Is there wax in my conditioner?

After posting my article The TRUTH about Sulfates, I got this questions a lot. In that post I went over how harsh sulfates work to harm your hair in depth. I briefly mentioned how a lot of companies include heavy waxes and silicone in their conditioner to create the illusion that your hair is healthy when it is not. But just like sulfates, wax doesn't always read as "wax". So how is one to know whether or not these ingredients are in their hair care?

You guys, the internet is such a powerful tool! Google the ingredients on the back of your bottle. Eventually you will start to learn what key words and ingredients you need to look out for, and many of them will seem familiar to you and you will get a feel for ingredients that are okay and some that are good. Any you don't know google, or bing, or ask or whatever search engine you use, USE IT! 

However for the sake of this article I will post some ingredients that are just wax or silicone in disguise. A lot of these are found in conditioners at Walmart and even in high end brands! Remember that just because it's a salon brand doesn't mean it has top notch ingredients. I also added a few ingredients that while they aren't specifically wax or silicone, are commonly in conditioner and not great for your hair. 

• Dimethacone
• Polydimethylsiloxane
• Cyclomethicone
• Methylchloroisothiazolinone
• Acrylates
• Copolymers
• Methylisothiazolinone
• Paraffin Waxes
• Soduim Chloride (salt)
• Phenoxyethanol