I have extremely fine hair which can definitely make it hard sometimes to deal with. I hear thick hair is difficult to manage too, so we all have our difficulties.

I wish I could experience letting my hair air dry and not having to style it before work, like hair stylists tell me to, but that just won’t work for me. With fine hair, your hair just falls flat in really funky ways. Unfortunately to feel comfortable with the appearance, I blow dry and straighten it daily. (I know, hair stylists all over the world just cringed!)

I do use a heat protectant spray and put Moroccan oil on my ends, so I’m trying to do my best. I also try not to blow dry on the hottest setting, and I bought a straightener that starts at approximately 330ºF which I’m sure is better than something in the 400ºFs.

Another thing I do that makes hair stylists cringe is washing my hair every day. But the problem is, with my fine hair, if I didn’t wash daily my hair just felt and looked gross. I did really well for a good few months washing it every other day and using dry shampoo. (Oscar Blandi has a great one that smells good). But I still just wanted to wash it everyday.

I had so much trouble finding the right shampoo and conditioner because for the longest time I thought volumizing would be good for my hair. Turns out many of those, and anything that says “moisturizing” can weigh down fine hair.

So when I had my hair done for my wedding, I went to someone new and she had hair as fine as mine. It was so long and pretty so I asked her one of the ways she keeps up with it and what she recommended: Sulfate-free gentle shampoo.

At the salon they sold Oribe and I tried the Ultra Gentle shampoo and conditioner.  I absolutely loved it.

So why are sulfates bad?

“Sulfate-free shampoos have been generating buzz because they gently but effectively cleanse hair without the harsh detergents that can strip away color and moisture,” said Sally Beauty.com.

I definitely noticed that when I started using Oribe and there was life to my hair. I had a lot of problems getting it to style, or having static, and once I started using a sulfate-free shampoo, my hair became much easier to manage.

The only downfall to Oribe for me was the price tag. Typically salons in my area sold them for $30 a bottle. Granted the bottles that seemed small lasted for about six months, when it came time to buy new bottles I didn’t have my wedding anymore to justify spending that much on hair products.

About a month ago I did my quarterly run to Ulta and looked through some of their sulfate-free items and decided to check out Carol’s Daughter Rosemary Mint Clarifying. I still would probably say Oribe is my all-time favorite, but the Carol’s Daughter has been amazing and runs half the price of Oribe around $12-$14 a bottle.

Unfortunately it looks like the Rosemary Mint Clarifying shampoo isn’t available on the Carol’s Daughter website anymore, Ulta or a few others. I found one on Amazon if you’re interested–but honestly, try any sulfate-free shampoo no matter what your hair type! It’s much better for it and I think you’ll notice a huge difference.