The products we use on our bodies can ultimately affect our health. For example, using one of the worst makeup brands can lead to irritated skin and other issues. Additionally, using one of the worst shampoo brands can damage and dehydrate your hair, sometimes even causing hair loss.
When choosing the right shampoo and conditioner for your hair, you want to be as selective as possible. Of course, many of the higher-end or more natural shampoo options on the market do not fit the everyday shopper’s budget. That being said, it’s important to at least consider the ingredients you’re using in your hair and understand any associated risks when purchasing new products.
No shampoo is a one-size-fits-all product, and some shampoos might work for certain people while causing adverse effects in other individuals. If you’re on the market searching for a new shampoo, here are 10 shampoo brands to avoid at all costs — and why.
1. Tresemme
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- Parent company: Unilever
- Common customer complaints: hair loss, allergic reactions, skin and scalp irritations
Scalp irritant
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Tresemme is one of the most well-known shampoo brands on the market. Many customers have been using Tresemme products for years, but is this brand as reliable as it markets itself to be?
Tresemme’s ingredients include sulfate and silicone, both of which can strip the scalp of its natural oils and cause irritation and dryness. The shampoo brand also uses other harmful ingredients that can damage the hair.
Furthermore, many customers complain that they experience a thick product build-up that makes their hair feel heavy, greasy, and simply unclean. Others have experienced hair loss, allergic reactions, and skin and scalp irritations from using this product. To play it safe, you might want to stear clear of Tresemme.
2. Pantene
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- Parent company: Procter & Gamble
- Common customer complaints: product buildup, filled with chemicals and unnatural ingredients
Harsh ingredients
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Pantene is an American hair care brand that promises shiny, healthy-looking hair with its shampoos, conditioners, and other styling products and treatments. However, Pantene — like Tresemme — can leave a grimy residue in your hair.
Pantene uses harsh chemicals and unnatural ingredients like sulfates parabens and silicones. As mentioned above, this can damage your hair and cause allergic reactions and other irritations. Furthermore, this brand’s use of sulfates often leads to excessive dryness and sometimes even hair loss.
Many customers complain that Pantene makes their hair feel greasy and heavy, which only encourages further shampooing, causing a negative cycle. Of course, as a drugstore brand, Pantene is an affordable option, which is why so many customers are loyal to the brand and overlook these issues.
3. Head & Shoulders
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- Parent company: Procter & Gamble
- Common customer complaints: skin irritation, hair discoloration, dry scalp, hair loss
Damaging product
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Head & Shoulders has long been known as a go-to for dandruff regulation. However, in recent years, the brand has received criticism for actually causing dandruff in some cases. Furthermore, some customers even reported allergic reactions and skin rashes from using this product.
Let’s get one thing straight: this product typically achieves what it promises, which is to assist with dandruff. However, it can be quite damaging if used for prolonged periods. Medicated shampoo can cause extreme irritation, which can lead to similar symptoms of dandruff such as an itchy, scaly scalp. Again, the efficiency of this product depends on the person’s hair and unique makeup.
4. Maui
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- Parent company: Johnson & Johnson
- Common customer complaints: hair loss, product buildup
Hair loss
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Maui Moisture is a hair care brand that’s especially known to benefit curly and wavy hair. Using ingredients like coconut milk, shea butter, and bamboo fiber, Maui has garnered a ton of attention from the curly hair community over the past few years. Additionally, the brand is known for its fragrant shampoos and conditioners that are hard to pass up.
I’ll admit it: this one hurts. Throughout my hunt for affordable shampoos, I used Maui for a few bottles in a row. However, though this wasn’t my personal experience, many people reported losing their hair when switching to Maui’s products. In fact, there has been an influx of customers leaving negative reviews and claiming the products have caused their hair to fall out in chunks. That was enough to get me to toss my bottle in the trash.
Maui contains ingredients like sulfates and fragrances which, as mentioned earlier, can damage your hair — especially if used consistently for months at a time. However, it is free of some other harsh ingredients like parabens that are present and some of the other products on this list.
5. OGX
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- Parent company: Johnson & Johnson
- Common customer complaints: hair loss, scalp irritation, allergic reactions
DMDM hydantoin lawsuit
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OGX Beauty sells a variety of affordable hair and body products. This drugstore staple is a go-to for many individuals, including myself. Full transparency here: I used to be a loyal OGX shampoo and conditioner user. That is, until I found out about their recent lawsuit.
That’s right: OGX was recently sued for causing hair loss, forcing the brand to discontinue many of its products. However, they since have released a statement promising that they haven’t launched any new hair care products with DMDM hydantoin — the culprit ingredient that apparently can cause a variety of issues, from allergic contact dermatitis to hair loss to a higher risk of cancer.
