In case you haven’t seen it yet, Herbal Essences has restaged their popular hair care line. Restage is a bit of an 
understatement – it’s more like they’ve completely revamped the brand with new packaging, color, and fragrances. But what about the formulas? Are the new Herbal Essences products really different than the old ones? For starters let’s take a peak at their shampoos, shall we?
As a reference, take a look at the ingredients in the “old” Herbal Essences shampoo:
Water, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Chloride, Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate, Fragrance, Passiflora Incarnata Flower Extract, Anthemis Nobilis Flower Extract, Aloe Barbadensis Flower Extract, PEG-60 Almond Glycerides, Cocamide MEA, Sodium Benzoate, Tetrasodium EDTA, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Linoleamidopropyl PG-Dimonium Chloride Phosphate, Sodium Xylene Sulfonate, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, Yellow 5, Orange 4, Ext Violet 2
There’s too much information here, so let’s boil this formula down to the active ingredients – the ones that actually do something to you hair that you can feel. That means we’ll eliminate botanical extracts that don’t do anything, fragrance which smells good but doesn’t do anything, preservatives, etc etc.
Now it looks like this:
Cleansing Ingredients
Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine
Conditioning ingredients
PEG-60 Almond Glycerides, Cocamide MEA, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Linoleamidopropyl PG-Dimonium Chloride Phosphate
Now, let’s look at the new versions in the same way. Three of the shampoos are essentially the same:
Cleansing Ingredients
Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Cocamide MEA
Conditoning Ingredients
Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Linoleamidopropyl PG-Dimonium Chloride Phosphate
Cleansing Ingredients
Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Cocamide MEA
Conditoning Ingredients
Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Linoleamidopropyl PG-Dimonium Chloride Phosphate
Cleansing Ingredients
Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Cocamide MEA
Conditoning Ingredients
Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Linoleamidopropyl PG-Dimonium Chloride Phosphate
All three of these shampoos are the same except for the removal of the PEG-60 Almond Glycerides, which doesn’t add much conditioning anyway. Of course they changed the extracts, color and fragrance too but the products will all perform about the same. If you want to know more about curling shampoos, read our previous post.
Here’s another one that’s just a little bit different:
Cleansing Ingredients
Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Cocamide MEA
Conditoning Ingredients
None
Since this is a deep cleaning product, they took out the conditioning ingredients. Plus they threw in some menthol for a scalp tingling effect. Otherwise it’s the same.
This next one is a little different:
Cleansing Ingredients
Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, PPG-2 hydroxyethyl coco/isostearamide
Conditioning ingredients
Polyquaternium-10
The foam on this one will feel a little different and there’s less conditioning. Makes sense for the volume product.
Now let’s look at the last three:
Cleansing Ingredients
Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate, Ammonium Laureth Sulfate, Cocamide MEA
Conditioning Ingredients
Cetyl Alcohol, Dimethicone, Glycol Distearate, Polyquaternium-10
Cleansing Ingredients
Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate, Ammonium Laureth Sulfate, Cocamide MEA
Conditioning Ingredients
Cetyl Alcohol, Dimethicone, Glycol Distearate, Polyquaternium-10
Cleansing Ingredients
Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate, Ammonium Laureth Sulfate, Cocamide MEA,
Conditioning Ingredients
Cetyl Alcohol, Dimethicone, Glycol Distearate, Polyquaternium-10 (plust they Plus they threw in some pearl powder and a suspending agent to give it a sparkly appearance but it doesn’t really make it perform any differently.)
These are all conditioning shampoos, very much different than the others. And very different than the old Herbal Essences. But these shampoos are very similar to another product, Pantene’s Smooth and Sleek!
Cleansing Ingredients
Ammonium Laureth Sulfate, Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate, Cocamide MEA
Conditioning Ingredients
Glycol Distearate, Cetyl Alcohol, Dimethicone,
This similarity is not surprising, in fact, we’d expect it because Herbal Essences and Pantene are both owned by P&G. It’s very common for large companies to use their best formula technology across several brands.
The Beauty Brains Bottom Line:
Herbal Essences has done an interesting job of restaging their brand but they didn’t make any revolutionary changes to their shampoo formulas. What does this mean? If you liked the the way the old Herbal Essences shampoo worked and you like the new fragrances, then you will like this new product just fine. But if you didn’t like the way it left your hair feeling before, then don’t expect this new version to do anything different. But even if you don’t like the way the products work you should take a look at them on the shelves, the labels are interesting to read and the fragrances are fun to smell. Leave a comment and let us know if you want us to review the conditioners and styling products too.
PS “Are You A Beauty” did a nice post on the new line.
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{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for this was a very helpful article. It’d be great if you would also do an article comparing conditioners! After reading this and reading the back of some of these labels, I finally figured out that my hair and scalp like sodium-related ingredients much more than ammonium-related ingredients.
I have to say, I used to love the old fragrances so I tried the new shampoos. After two days my husband begged me to use something else because he couldn’t stand the way it smelled. I agree with him, the new scents smell cheap. I wish they’d bring back the old ones.
I love the old ones. The new lines released looks & smells cheap.
I deffinately agree about the scents of the ‘new’ Herbal Essences, they’re cheap and nasty and I don’t like them. I’ve also found with the new conditioner, it leaves a residue that I can’t get rid of…anyone else having this problem?
