Teach Soap

I have been struggling to make a cream shampoo for ages using all sorts of sulphate-free 'green' surfactants. Along the way I have created two good clear shampoos but whatever combination I tried, after days or weeks, lipids will separate out. No good.
Today I picked up a cream shampoo I made ages ago and suddenly realised: it was made with ALS. And I remember it was really easy to make cream shampoos with ALS, and they don't separate, no problems.

Conclusion:

I am pretty sure now that it is either impossible or nearly so, to make a cream shampoo with sulphate-free surfactants, unless a polymer is used (and polymers bring other problems in shampoos.) From which, I deduce that the sulphate-free shampoos just don't have the cleaning power (= ability to emulsify oils/fats) that the sulphate surfactants have.