Ingredients 101: Liquid Refillable Shampoo + Conditioner
This post first appeared in our weekly Make Waves Mondays email series on February 19, 2024.
So as a small business owner, I wear a whole lotta hats on a daily basis, and this past week the hat I wore the most was “copywriter.” I’m on a mission to [finally!] rewrite all of the product descriptions that I wrote 5 years ago when A Drop in the Ocean was born and haven’t looked at since. 😬
They’re all garbage lol I’m truly amazed that some of these products have sold at all with how truly awful I was at writing product descriptions in the beginning 😅
And this week, I finally tackled two of the product descriptions that have haunted me for literal years now… Our liquid refillable shampoo and conditioner.
I loveee our liquid shampoo and conditioner. I use them every day and I’m constantly bugging my partner to feel my hair because of how soft and healthy it is.
But in the process of rewriting these product descriptions, I wanted to do some digging into what the ingredients in them actually do.
I know they’re all healthy, natural, hair-loving ingredients, but what do they actually *do*?
And you know what I found out?
They do a LOT.
So today I wanna do something a little different than our usual blog topics, and tell you all of the exciting things I learned this week about hair care and ingredients and what makes our refillable shampoo and conditioner so special.
What’s in our refillable liquid shampoo?
Let’s start with the shampoo.
Our zero waste shampoo bars have always been some of our best-selling products, but not everyone wants to use a bar of soap on their hair - and that’s totally cool, too!
Our liquid shampoo comes in an aluminum bottle that we’ll pay for you to send back to us to wash and refill over and over and over again, so if shampoo bars aren’t your jam, you can still get great hair care products without compromising your sustainability ethics.
(✨ Oh and PS - both our refillable shampoo and our shampoo bars are color-safe!)
Here’s what goes into every bottle of shampoo:
🌿 Organic Aloe Leaf Juice. Most liquid shampoos on the market are made with water as their main ingredient. But our shampoo features organic aloe leaf juice as its main ingredient, making each bottle more concentrated so it lasts longer. Aloe is incredibly gentle on your hair and scalp while it cleans, removing excess oil and residue without stripping your hair in the process. It also contains vitamins A, C, and E, which promote cell growth and boost your hair’s shine.
🌿 Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate. Although it sounds like a sulfate (which is a no-go for your hair, skin, and the planet), Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate is a plant-derived, natural, mild surfactant that creates a nice lather without any skin irritation. The Environmental Working Groups rates Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate as a “1” with low concerns for cancer, allergens, and toxicity.
🌿 Cocamidopropyl Betaine. A coconut-derived foam booster.
🌿 Glycerine. Vegan and derived from vegetables, glycerine is moisturizing to the skin and helps with healthy hair growth.
🌿 Phenoxyethanol. A natural preservative.
🌿 Organic Lavender and Chamomile Flower Waters. Lavender has been found to stimulate hair growth and may prevent itchy scalp or dandruff. Chamomile is a wonderful ingredient for calming rashes, sensitivities, rosacea, acne, heat rash, and redness. It’s anti-inflammatory and a good antioxidant, anti-irritant, and wound healer. It may also improve the look of UV damaged skin and reduce stinging and irritation.
🌿 Organic Jojoba Seed Oil. Jojoba is actually a liquid wax (who knew?!) that not only moisturizes but also coats the insides of your pores, regulating oil production. It acts as a humectant - so its moisturizing properties last. Jojoba also helps to lessen the appearance of skin ailments such as eczema and psoriasis with its anti-inflammatory and healing properties.
🌿 Rosehip Seed Oil. Rosehip oil is rich in antioxidants and essential fatty acids, which helps with cell regeneration.
🌿 Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein. Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein increases your hair’s ability to retain moisture, adds volume, and reduces your hair’s porosity and improves smoothness. Protein is vital for strong hair, as without it, your hair will be limp, lifeless, and weak, and can fall out or break easily. Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein balances the moisture in your hair to keep it healthy and strong.
🌿 Provitamin B5. In hair products, Provitamin B5 helps to lock in moisture from all the other moisturizing ingredients in your hair care products and nourishes your scalp. It also adds volume to your hair without weighing it down since it helps infuse your hair with moisture.
🌿 Vitamin E. Vitamin E helps to encourage healthy growth of new cells while also acting as a natural preservative.
🌿 Sunflower Seed Oil. Sunflower seed oil adds moisture without feeling greasy, and is packed with even more Vitamin E. Its antioxidants and fatty acids also help with new cell regeneration, supporting healthy hair growth.
🌿 Tetrasodium Glutamate Diacetate. A natural preservative.
🌿 Essential Oils. Truthfully, I don’t know the exact essential oil blend used in our liquid shampoo, as it’s a proprietary blend made by our vendor, but I do know that they’re intentionally chosen to be great for scalp health and hair shine.
(If you need to know if any specific essential oils are present in any of our products for allergies or other sensitivities, please don’t hesitate to reach out and we can get an answer for you!)
What’s in our refillable liquid conditioner?
No hair care routine would be complete without a conditioner to follow-up a shampoo.
I love our conditioner bars, and they’re absolutely some of the best I’ve ever encountered.
(I actually once got a message from someone saying they had asked for conditioner bar recommendations and someone recommended ours, but they opted for a Lush conditioner bar instead to try to save money and regretted it almost immediately and ended up buying ours right afterwards. They’re fantastic little bars.)
