What is the difference between using Shampoo & Conditioner and using one of those 2 in 1 bottles, like Pantene has? My 16 year old, who is quite the fashion expert, can’t believe I would use a 2 in 1. She says they are awful for your hair. But it’s so much easier! Am I really doing my hair a disservice?
which I can’t seem to find…was it during amnesia weekend?
I asked if Pantene was bad for your hair. I think the general consensus was that it was fine…just that people are influenced by their hairdressers (who make a commision on the products they sell) and in turn the hairdressers are influenced by the sales and marketing people.
I expect your kid heard it first or second hand from a hairstylist.
LOL, most of the time I use the same generic dr Bronners soap I use for everything else. I keep getting comments from people when I go to get my ends trimmed on how nice my hair is.
I just wish my hair grew faster=( I hate when a short layered look is growing out=(
The link below is to an article that explains how these products work.
Generally 2-in-1’s don’t work as well as two bottle systems but that doesn’t mean they are awful for your hair.
http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Issues/2005/January/Taketwobottles.asp
thanks for the replies. The funny thing is that we both use the same kind of Pantene, I just use a 2 in 1 and she uses two bottles.
2 in 1 is a myth, if it was real that sucker would be overflowing…
rip mitch
For great research on hair products and other costmetic type items, see www.cosmeticscop.com. The woman there was a makeup artist for celebrities and decided to branch off and do her own research into skin and hair care and just exactly what makes up the stuff we pay for and use.
Her conclusion: It’s basically all the same stuff. Well, with regard to shampoo and conditioner anyway. There are only a few ingredients used in ALL shampoos and conditioners and they’re the same whether you pay $2/bottle or $20. There are certainly brands that might have things in them that are lousy for your hair, such as fragrances or mint (which dries it out). But even these contain the same cleansing ingredients as the others and there are good shampoos without them in every price range.
With regard to the 2 in 1 stuff, it seems like it doesn’t condition as well because some of the conditioning agents are “cleaned away” when you rinse the shampoo concoction out. Not as much of it is left behind as if you did them separately. Otherwise, I suspect they are simply a combination of the exact same thing you get in two bottles.
Another issue with the 2 in 1 is that different heads of hair require different ratios of shampoo to conditioner.
Someone with fine, oily hair generally needs much more shampoo than conditioner. Someone like me with curly, dry hair uses very little shampoo and tons of conditioner. 2 in 1 wouldn’t work well for either of us.
Other than that, what KnitWit said.
My first thought was that shampoo is designed to use mainly while scrubbing and lathering the scalp, whereas conditioner works to smooth the ‘lengths and ends’ (of girls’ hair, at least). Based on what I’ve been told about hair products, I get the impression that most hair types end up looking greasy if conditioner is used on the top of the head. This may be one reason why your daughter disapproves.
Digression: I’ve just realised this is very much based on longer hair types - what about the short-haired fellows? I know my boyfriend doesn’t use conditioner and my dad uses a basic 2-in-1. Do males or females with cropped hair find that they need a separate conditioner, or does it just make short hair greasy?
I read a Consumer Reports article sometime in the last century that said the conditioner part was formulated to adhere only in the presence of a certain amount of water. So it sits back and lets the detergent dislodge dirt while you lather up, but sticks to your hair and does its slippery thing when you start rinsing. They did some fairly elaborate tests and concluded, with a note of surprise, that the 2-in-1’s they tested worked pretty well.
After reading that I tried adding water slowly and scrubbing as I started to rinse, and the stuff did seem to condition better that way. FWIW.
Don’t tell my wife, but lately I use the same bar of soap on my hair that I use on the rest of me (Ivory). It seems to work fine, but I usually don’t soap up my hair every day. When I shampoo daily, my hair seems to comb easier if I use conditioner now and then, but I don’t like to use it every time. I guess it does get kind of sticky at that.
Oh, right now my hair’s short on top (what there is) and bushy around the sides! When I get it cropped it seems to clean about the same, but with less soap.
I don’t use shampoo at all, just conditioner. I don’t have close-cropped hair, just average length guy hair. I leave the conditioner on for a few minuted to pick up any dust or dirt. Works fine, I haven’t bought shampoo in years and years. My hair is naturally quite dry, though.
I’m a guy who has short hair, and I don’t even need to use conditioner. However, back when I had long hair, I couldn’t find anything under $10 a bottle that would keep it from getting all tangled. YMMV, I guess.