Miriam asks..I’m looking for a conditioner similar to Olive Fruit Oil Nourishing Conditioner from Kiehls, could you recommend something cheaper?
The Beauty Brains respond:
Miriam’s question comes from the boards on Makeup Alley where we’ve been contributing recently. It’s the most active online beauty community we’ve ever seen – if you haven’t checked it out already you should!
Use the “Rule of 5 Ingredients”
Of course there’s no way to know for sure without testing but we can identify good candidates for Miriam to try just by looking at the ingredients list (see below.) In particular, look at the first five ingredients:
Water, cetearyl alcohol, behentrimonium chloride, glycerin, amodimethicone
Water is the solvent/carrier and will be the first ingredient in any emulsion-type conditioner. The cetearyl alcohol is the “body” of the product and is a mix of cetyl alcohol and stearyl alcohol. (Remember that these so-called fatty alcohols are NOT the kind of alcohol that dries your hair.) Behentrimonium chloride and amodimethicone are both excellent conditioners which are chemically modified to stick to the damaged spots on your hair after rinsing. Glycerin is a good moisturizing agent although it really doesn’t do much from a rinse out product.
A quick scan for products with similar ingredients reveals that Loreal Nature’s Therapy Mega Hair Moisture Treatment has the same five ingredients in the same order (see below.) It also contains a few lesser ingredients which may give the product a different feel like cetyl esters and cetrimonium chloride. Most of the other differences, like the preservative, won’t impact the performance of the product.
The Kiehl’s product sells for about $2.26 per ounce ($19 for 8.4 ounces) while the L’Oreal “dupe” is only $1.40 per ounce ($11.21 for 8 ounces). So if you’re looking for a cheaper option, the L’Oreal product should be a good one to check out.
Loreal Nature’s Therapy Mega Hair Moisture Treatment ingredients
Water, Cetearyl Alcohol, Behentrimonium Chloride, Glycerin, Amodimethicone, Cetyl Esters, Sodium PCA, Fragrance, Methylparaben, Trideceth-12, Sunflower Seed Oil, Chlorhexidine, Dihydrochloride, Cetrimonium Chloride, Yellow 5.
Kiehl’s Olive Fruit Oil Nourishing Conditioner
Water, cetearyl alcohol, behentrimonium chloride, glycerin, amodimethicone, olea europaea (olive) fruit oil, persea gratissima (avocado) oil, trideceth-6, 2-oleamido-1, 3-octadecanediol, lanolin, citrus limonum (lemon) peel oil, cetyl esters, methylparaben, chlorhexidine dihydrochloride, cetrimonium chloride, dimethyl tin dineodecyl ester, fragrance.
Do YOU have any favorite products you’d like to find a cheaper version of? Leave a comment and we’ll try to track one down for you.