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Hair Product Ingredient Checker

Paste any ingredient list into this Curly Girl Method ingredient checker to see if a product is CG-friendly, protein-free or a good fit for relaxed or low-porosity hair.

Check for

Curly GirlNo sulfates, silicones, drying alcoholsRelaxed hairMoisture, strength, heat protectionLow porosityWatch for heavy build-upProtein-sensitiveFlags every protein

How to use the Hair Product Ingredient Checker

Choose what to check for

Under “Check for”, pick Curly Girl, Relaxed hair, Low porosity or Protein-sensitive. You can switch later without pasting the list again.
Paste the ingredient list

Copy the full list from the bottle or the retailer’s page into “Ingredient list (INCI)”, keeping the original order. Headings, asterisks, percentages and “may contain” color lists are cleaned up for you.
Press “Check ingredients”

You get a verdict for your mode, plus a note if any names were not recognized or were matched despite a spelling difference. No list handy? Press “Try an example”.
Read the flags

Every ingredient appears in label order with its type and a rating. Anything after the first preservative or fragrance is marked “≤1%”. Tap a name to see what that ingredient does.
Save or share the result

Download the PDF, or copy the link — it reopens the same list and mode (very long lists keep only the mode).

How to use the Hair Product Ingredient Checker (69 s)

How it works

Our Curly Girl Method ingredient checker reads a label the way a cosmetic chemist would skim it: it splits the list into individual ingredients, identifies each one, works out roughly where the concentration drops below 1%, and then applies the rules of the mode you picked. Our database currently covers 609 ingredients and their common alternative names.

1. Reading the label

We split the text at commas, line breaks and semicolons, and remove things that are not ingredients: “Ingredients:” headings, asterisks and footnotes such as “*certified organic”, percentages, and “may contain” lists of colorants. Words in brackets stay with their ingredient, so “Water (Aqua, Eau)” is one item, while trade blends written as “Cetearyl Alcohol (and) Ceteareth-20” become two.

2. Identifying each ingredient

Each name is matched against INCI names and the alternatives brands actually print — “Aqua” is water, “SLS” is sodium lauryl sulfate, “Shea Butter” is Butyrospermum Parkii butter. If there is no exact match we try a careful spelling match and tell you when we did. Anything we cannot place is shown as “not recognized”; we never guess its type.

3. The 1% line

U.S. labeling rules require ingredients to appear in descending order of amount, except those at 1% or less, which may follow in any order. Preservatives and fragrance are almost always used at well under 1%, so everything listed after the first of them is marked “≤1%”. That is why a drying alcohol at the very end only earns a caution in Curly Girl mode.

4. The four modes

Curly Girl follows the original method: no harsh sulfates or soaps, no silicones that need sulfates to remove, no drying alcohols or mineral oil.
Relaxed hair treats silicones and protein as helpful for chemically straightened hair and warns about strong cleansers for everyday use.
Low porosity watches for butters, waxes, heavy oils and non-soluble silicones near the top of the list — the usual causes of build-up.
Protein-sensitive flags every protein, peptide and amino acid with its position, and nothing else.

Limits

A label shows order, not exact amounts, so two products with the same ingredients can feel very different. Brands reformulate, so check the list on the bottle you own. The checker cannot judge allergies or irritation — patch test anything new, especially fragranced products, and see a dermatologist if your scalp reacts.

