The water in my apartment is so hard that it leaves mineral deposits on my sink and bathtub—and it’s also the bane of my hair’s existence. It makes my hair feel dull and oily, no matter how often I wash it. I recently bought a bottle of CLR cleaner and it’s been a game changer. But unfortunately, solving the problem for my hair is a more complicated matter. After all, I can’t just spray some CLR cleaner on my hair and call it a day. I never realized how good I had it back in New York City, where the water definitely agreed with my hair and scalp. The last time I took a trip to NYC, I realized just how much shinier and more manageable my hair felt while I was there. When I came back, I missed that feeling so much. Anyway, since I became aware of this problem, I’ve tried many hair products that claim to help remove buildup from hair, but sadly, none of them work as well as going to my parents' house to take a shower, since they have soft water in their home. Today, I’d like to write about a product that REALLY did not work for me: Azure Buildup Balancing Hemp & ACV Conditioner.

Acure Buildup Balancing Hemp & ACV Conditioner ingredients

water, cetearyl alcohol, glycerin, glyceryl stearate, stearalkonium chloride, behentrimonium chloride, sorbitan olivate, cetearyl glucoside, panthenol, tocopheryl acetate, cannabis sativa seed oil, apple cider vinegar, rubus fruticosus (blackberry) fruit extract, chamomilla recutita (matricaria) flower extract, euterpe oleracea fruit extract, rosa canina fruit extract, calendula officinalis flower extract, aspalathus linearis leaf extract, punica granatum extract, argania spinosa kernel oil, theobroma cacao (cocoa) seed butter, arginine, lactic acid, sodium levulinate, guar hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride, cetyl alcohol, isopropyl alcohol, potassium sorbate, sodium hydroxide

My Dad the Chemist’s review of Acure Buildup Balancing Hemp & ACV Conditioner

Dear Emily, if the main purpose of this conditioner is to remove the buildup from hair, this is a bad formula, glycerin, sorbitan olivate, cannabis sativa seed oil and theobroma cacao (cocoa) seed butter may make hair more combable but would leave oily after feel especially with glycerin would make your hair feel oily and sticky.

Love

Dad

Acure Buildup Balancing Hemp & ACV Conditioner review

My dad thinks that Acure Buildup Balancing Hemp & ACV Conditioner probably has too much glycerin in the formula. Glycerin in and of itself isn’t a problem in conditioners—it only becomes a problem when it’s too prominent in the formula. That, combined with oils and cocoa seed butter, just spelled disaster for my hair and scalp.

I have very coarse, dull hair that needs as much help as it can get…and the hard water in my apartment certainly doesn’t do it any favors. A lot of clarifying hair products, including this one, tout apple cider vinegar as a main ingredient. But in this case, it really backfired. The first time I used it, my hair felt extremely oily and heavy, almost as if I hadn’t washed it at all. I used it a couple more times after that just to confirm that it was the culprit, and it was. I usually try to finish using the products I buy, but I just couldn’t bring myself to continue using this particular product. I bought it on sale at Bristol Farms, so at least I didn’t pay full price for this extremely disappointing product.

This conditioner doesn’t really smell like apple cider vinegar, which is great. It’s also fragrance-free. However, it doesn’t do what it claims to do: remove buildup from hair. I also didn’t think it helped detangle my hair very much, which is the bare minimum requirement of any decent conditioner, in my opinion.

I discovered that using a rinse of 1 part apple cider vinegar to 3 parts water helped clarify my hair a lot better than this conditioner. I would suggest giving it a try! The only downside of using this homemade concoction is that it’s so liquidy that it’s hard to find a way to pour it all over scalp without getting some on your face, which stings a bit because of the vinegar. You should also be cautious about avoiding the eye area as much as possible. It definitely seemed to help make my hair look shinier and softer than it normally does.

I also found another conditioner that works much better than this one. It’s also a fragrance-free conditioner. It’s actually a very similar formula, but it doesn’t leave my hair feeling oilier than when I started. Hooray! I’ll post the review of that conditioner soon (spoiler alert: it’s this), but until then, I recommend staying far, far away from Acure Buildup Balancing Hemp & ACV Conditioner.

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