It wasn’t until a couple of years into my hair care journey that I started to wonder about the ingredients in the bottles underneath my sink. I was so used to seeing shampoos and conditioners with “coconut oil,” “avocado,” and “shea butter,” emblazoned in bright letters across their bottles that I never stopped to think how much of those emphasized ingredients were truly in them.

Was it all a gimmick? Or was the amount of coconut oil truly enough to satisfy my thirsty tresses? Maybe the reason why a product failed to nourish and mend my hair as advertised was not because of the ingredients mentioned, but because of the order in which the ingredients were listed. Hmm, how can that be?

  • My favorite shampoo: Banana+Coconut superfoods
  • 5th Ingredient: Banana Extract
    6th Ingredient: Coconut Extract

The late-night hours spent searching through hair articles and blogs (hello internet, goodbye sleep!) finally paid off when I learned that the FDA requires hair care ingredients (including skincare) to be listed in order from highest to lowest in concentration. In other words, the further down the list, the less of that special ingredient it’ll have, and the higher up that list, the higher percentage it’ll have, and the more likely your frayed ends will be healed.

Trying to work out whether a product is being sincere with its claims should be one of the LAST things I, or any other curly, should be worrying about. The only time products have truly lived up to my expectations (which are pretty high already) and claims are when their healthiest ingredients (biotin, jojoba seed oil, avocado oil, etc.) were near the top of the ingredient list.

  • My favorite leave-in conditioner
  • Jojoba oil, Olive oil, and Biotin in the top 10 of ingredients

Now, when I see a product boasting about its stellar ingredients, I take the time to look at the back and see if these ingredients are high or low down the list. I’d rather save for the products that will make a real difference!