That being said, this preservative and antimicrobial agent is found in many cosmetics, skincare, and hair care products on the market. Generally, it is marked safe to use in low doses. However, continued exposure to this formaldehyde-releasing ingredient can cause adverse reactions. In this case, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
6. Herbal Essences
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- Parent company: Procter & Gamble
- Common customer complaints: filled with harsh chemicals, false advertising
Synthetic chemicals
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Herbal Essence is a hair care and styling product company that claims to do “beautiful things for your hair and your head.” This drugstore shampoo brand is an affordable and popular option that many individuals have relied on for years. However, it’s received quite a bit of backlash — and for good reason.
For one thing, Herbal Essences is loaded with sulfates, which do their job of cleaning your hair of dirt and excess oil, but go as far as to strip it of its natural oil. In fact, this often causes hair to become brittle and dry, dulls hair color, and sometimes even causes hair to fall out.
The brand also markets its shampoos as containing naturally derived ingredients when really it contains more synthetic chemicals than anything.
7. Garnier
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- Parent company: L’Oréal
- Common customer complaints: dry hair, irritation
Excessive dryness
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Source: Andrey_Popov / Shutterstock.com
Marketing itself as offering “top-rated hair care, hair styling, hair color, and skincare products for both men and women,” Garnier is yet another beloved household shampoo brand. However, it’s not without its faults either. Like most of the shampoos on this list, Garnier is a cheap alternative to higher-end shampoo brands on the market. That being said, it does contain more synthetic ingredients, which can have adverse effects on your hair.
However, Garnier’s shampoos aren’t the worst on the market, as many organizations deem them safe to use. This is at least a step up from some of the more concerning shampoo brands you’ll find in the drugstores. Even so, the brand’s products can cause excessive dryness, as well as scalp irritation. As with every other shampoo, this depends on the customer’s unique needs and hair profile.
8. Dove
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- Parent company: Unilever
- Common customer complaints: irritation, dry hair, product buildup
Product buildup
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Personal care brand Dove has remained a family favorite for years — and for good reason. Dove sells many reliable products and carries out a mission to empower its customers — especially women — to develop a positive relationship with their bodies and recognize their full beauty and potential. However, again, no brand is perfect, and Dove’s shampoos happen to fall on the list of some of the worst on the market
Though Dove advertises its shampoo as moisturizing, nourishing, and repairing, oftentimes, they actually achieve the opposite effect, causing more damage than good. Dove contains a variety of chemicals, like silicone, parabens, and sulfates. As mentioned earlier, this can lead to product buildup on your hair, making it feel greasy and heavier than it should. Not only that, but many customers end up with frizzy, damaged, and dry hair after using Dove shampoo.
9. Aussie
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- Parent company: Procter & Gamble
- Common customer complaints: hair loss, toxic ingredients, allergens
Toxic ingredients
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Perhaps one of the more concerning options on this list is Aussie. Aussie is a hair product and toiletries brand that sells shampoos, conditioners, serums, gels, and sprays. Many individuals rely on Aussie for its tailored items, such as its miracle curls collection, miracle waves collection, and even miracle repair collection. But do these products really do what they claim to do?
While some people have found success with Aussie products, others reported experiencing effects like hair loss. This is because many of the ingredients in Aussie shampoo are toxic. For example, the product contains parabens that some people claim are linked to breast cancer and hormonal disruption.
Of course, there’s no concrete evidence of this, but the speculation alone is enough to make you think twice about buying this product. Additionally, Aussie contains sodium lauryl sulfate, which can irritate patients with sensitive skin or skin conditions.
10. Suave
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- Parent company: Unilever
- Common customer complaints: dry, brittle hair, dermatitis, hair loss, scalp irritation
Formaldehyde
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Suave is another shampoo brand that faced a class action lawsuit when one woman claimed her hair became dry and brittle, breaking easily. The lawsuit declared that the manufacturer used false advertising to market some of its product as safe when in reality it possibly contained formaldehyde, a highly toxic systemic poison.
In this case, the ingredient that was deemed harmful was DMDM hydantoin, which — as I mentioned above — can cause irritation, dermatitis, and hair damage and loss in some individuals. Even so, this ingredient can be found in countless hair care brands. Additionally, this brand also uses similar ingredients to the other brands on this list, such as sulfates.
11. Aveda
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- Parent company: The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.
- Common customer complaints: dry hair, overpowering fragrance, expensive
Strong, artificial fragrance
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While many shampoo brands contain overpowering artificial fragrances, Aveda often receives backlash for its especially overwhelming scent. Many consumers also noted the shampoo made their hair feel dry and hard after using it, and the brand is known to use ethoxylated ingredients in its products. For such an expensive brand (a 1L bottle goes for $67), you’d expect less harsh ingredients.
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