Mineral sunscreen, conditioner, and hand lotion are the top three types of products I buy all the time. I’m pretty loyal to a product once I find a version I like, but I’m not afraid to try other brands every now and then just to see if something better has appeared on the horizon. Conditioner is a particularly tricky one because I find that my hair’s needs depend on the environment. When I lived in NYC, I didn’t really need any special conditioner to detangle my hair. Now that I live in a place with a much drier climate, and have hard water in my apartment, I can’t just use any old conditioner and expect my hair to behave. I need something that effectively softens and detangles my hair. So I’ve tried many conditioners since I moved here, and I’m happy to share that I think I’ve finally found a favorite: Honest Company Fragrance Free Conditioner. It’s widely available, affordable, and extremely effective. And as a bonus, it’s fragrance free and suitable for sensitive scalps.

Honest Company Fragrance Free Conditioner ingredients

water, cetearyl alcohol, glycerin, behentrimonium chloride, ethylhexyl palmitate, aloe barbadensis leaf juice, argania spinosa kernel oil, butyrospermum parkii (shea) butter, simmondsia chinensis (jojoba) seed oil, calendula officinalis flower extract, chamomilla recutita (matricaria) flower extract, cocos nucifera (coconut) fruit extract, sodium chloride, caprylyl glycol, cetyl esters, hydroxyethylcellulose, panthenol, hydroxypropyl guar hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride, caprylhydroxamic acid, citric acid, sodium hydroxide, isopropyl alcohol, alcohol

My Dad the Chemist’s review of Honest Company Fragrance Free Conditioner

Here’s what my dad had to say when I asked him why I might prefer the Honest Company conditioner as opposed to the Acure one:

Dear Emily, very good question! These two formulas are very similar to each other, I think the good conditioner may be a more balanced formula which contains less amount of glycerin or/and uses Butyrospermum Pakii(Shea) Butter instead of theobroma cacao (cocoa) seed butter as one of the conditioning wax. Shea butter is not oily or sticky but Cocoa butter is sticky and oily. The amount of Glycerin in the hair conditioner formula should be < 2% , otherwise it may leave a sticky of oily after feel on hair.

Love, Dad

At first glance, the ingredient list looks very similar to the one for Acure Buildup Balancing Hemp & ACV Conditioner, which I really did not like. They both contain glycerin, panthenol, and chamomilla recutita (matricaria) flower extract. But as far as oils and other extracts go, this one contains shea butter, jojoba seed oil, coconut fruit extract, and matricaria extract, whereas the Acure version had a lot of other oils like cocoa seed butter (which my dad thought was contributing to the oily residue I found on my hair after using that particular conditioner). Acure’s product also has cannabis sativa seed oil, apple cider vinegar, blackberry fruit extract, argan oil, and a few other fruit extracts that might just not agree with my scalp.

My dad made a few great points that I’ll have to keep in mind next time I’m shopping for a hair product. One is that shea butter is not oily and sticky, while cocoa seed butter is. So from now on, I’m going to avoid hair products that contain cocoa seed butter. He also mentioned that even though glycerin can and does get used in many hair products, it’s important that it is less than 2 percent of the formula—otherwise, it might leave your hair feeling too oily afterward if you already have oily hair like me. If you have dry hair, maybe you don’t have to worry about this so much. Of course, this isn’t really something you can determine just by scanning the ingredient list, but I thought it was still interesting to keep in mind.

Honest Company Fragrance Free Conditioner review

I love everything about Honest Company Fragrance Free Conditioner, from the pump it comes in to the way my hair feels after using it. I only apply it to the bottom section of my hair, and use about two pumps for my shoulder-length hair. I like the consistency of this conditioner. It’s not too thick or runny—it’s just right for distributing through the ends of my hair. And once I apply it, I can tell right away that my hair is getting detangled. After I rinse it out, my tresses feel silkier and softer, even though I’m still battling that atrocious hard water I mentioned in my previous post. It makes me feel very pampered to treat myself to a conditioner like this.

This product is also completely fragrance free, and it doesn’t actually smell like much of anything at all. Sometimes fragrance-free products can have a “chemical” sort of smell from the natural scent of the ingredients, without any fragrances to mask that odor. This one truly doesn’t have much of an odor at all, which is nice. I think Honest Company makes other versions of this conditioner that come in fragrances like lavender, but I haven’t tried those so I can’t confirm that they work just as well. I just know that I’m going to be stocking up on this conditioner just in case (heaven forbid) it ever gets discontinued. It has quickly usurped all of my other previous favorite conditioners, such as Odele Fragrance-free Conditioner and The Seaweed Bath Co. Moisturizing Unscented Argan Conditioner. It’s also very affordable! Drugstore-tier price, salon-quality vibes. I love it.

I haven’t tried many other Honest Company products, but now I’m interested in seeing what else this company has to offer.

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• Acure Buildup Balancing Hemp & ACV Conditioner review
• Odele Fragrance-free Conditioner review
• Whole Foods Fragrance-free Conditioner Review + Product Comparison: How does it stack up against its peers?
• Desert Essence Fragrance-Free Conditioner Review: A nourishing treat for your hair
• The Seaweed Bath Co. Moisturizing Unscented Argan Conditioner