But, again, just like with shampoo bars, conditioner bars aren’t always everyone’s jam.
Just like our liquid shampoo, our liquid refillable conditioner is packaged in an aluminum bottle that we’ll always take back from you to wash and refill.
Here’s what goes into our conditioner:
🌿 Organic Aloe Leaf Juice. Just like with shampoo, most liquid conditioners on the market are made with water as their main ingredient. But our liquid conditioner’s first ingredient is organic aloe leaf juice, which means each bottle is more concentrated and lasts longer. Aloe is gentle on your hair and scalp, and packed with vitamins that promote cell growth, nourish your hair, and keep it moisturized.
🌿 Cetearyl Alcohol. Don’t be fooled by the name - cetearyl alcohol is a fatty alcohol that doesn’t dry out your skin and hair. Derived from coconuts, it acts as an emulsifier, an emollient, and a texture enhancer.
🌿 Castor Oil. Castor oil acts as a humectant, which draws moisture from the air and locks it into your hair and skin. It also helps to promote healthy cell growth, and lubricates the hair shaft, preventing breakage and clearing scalp flakiness.
🌿 Stearalkonium Chloride. Vegan and derived from fatty acids in plants, Stearalkonium Chloride increases luster and improves the condition of both wet and dry hair, essentially acting as a detangler.
🌿 Phenoxyethanol. A natural preservative.
🌿 Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein. Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein increases your hair’s ability to retain moisture, adds volume, and reduces your hair’s porosity and improves smoothness. Protein is vital for strong hair, as without it, your hair will be limp, lifeless, and weak, and can fall out or break easily. Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein balances the moisture in your hair to keep it healthy and strong.
🌿 Provitamin B5. When used in hair products, Provitamin B5 helps to lock in moisture from all the other moisturizing ingredients in your hair care products and nourishes your scalp. It also adds volume to your hair without weighing it down since it helps infuse your hair with moisture.
🌿 Essential Oils. Same as our liquid shampoo, I don’t know the exact essential oil blend used in our liquid conditioner, but I do know that they’re intentionally chosen to be great for scalp health and hair shine.
4 tips for making the switch to our all-natural, refillable shampoo and conditioner
When you first make the switch to a more natural hair care routine, there’s probably going to be a bit of a learning curve.
Honestly, it took me a minute to figure out the best way to use our liquid shampoo and conditioner, but once I figured it out, there was no going back!
Here are some of my best tips:
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The shampoo doesn’t lather as much as traditional shampoos - and that’s okay! Did you know that most soaps and personal care products on the market add a bunch of artificial lathering agents that don’t actually have any real benefit besides making bubbles? Plus, since our shampoo’s main ingredient is aloe instead of water, it’s just inherently not going to lather as much right away because you need to add water to get a better lather. If you want a better lather, add more water - not more product.
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Start the shampoo lather in your hands. I learned this one a couple of years ago and it was SO helpful. Pump a small amount of shampoo into your hands, and rub your hands together a bit until the shampoo has begun to lather and is pretty evenly coated on your hands. This will help to distribute the shampoo all over your scalp instead of just in one spot.
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Focus the shampoo on your scalp and the conditioner on your ends. This one might be obvious to some, but for me, I had to learn it. I used to gather all of my hair on top of my head and shampoo it all into a huge knotted mess, then slather conditioner from roots to ends to smooth it all out. No more! Now I just focus the shampoo on my scalp and roots and conditioner on my ends, and it’s been a game changer. Occasionally, if my hair is actually dirty for some reason, I’ll shampoo the ends, but I’ll do it gently, working with my hair rather than gathering it up on top of my head.
- Double shampooing = double the days between washes. I thought this one was just a “me” thing until recently, when I learned it’s actually a common thing! I have very fine, thin hair that, historically, I’ve needed to wash every day to avoid a gross, greasy mess. Within the last year or so, I’ve discovered that if I shampoo twice, I can actually wash my hair every other day now. The first round of shampoo tends to not lather as much, as it’s just breaking up the oils and residue, while the second round of shampoo lathers like crazy and does more of the actual scalp and hair cleansing.
How long does one bottle of shampoo and conditioner last?
I know that our refillable liquid shampoo and conditioner are a bit on the pricier side than traditional shampoos and conditioners you might be used to.
But I promise you they’re so worth it.
On average, our EcoWarriors reorder their 8oz bottles of shampoo and conditioner every 3-4 months - some go up to 6 months between orders!
Personally, my partner and I both share an 8oz bottle of shampoo, and on average, between the two of us, we use about two pumps of shampoo every day. One 8oz bottle for both of us lasts about two months.
So in summary…
I’ve always loved our refillable shampoo and conditioner, because I knew the stuff works, and I knew the ingredients were all carefully chosen to be the best for your hair, your scalp, and the planet, but I never really looked into what each ingredient really did…until this week.
Now, I’m even more in love with them, and I’m so bummed to think that my trash inexperienced product descriptions for the last 5 years likely kept some of our EcoWarriors from trying them sooner!
So if shampoo and conditioner bars just aren’t for you, perhaps it’s time to give our refillable shampoo and conditioner a try instead?
And then when you do, be sure to let me know what you think of them! 😄
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