My hair was constantly frizzy until I tried this shampoo – now it's unbelievably smooth

Not to be dramatic, but my hair is the bane of my life. It’s naturally curly (in a bushy way, rather than a beautiful cascading spaghetti kind of way), thick, coarse and relentlessly frizzy. Getting it to behave is like trying to coax a French Bulldog to go for a walk in the rain – pretty much impossible.

I have tried all of the best hair straightening products, the best hair products for humidity, and the best hair masks, but the only thing that convinces my hair to conform is in-salon keratin treatments. They’re amazing, and my hair is gloriously glossy for three months, but there is a price to pay – and that price is that you have to use sulphate-free shampoo afterwards to avoid washing the treatment out prematurely.

I’ve tried a lot of the best shampoos with sulphate-free formulas over the years, and my overwhelming feeling is that they’re not very good. My hair never feels particularly clean, and I normally have to shampoo twice or more to get rid of product buildup. There is one that bucks that trend, though, and that’s Color Wow Color Security Shampoo.

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The sulphate-free shampoo that leaves our frizz-prone Beauty Editor’s hair super smooth

To catch you up if you don’t already know, sulphates are cleansing agents added to products to make them foam. Sulphates are used in shower gel and toothpaste, as well as most shampoos, and are a big part of why you feel cleaner and fresher after using these everyday essentials.

The downside of sulphates is that they can be a bit too good at their job and strip away more than just dirt and grime. They can rob hair of moisture, making it feel drier and frizzier, strip away pigment, meaning your colour doesn’t last for as long and break down treatments like my beloved Brazilian blow-dries.

But as much as I know the potential downsides of sulphates, I do miss their foamy satisfaction, and that’s why I was so thrilled to find the Color Wow Color Security Shampoo building into a seriously satisfying lather the first time I used it. Instead of stubbornly claggy and still a bit greasy, my hair felt light, full and refreshingly free from the vast amount of heat protection spray I use between shampoos.

Another big plus is that I don’t need to wash my hair as regularly as it doesn’t get greasy as quickly, saving me plenty of precious time from my labour-intensive blow drying and straightening routine. It’s like I’m getting the factory reset of a clarifying shampoo but without pillaging my hair of good stuff.

I’m aware I’ve talked a lot about what this shampoo doesn’t include, so let’s chat about what it does. Instead of sulphates, Color Wow uses a combination of eight gentle, non-stripping cleansers, including a fancy Japanese amino acid. There’s also keratin and other proteins to help strengthen hair and glycerin for hydration – plus, as it's name suggests, it's one of the best shampoos for coloured hair.

The only real sticking point is that, at £22 for a 250ml tube or £64.50 for a 946ml pump bottle, it is expensive. But if, like me, you are struggling to find a sulphate-free shampoo that doesn’t compromise on the look and feel of your hair, then it’s worth it when weighing up "is expensive shampoo better?".

If you need any extra justification, then a little goes a long way, and there’s no need to rinse and repeat, which immediately cuts down your cost-per-wash compared to a cheaper shampoo. Also, if this is the price I have to pay to make my frizzy mane more manageable, then it’s worth every single penny.