plastic-free packaging and as little waste as we can manage. Choosing natural shouldn't cost you performance, convenience, or the things you care about. It can simply mean choosing something made with a little more thought.