How each ingredient type is rated in every mode

Ingredient type	Curly Girl	Relaxed	Low porosity	Protein-sensitive
Harsh sulfate Strong detergents that lift oil and product build-up very effectively — and also strip the natural oils that dry, coily hair needs.	Avoid	Caution	OK	OK
Gentle cleanser Milder surfactants (often from coconut or sugar) that clean with less stripping. Common in sulfate-free shampoos and co-washes.	Good	OK	OK	OK
Soap True soaps made by saponifying oils. They are alkaline, which roughens the cuticle, and can leave a film in hard water.	Avoid	Caution	OK	OK
Non-soluble silicone Silicones that coat the strand for slip, shine and heat protection but do not rinse out with water, so they can build up without a sulfate or clarifying wash.	Avoid	Good	Caution	OK
Water-soluble silicone Silicones modified (usually with PEG/PPG chains) so they rinse out with water. They add slip without the same build-up.	Good	Good	OK	OK
Evaporating silicone Light, volatile silicones that spread other ingredients and then mostly evaporate from the hair.	Caution	Good	OK	OK
Drying alcohol Short-chain alcohols that evaporate quickly. Useful for fast drying and dissolving other ingredients, but high amounts can dry hair out.	Avoid	Caution	OK	OK
Fatty alcohol Long-chain alcohols that soften hair and thicken creams. Despite the name they are not drying — they behave more like waxy emollients.	Good	Good	OK	OK
Protein Hydrolyzed proteins, peptides and amino acids that temporarily patch gaps in the cuticle and add strength. Some hair turns stiff or brittle with too much.	OK	Good	Caution	Avoid
Humectant Ingredients that attract and hold water. How well they work depends on air moisture (dew point) and your porosity.	OK	OK	Good	OK
Oil Plant and synthetic oils that soften, add shine and slow moisture loss. Some (like coconut) can enter the hair shaft; most coat the surface.	OK	Good	Good	OK
Butter Solid plant fats such as shea and mango butter. Rich and sealing — great for dry ends, but heavy for fine or low-porosity hair.	OK	Good	Caution	OK
Mineral oil / petrolatum Petroleum-derived oils and jellies that seal very well but do not rinse off with gentle cleansers and can build up.	Avoid	OK	Caution	OK
Wax Waxes add hold and seal the surface. They can be hard to wash out and may build up with regular use.	Caution	OK	Caution	OK
Conditioner Positively charged (cationic) ingredients — quats and polyquats — that cling to damaged areas of the hair for slip, detangling and less static.	OK	Good	OK	OK
Chelator Bind calcium, magnesium and metals from hard water so they cannot build up on the hair.	OK	Good	OK	OK
Preservative Keep water-based products free of mold and bacteria. Usually used at well under 1%.	OK	OK	OK	OK
Fragrance Scent blends. Labels may list them as one word, so they can be a hidden source of irritation for sensitive scalps.	OK	OK	OK	OK

Ratings for an ingredient listed near the top of the label. Below the 1% line most “Avoid” ratings soften to “Caution”. In Low porosity mode, light oils rate “Good” and heavy ones (like castor) rate “Caution” when they sit in the top five.

Frequently asked questions

What ingredients are not allowed in the Curly Girl Method?

The original Curly Girl rules avoid harsh sulfates (such as sodium lauryl and sodium laureth sulfate) and soaps, silicones that do not rinse out with water (dimethicone, amodimethicone and similar), drying short-chain alcohols (alcohol denat., SD alcohol, isopropyl alcohol), and mineral oil or petrolatum. Many followers also avoid heavy waxes. The checker’s Curly Girl mode flags all of these.

Is behentrimonium methosulfate a sulfate?

No. Behentrimonium methosulfate is a conditioning agent — a positively charged ingredient that clings to the hair for slip and detangling. “Methosulfate” describes its counter-ion, not a cleansing detergent, and it is accepted by the Curly Girl Method.

Are water-soluble silicones CG approved?

Most Curly Girl guides accept silicones that have been made water-soluble, usually by adding PEG or PPG chains (for example PEG-12 dimethicone), because they rinse out without sulfates. A few strict followers avoid every “-cone”. The checker marks water-soluble silicones as fine in Curly Girl mode unless an individual ingredient note says otherwise.

Is cetearyl alcohol bad for hair?

No. Cetearyl, cetyl and stearyl alcohol are fatty alcohols: waxy, softening ingredients that thicken conditioners and help hair feel smooth. They behave very differently from drying alcohols such as alcohol denat., and the checker labels them separately.

How do I know if a product has protein?

Look for the word “hydrolyzed” followed by a protein source — keratin, silk, wheat, rice, soy, oat, quinoa, collagen — and for amino acids and peptides. Switch the checker to Protein-sensitive mode and it lists every protein with its position. Panthenol and aloe are not proteins.

Why does the checker say “1% or less”?

U.S. labeling rules list ingredients in descending order of amount, except those at 1% or less, which may follow in any order. Preservatives and fragrance are almost always used below 1%, so everything after the first of them is marked “≤1%”. A drying alcohol in last place matters far less than one in second place.

Does “CG-friendly” mean the product will work for my hair?

Not necessarily. The verdict only tells you whether a formula follows a set of ingredient rules. Porosity, density, strand thickness and your climate decide how a product actually performs — the porosity test is a good next step.

Why is an ingredient “not recognized”?

It may be misspelled, a trade name, or simply not in our database yet. We never guess the category of an unknown ingredient, so the verdict can be incomplete — check the spelling or send us the name through the contact page.