Journeyer, Stephanie asks: Have you ever used the Olive Oil Replenishing Conditioner? If so, your thoughts please.
Thanks for the question Stephanie. It depends on which one you are talking about. But assuming you're standing in the store and choosing between the two below, lets use my tried and true approach to selecting a product; lets read the ingredient list!
Product 1: Palmer's Olive Oil Replenishing Conditioner
Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Dicetyldimonium Chloride, Cetyl Alcohol, Stearyl Alcohol, Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine, Olea Europea (Olive) Fruit Oil*, Amodimethicone, Propylene Glycol, Behenyl Alcohol, Cetearyl Alcohol, Hydroxyethyl Cetearamidopropyldimonium Chloride, Hair Keratine Amino Acids, Tocopheryl Acetate, Glycine Soja (Soybean) Oil, Sodium Hydroxymethylglycinate, Citric Acid, Methylparaben, Ceteareth-20, Fragrance (Parfum), Linalool, Benzyl Alcohol, Benzyl Salicylate, Hydroxycitronella, Methyl Ionone, Yellow 5 (CI19140), Red 4 (CI14700) Blue 1 (CI42090). *Certified Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Product 2: Organic Root Stimulator (ORS) Olive Oil Replenishing Conditioner
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Ingredients: Water Aqua , Soybean Oil Glycine Soja , Glycerine , Olive Oil Olea Europaea , Hydrolyzed Collagen , Quaternium-80 , DMDM Hydantoin , Amino Silk Acid , Dimethicone Copolyol , Orange Oil Citrus Aupantium Dulcis , D'Limonene , Panthenol Vitamin B5 , Dimethicone , EDTA , Chamomile Extract Anthemis Nobilis , Sage Extract Salvia Officinalis , Nettle Extract Urtica Dioica , Rosemary Extract Rosmarinus Officinalis , Aloe Vera Gel Aloe Barbedensis , Yarrow Extract Achilea Millefolium , Kiwi Extract Actinidia Chinensis , Polyquaternium-37 , Trideceth-7 , Triethanolamine , Hydrolyzed Glycosaminoglycans , Methylchlorosothiazolinone , Methylchlorothiazolinone , Yellow No. 6 CI 15985 , Yellow No. 5 CI 19140
First things first...
Before we get started, there are a couple of things you need to know.
- Ingredients are listed in order of most to least amount/concentration.
- Despite commonly held belief, the FDA DOES NOT regulate the cosmetic industry. It only regulates the LABELING of cosmetic products. So giving the benefit of the doubt, what you see on the ingredient list should be an accurate reflection of what is in the product.
- The MAJORITY of the product is made up of the first few in the list. So don't fall for products with a bazillion "natural" ingredients....that come at the bottom of the list after the crappy stuff like mineral oil or it's close cousins; petroleum/petrolatum/parrafin.
Ingredient Lists...check and compare:
So let's walk thru some of the ingredients
- The Organic Root Stimulator conditioner is made up of water, natural oils, quats (compounds that help the dirt wash/rinse away versus just being moved from one part of the hair to another), proteins and amino acids (the building blocks of proteins), aloe vera, silicones, and synthetic color additives.
- The Palmer's Replenishing conditioner is made up of water, a lot of alcohols, silicones, synthetic preservatives and color additives. Note where the olive oil falls in the order of ingredients for the Palmer's product versus the Organic Root Stimulator product.
The verdict
So despite sharing a nearly identical name "Olive Oil Replenishing Conditioner", you can see that the ingredients and thus the quality of these two products is completely different. The Organic Root Stimulator is made up of a lot of high quality ingredients in very high concentration. The Palmer's product is made up of a lot of poor quality ingredients in very high concentration. Given this, it is clear that the product worth trying/buying is the Organic Root Stimulator. And having used it before, I give it two MAJOR thumbs up! Just as I'd expect after reading the ingredients, the product has great "slip" and leaves my hair super soft, shiny, and completely detangled.
See what you can do when you know about ingredients! See why you should follow Journey to My Roots!
Here's another exercise in reading ingredients:
Not clear on the various ingredients themselves? Learn all about them in The ABC's of Hair Speak. From emulsifiers to parabens, you'll learn it all here....