I used to use Herbal Essences religiously – it being one of only a few products I actually got on with. The new packaging looks great, however it’s really not very user friendly, its hard to get the conditioner out and as for the actual product – my scalp has been so sore and flakey, my hair looking greasy and lank with a sort of horrible residue left on my scalp
( I put it down to a change in the weather and the fact that I’d not dyed my hair for a while but it was getting worse so I stopped using Herbal Essences. I tried some other brand I found in my local supermarket, very suspicious as I have so many problems with senstive skin but guess what – my hair is back to it’s usual ultra shiny self and my scalp is no longer sore and it’s definitely not flakey anymore. Bring back the old herbal essences – get rid of that new crap!
i have fine hair and the only shampoo i use is l’occitane 5-in-1, it contains five essential oils. Does’nt weigh down my hair and i have less breakage compared to the ones i have used before like burt’s bees.
Thanks for the info. I always thought Herbal Essence did a good job despite dire warnings from every hair dresser I have talked to saying it will ruin my hair. Yet I have found no proof of that actually happening!
My sister can’t stand the smell either, but I think it’s fine. This is really sad because I never did try the old Herbal.
never used the old herbal essences, but i like the new hello hydration conditioner, even though it smells like sunscreen. it makes my hair less frizzy, which is all i care about!
i’ve been using herbal essence for the last 5 years or so and last week i switched to the Break Up shampoo and conditioner. After drying my hair, my crown became sticky and hard and greasy looking. After a week of having this horrible hair, i found out it was product build up, which i’ve never had before as i dont use styling gels/sprays etc. it was only then i realised that it was the HE! I dont think i’ll be using that again…
im sooo annoyed! i have been using the coconut herbal essences for ages and it was perfect for my hair it made it so shiny and was great for getting rid of the chlorine from my hair as im a swimming teacher. now its been discontinued and replaced for that new stuff that is awful. it makes my scalp flaky and sore and my hair goes all oily wierd combo. im not buying herbal essences any more – if it aint broke dont fix it!
I used the old herbal essences shampoo and it worked great and smelled good too, but after using the new breakage defender shampoo i will never use herbal essences again. My hair became sticky and greasy looking and even after i used a differnt type of shampoo the sticky feel and greasy look didn’t come out, i had to wash it two or three times to properly get it out. It’s not just the breakage defender shampoo that does this, i also tried the 2 in 1 herbal essences shampoo and got the same result!
I have always been a fan of this line since it came out. I really liked the purifying shampoo made with marigolds…(for fine/limp hair). After that version went away (maybe 3 years ago or so) I noticed that the version with rose hips and jojoba was still available. I used it, but it made my hair too greasy. I have been using the new version and I do like the “color me happy 2in1″. I was excited because I saw the old versions at a close-out store last weekend for $1.49/ea. I cleared out what they had. Maybe the formula hasn’t changed that much, but I really think that the smell is a million times better. Maybe it’s just me, but my hair looks better as well… I wish they brought the old formulas and packaging back…
I usually use sunsilk shampoo which have never caused any problem. I was attracted towards Herbal Essences dangerously straight and I started using the shampoo and conditioner. The hair looked really great but I started getting itching on my scalp and slowly started noticing some dry patches and flaky kind of appearanc which started spreading slowly to the back of my neck. Then I switched back to sunsilk shampoo and to my surprise i slowly started to get rid of the allergy…My skin is very sensitive to chemicals but still i think the Herbal essences does not use standardised ingredients…..I don’t dare to use herbal essentials anymore….
I received a chemical burn in my lungs using the new product. After many years of using HE I will never use it again. My old supply just ran out this week… This new formula has a terrible harsh odor. I needed to leave work, buy another brand, then rush home to wash out the Herbal Essence. I’ve been using and loving the old product for years. Trader Joe’s shampoo seems to be a nice substitute.
When I started noticing the original HE Rose Hip disappearing from the store shelves
but I did give the new HE a shot and PU cannot stand the smell. Still trying to
I thought “Oh-oh” so I bought about 20 bottles, should’ve bought more. Have a few
left
latch on to a different shampoo that I liked as much but after a number of years still no luck.
I wish the powers that be would re-introduce that teriffic product which was discontinued but obviously VERY popular!
I missed the old stuff to. sometimes I’d switch away, but I always went back. I’ve been trying to get the new stuff to work . . . but my scalp itches and my hair doesn’t smell the same. I found a couple bottles of the old stuff, but I save it for special occasions. It looks like the color me what ever is supposed to be the same smell as the dry hair old stuff but I haven’t confirmed that for myself yet. I’ve used the old stuff since I was 15 (I’m 30 now) I don’t want to have to find a new shampoo/conditioner that i like. Damn Clariol & Proctor& Gamble.
I used to love the ‘Herbal Essence’ shampoo for greasy hair as did my teenage son. My hair is lank as well as greasy but the combination was combated by this brilliant product. – Not any more. The new stuff has absolutely no effect on oiliness and does nothing in the way of ‘volumising’ any more, either. Bring back ‘Herbal Essences’ mark 1!
I started off using the Herbal Essences ff one which did an excellent job on my scalp without the drying like the other options.I paired that with the Rose hips and Jojoba which had just fantastic conditioning. Next i used Mandarin Star fruit and Papaya conditioner for dry hair, it was sensational. The new line just seems like chemically loaded. One can sense it with the scent. Previously I has used the Egg conditioner of Wella called Wellapon, then it got discontinued. And now this,its all unfortunate. The USP of the old HE conditioners were that it was so mild it could be used as a leave-in conditioner.I tried it,it worked.