Many blogs will tell you that it is not necessary to have gluten free hair products. If it does not get in your mouth, you don't need to worry right? Well, that all depends on how sensitive you are to gluten. When we go gluten free our body becomes more sensitive to gluten as time goes on. What happened was your body got so used to having gluten it did not react as harshly even though you have celiac, a sensitivity or an allergy. Now that you are not eating gluten your body is starting to heal and is no longer used to having high amounts in your body. This is why you become 'more reactive' the longer you are gluten free. If you discover that you are having unexplained itching, redness, stinging, burning, hair loss, nausea, fatigue and other symptoms of being 'glutened', then you may need to go completely gluten free. This means no gluten in your shampoo, conditioner and other hair products.
Unfortunately for us, many hair products contain gluten ingredients due to it being regarded as healthy for your hair. Wheat, barley, rye and oats are often found in shampoos, conditioners, mousse, gel, hairspray and more. It has glue-like properties that help to hold your hair together which makes it great for these types of products.
With so many hair products on the market today, it is important to learn how to figure out if your favorites are gluten free. I will provide a list of common chemical names of gluten ingredients that are used. The best thing to do is buy a product labeled gluten free or call the company to confirm. They almost always happily answer any questions regarding ingredients. Luckily for us, there are plenty of options for great gluten free hair products. I will list my favorites, and some top brands to get you started.
Ingredients To Watch Out For
- Triticum vulgare (wheat)
- Colloidal oatmeal
- Hydrolyzed vegetable protein (may contain wheat)
- Dextrin palmitate (starch, possibly gluten-based)
- Vitamin E (frequently derived from wheat)
- Wheat germ oil
- Hydrolyzed wheat protein
- Stearyl dimonium hydroxypropyl (hydrolyzed wheat protein)
- Laurdimonium hydroxypropyl (hydrolyzed wheat protein)
- Malt extract (usually barley)
- Hordeum vulgare (barley)
- Secale cereale (rye)
- Avena sativa (oats)
- Beta glucan (frequently derived from wheat)
- Vegetable protein (may contain wheat, barley, rye and/or oats)
My Favorite Gluten Free Hair Products
Biomega
Biomega is a wonderful line of shampoo, conditioner and styling products. It is part of the aquage family of salon haircare products. The entire Biomega line is free from gluten, sulfates, parabens and sodium-chloride. I personally use the volume shampoo and conditioner mist for my fine hair. I have had no issues and my hair is growing back! You can find it online or at a salon that carries the line.
Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Hair and Scalp Treatment
This is great for anyone who has dandruff or a build up of sebum on the scalp. The tea tree helps get rid of the dandruff, willow bark soothes troubled skin, while vitamin e and shea butter moisturize the scalp and hair. Just massage it on the scalp, leave it for 3-5 minutes while you finish your shower and it leaves your scalp feeling clean and healthy. I use this about once a week, more or less depending how bad my dandruff gets. The tea tree oil leaves your scalp a bit tingly, as well as cool but its completely normal and feels soothing. Paul Mitchell is also a salon haircare line. You can buy this at your local salon and online. The special conditioner, shaping cream, styling gel, grooming pomade, and styling wax from the Tea Tree Special line are also gluten free.
Kenra Root Lifting Spray
Finally, a styling product! This root lifting spray from Kenra can be a life saver if your hair has no volume. Spray it on your roots on towel dried hair, blow dry hair away from scalp, then style as usual. It has a 60 hour hold, however I suggest not leaving hair products on your scalp that long. I have fallen asleep with this in my hair and woken up still having volume. Locking it in with a flexible hold hairspray can keep you hair big and beautiful. Kenra confirmed that there is no wheat protein in this product and I have had no issues so far. You can purchase this at Ulta.
Pravana Chromasilk Hair Color
If you are looking to color your hair, I highly recommend using this. It lasts long, has a wide range of shades, including toners, pastels, neons and vivids. This is a professional product so you will have to find a salon in your area that uses it unless you have a cosmetology license. You can find it online but unless you know how to work with professional hair color I do not suggest doing it yourself. This does not work like box color and you may end up with undesirable results. So far I've used the purple from the vivids collection and their regular chromasilk colors. Their vivids last a long time and are difficult to get out of your hair so keep that in mind if you want to go an unnatural color. It leaves my hair feeling healthy and looking shiny.
Brands That Offer Gluten Free Options
The brands I list below all have gluten free hair products, but not all of their products are gluten free. Please check their website before purchasing or call the company directly to make sure the product you are looking at is in fact gluten free. The websites are all linked below for you to check out.
Paul Mitchell Price $$
Salon brand with high quality products. Has many gluten free options, not all products are gluten free.
Pravana Price $$
The entire Nevo collection is gluten free as well as free of sulfates, Phthalates, sulfites, parabens, sodium-chloride, cocamide MEA and DEA, and no animal bi-products. Their chromasilk hair color is gluten free and some of their other products as well.
Pura d'or Price $$
All products are free from gluten, parabens, SLS and harmful chemicals. This brand is available at select Targets.
Acure Organics Price $
Their entire line of hair products are gluten free including the dry shampoo. They are also vegan, cruelty free, sulfate free and paraben free.
Dove Price $
Their products are usually marked if they are gluten free. They have a number of products that are gluten free.
Suave Price $
Like dove, being a unilever brand, their products will be marked if they are gluten free. Most of their products happen to be gluten free but always check for the seal.
If your favorite brand is not listed, don;t count them out! They may be gluten free but not labeled. Contact them via facebook or their customer service line. If they cannot give you a straight answer, you may want to consider switching to be safe. Even if you don't react from skin contact, anytime a hairspray or shampoo gets into your mouth you're putting gluten into your body. This may be why you still are not feeling well after going gluten free! Let me know if leaving gluten out of your hair products has helped you or share your favorite gluten free hair products in a comment.
