Review :: Nothing But Clarifying Shampoo

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Nothing But Clarifying Shampoo Review
2
  • Ingredients
  • Wash
  • Scent
  • Price

Summary

I love the company, I love what they stand for, I love the transparency in what they put in their products. I don’t like the fact that 53% of the ingredients in this shampoo are known contact allergens and will cause reactions in so many of the people that use it. Transparent or not, there is just no need to formulate shampoos like this any longer.

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User Review
2 (2 votes)

buy now on Amazon Nothing But are a company I’ve watched from afar and have, from a distance, enjoyed the way they do their business.   They are a company that are extremely transparent in what they put into their shampoos.   Look at the product listing for this very shampoo on their website.

They provide a clear breakdown of what is in the shampoo and why it is in there.  For that alone, they have my full respect.  They also don’t add phthalates, colorants, petroleums, parabens or harsh sulfates according to that same website so I was jumping for joy when this shampoo arrived in the post.  

Clarifying shampoos are by their very nature harsher than regular shampoos.  They are designed to clean deep ingrained oily product gunk.  As such, they are to be used two or three times a month max.  However, this is a company who seemed committed to making a gentle clarifying shampoo.  And we like the sound of that!

This particular shampoo has a very pleasant citrus smell which I liked while giving me the heeby jeebys.  These fragrances normally come at a cost.  A big cost for the people allergic to them.  

The shampoo lathered remarkably well considering it is sulfate-free and my hair felt nice and soft after washing.  Quite often clarifying shampoos will dry your hair completely but this felt nice.  They company still recommend using a good conditioner afterward but by my admittedly low standards, this felt good.

So the company seems to have good honest intentions, the shampoo smells nice and it performs well.   I was so hoping that the shampoo would be well formulated.  Unfortunately, my hopes were dashed.   The shampoo contains some pretty horrible contact allergens.  The shampoo only contains 13 ingredients and 7 of those are known contact allergens.   Two of these allergens have been flagged code red in the ewg skin deep database;  as in the highest hazard rating they have.  In among the allergens they have a formaldehyde releaser as a preservative.  Formaldehyde is used to preserve corpses, not shampoos! And they have added a few fragrances that really disappointed me.  I am personally allergic to Linalool but they also have Limonene and Citral (another EWG red hazard score).  These are normally found in the cheap guff you find in your local pharmacy.  

They serve no practical purpose whatsoever.

This is a great shampoo if you ignore the ingredients.  Unfortunately, this is like saying that, players aside, the Knicks are a great basketball team.  

It’s such a shame as I really wanted to like this shampoo.  The company has such a great approach to messaging their products.  Scratch the surface a little and they are something of an enigma.  Perhaps there’s a real disconnect between marketing and manufacturing.  Or maybe they are trying to keep costs down.  

I genuinely applaud their transparency and encourage all manufacturers to learn from these guys.  However, transparent or not, there is just no need to formulate shampoos like this any longer.

Unless you really want to buy this shampoo I would either have a search for something more suitable or browse other clarifying shampoos. I really didn’t want to say that about this shampoo.

Author

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  • The site owner. I founded, and have ran this site for too many years now. I have extremely sensitive skin, have suffered from seb derm for all my adult life and this site is my way of doing something about it. Check out my sister site at safehouseholdcleaning.com

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