Updated
Compare the job first
We group products by wash-day step: cleanser, conditioner, treatment, leave-in or styler. Recommendations are conditional on a reader job, such as a rinse-out conditioner or a leave-in that needs no rinse. They are not rankings of performance, quality or medical benefit. A porosity label alone does not decide a product match.
Product pages and directions
We compare products using their makers’ US product pages and published directions. Each full ingredient list stays with the exact product and formula its maker describes. Independent editorial pages help us understand shopper questions; their testing results and personal experiences are not our own.
Sizes and formulas stay distinct
A travel size, full-size bottle and multipack are different purchase quantities. Fluid ounces are volume; ounces by weight are mass. We do not convert mass to volume without a published density. Formula descriptions are tied to their US source. We retain genuine gaps rather than filling them from another region or variant.
The fragrance filter looks for Fragrance or Parfum in the maker’s US ingredient list. Not finding it doesn’t make a product safe for an allergy, and a product without a published ingredient list is left out of both yes and no. The protein and silicone rows repeat the ingredient names as listed, such as Hydrolyzed Keratin or Amodimethicone; an empty row doesn’t mean the product is protein-free or silicone-free. These labels do not predict how a formula will perform.
The label checker and the ingredient filter match complete names, ignoring capitals, extra spaces and the marks some labels put beside organic ingredients (*, †). They keep commas inside parentheses together. Two names count as one ingredient only when the European Commission’s CosIng register gives both the same entry, as it does for Water and Aqua; we don’t guess other synonyms. The functions shown beside a name are what the register lists it for in any cosmetic, not what it does in one formula. A name we can’t match stays unmatched rather than guessed, and a match isn’t a safety or performance rating.
Updated sources and formula changes
Each product’s label, sizes and directions come from the maker’s own page for that exact formula, and the Sources page in the footer links every one. They describe a particular formula rather than a moving price, so they carry their source rather than a date; but makers do reformulate, resize and reword their directions, and when we find a change we update the product or mark it as changed. A product the maker no longer sells is marked separately. The ingredient list on your package always wins over ours.
Prices are different: where a maker sells on its own store, we show its list price for each size we list, with the day we read it, and work out the price per ounce from it. We read those prices again every week; a price that changes shows the one before it, and a store that does not answer keeps its last price and date. Shops and the maker’s own sales may charge more or less. Makers that sell only through other shops have no price here.
What the comparison does not measure
We have not run hands-on product tests, measured conditioning or hold, diagnosed porosity, or tested ingredient sensitivities. We do not assign efficacy scores or infer a medical result from ingredients. Products marketed for hair loss or scalp conditions are outside this buying guide.
Corrections and commercial independence
Merchant relationships never affect comparison order or product facts. Some Amazon product links earn a commission; maker source links do not. Compensated links are disclosed beside the buying choices. To report a wrong or changed detail, use the contact page and name the product and a public maker source.
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