I guess if you recently are looking into deep cleansing your scalp once or twice a month, you have been seeing people recommend you use a Chelating or Clarifying shampoo now and then to remove any harsh buildup that is not able to be removed by regular shampoos right?
But which one do you actually need? I did a little bit of research to when I needed a Chelating shampoo versus Clarifying shampoo. To me it is simple, it boils down to the amount of heavy metals in the water in your respective country, More heavy metals in the water will result in Hard Water. In Singapore, our waters do not carry heavy metals that is usually discharged by natural stones and soil matter or even marine sediments. Majority of our waters tested are Soft water.
Chelating shampoos are more harsher to the hair as it it meant to remove hard water buildup on top of the things like removing product buildup and scalp cleansing. A chelating shampoo is awesome when you live is an area where the water is Hard Water.
Clarifying shampoos are to remove product buildup and scalp care. It is more effective at removing product buildup than regular shampoo but is less harsh than the Chelating shampoo.
So with that explanation, I generally use a clarifying shampoo to remove product buildup like my serums with silicone in it, hairspray, mousse and styling creams. It does leave my hair feeling clean and stripped off of the oils, you have to follow up with a conditioner or hair mask after to reintroduce to moisture back into the hair cuticles.
This year, I'll try to find more recommendations for Clarifying shampoos. Do let me know if you have any favourites of your own for me to try out and I might give you a shoutout! This is a short article but hopefully it gives you a simple explanation of which you should try out that will work best for your hair!