My Honest Kristin Ess Shampoo Review

I’m on a journey to find the absolute best shampoo and conditioner with clean ingredients. I kept hearing the brand Kristin Ess everywhere and how amazing it is. So I gave it a try and here’s my Kristin Ess shampoo review.

Would I recommend it?

★★★

 Some links may be affiliate links which means if you choose to make a purchase, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks for your support!

No. After using this once, I liked how it made my hair feel – soft, nourished, and hydrated. But when I took a deeper look into the ingredients, I was not too happy about it. There were many potentially skin-sensitizing ingredients.

The Good

Left my hair feeling nourished and smooth.
I love the packaging. The product was easy to squeeze out.

Considerations

Not-so-clean ingredients – however better than conventional brands.
Slightly expensive.

check price

What I think of The Products

For some context, I have long, straight undyed hair. I have somewhat dry hair and my scalp gets oily quickly and gets a bit flakey too.

My hair usually gets oily on the 2nd day of no wash. When I used this shampoo and conditioner, I felt oil building up and the need to wash it on the 3rd day.

The bottle has a disc top and it was extremely easy to squeeze out the product.

Kristin Ess Shampoo Review

I like how the shampoo is quite thick. Since it’s quite concentrated, I didn’t feel the need to put too much on my hair. That was good because my bottle of shampoo could last longer. There was lather but I wish it had more.

The shampoo is described as being “lightly clarifying, high lathering, and enhances shine”. Besides enhancing shine, I found the other two qualities to be accurate.

The scent of the shampoo was good but not my favorite. It had a kind of sweet floral plus a subtle chemical scent.

kristin ess shampoo — How my hair looked after using Kristin Ess shampoo & conditioner

Kristin Ess Conditioner Review

I liked the conditioner but it didn’t feel too different than most other conditioners I’ve used. It made my hair feel soft and moisturized. I only applied conditioner to my ends and since the product was quite thick, I was able to just use a small amount.

The conditioner is described as being weightlessly moisturizing, smoothing, softening, and shine renewing. It didn’t give my hair too much extra shine but it did moisturize, smooth, and soften.

The scent was very similar to the shampoo. It’s not my favorite.

The Cost

The Kristin Ess Signature Shampoo and Signature Conditioner cost $11 each.

I consider this price to not be too expensive for a shampoo and conditioner. But definitely not the price of drugstore ones. Target even sells 2oz travel-size bottles for $4.99.

Sustainability

Their sustainability efforts could be improved.

The bottles are No.4 recyclable which means they can be recycled but it’s not easy to. Some recycling centers don’t accept it. Using a No.1 or No.2 plastic bottle could be a better choice since they can be recycled much more easily.

Is It Non-Toxic?

I was happy with the product and I wanted to keep using it but unfortunately, the ingredients are not very clean.

Shampoo

There is phenoxyethanol which can cause skin irritation for people with sensitive skin. It’s common in many personal care products, even clean ones. I wish it wasn’t.

There’s also PEG-12 dimethicone which is technically one of the few PEGs that are safe to use. However, it has the risk of being contaminated with ingredients like 1-4 dioxane which is a known carcinogen.

Conditioner

There are more PEGs in the conditioner. Some are them are PEG-8, PEG-14, and PEG-33. They’re all considered safe according to the FDA. However, they can potentially be contaminated with 1-4 dioxane.

There are also Methylchloriosiothaiazoline and methylisothiazolinone which are preservatives that can cause allergic reactions for those with sensitive skin. They’re not toxic if you don’t have sensitive skin but I still like to avoid them if possible.

Both the shampoo and conditioner have “fragrance” high in the ingredient list. For shampoo, it’s the 4th ingredient, and for conditioner, it’s the 3rd. The fragrance is also undisclosed so we don’t know if it might irritate skin.

My Recommendation

Not a buy. The products didn’t absolutely “wow” me but they definitely were effective. However, I just can’t get over the fact that ingredients have so many potential skin irritants. They do have another shampoo and conditioner that’s supposed to be the cleaner version and fragrance-free. I have yet to give that one a try!

view on target

view on amazon

That’s all for my Kristin Ess shampoo review! What do you think of it?

RELATED POSTS: