Are Design Essentials shampoos any good for your locs? Design Essentials can be a good brand to use on your locs. However, there are some things to keep in mind. Take a look at these four shampoos from Design Essentials, and as a bonus – info on one of their popular conditioners.
About Design Essentials
Design Essentials is a premium black owned hair brand. Many of their products are lightweight and contain familiar ingredients like Aloe Vera, Henna, Peppermint etc. Moreover, their products are used in salons as well. Outside of salons and their website, you can find their products in most places including: Amazon, Target, Walmart, Ulta, etc
Take a look below at these popular shampoos from Design Essentials and how they stack up against each other.
Design Essential Shampoos
Design essentials has a few major shampoo products popular within the loc community.
Peppermint & Aloe Therapeutics Anti-Itch Shampoo
This Design Essentials shampoo is good to use if you have dandruff. Something people may not know though is that there was an ingredient switch here, so there may be two versions floating around. The original Design Essentials anti-itch shampoo is a medicated shampoo with pyrithione zinc. However, they changed the formula to not have any active ingredients.
Here is a prior listing from February 2023 that had the past formula with pyrithione zinc. If you want this version, make sure the one you purchase and the one you receive have pyrithione zinc as the active ingredient. Amazon has the one with the active ingredient.
- Cleansing Agent: sulfates (medicated version uses Sodium Lauryl Sulfate)
- Pros: medicated version has proven ingredients to fight dandruff
- Cons: unannounced ingredient change, new product not as effective at fighting dandruff, aloe is far down the ingredient list (10th)
Top 5 Ingredients: Water, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Coca-midopropyl Betaine, Cocamidopropylamine Oxide, Propylene Glycol
Oat Protein & Henna Deep Cleansing Shampoo
This is another popular shampoo product. It is a cleansing product and uses sulfates as its main cleansing agents. Oat protein is 12th in the ingredient list and henna is 15th, which is quite low.
- Cleansing Agent: sulfates (Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate)
- Pros: strong cleansing power, smells good, moisturizing
- Cons: oat and henna ingredients are far down the ingredient list
Top 5 Ingredients: Aqua/Water/Eau, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Coca-midopropyl Betaine, Lauramide MEA
Honey Creme Moisture Retention Super Detangling Conditioning Shampoo
The honey creme is known for softening hair and having a quick lather. This could be a good choice for mature locs that are very dry and brittle. Some use this Deign Essentials shampoo almost as a conditioner after the Oat and Henna or Peppermint shampoo.
- Cleansing Agent: sulfate free (Sodium C14-16 Olefin Sulfonate)
- Pros: gentle, detangling for matted locs
- Cons: may cause build up
Top 5 Ingredients: Water/Aqua/Eau, Sodium C14-16 Olefin Sulfonate, Cocamidopropyl Hydroxysultaine, Acetamide MEA, Propylene Glycol, Polyquaternium-7
Almond & Avocado Moisturizing & Detangling Sulfate-Free Shampoo
This is a very gentle shampoo that is typically used for moisturizing and detangling. This is best for mature locs and can be great for detangling lightly matted locs at the root.
- Cleansing Agent: sulfate free (Sodium C14-16 Olefin Sulfonate)
- Pros: gentle, detangling for matted locs
- Cons: the avocado oil and almond appease very low down the ingredient list. That means there is barely any in there, which I dislike given the product is named after those ingredients. In fact, they are the 15th and 16th ingredient respectively out of 20 ingredients. That is very far down. Moreover, the almond oil isn’t even listed as a complete line item! Instead, it is listed together with vegetable oil (Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (and) Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil). Lastly, these ingredients are far below even fragrance (12th ingredient).
Top 5 Ingredients: Deionized Water, Sodium C14-16 Olefin Sulfonate, Cocamidopropylhydroxysultaine, Acetamide MEA, Polyquaternium-7
BONUS Rosemary & Mint Stimulating Super Moisturizing Conditioner
As from the name, this is actually not a shampoo, but instead a conditioner. I don’t really recommend conditioners on your locs. However, there are so many positive reviews from locers that use this product I wanted to mention it. Thus, if you already use a conditioner and are looking to sub it out, you can check it out. There are some caveats here though. The biggest is that the second ingredient is mineral oil. Many avoid it given it is a cheap petroleum based oil. This product could also cause buildup in your locs.
- Pros: good for detangling matted locs
- Cons: Rosemary is very far down the list (19th!). Even further down below fragrance, which I think shows how little rosemary there is. Contains mineral oil. May cause buildup.
Top 5 Ingredients: Aqua/Water/Eau, Paraffinum Liquidum, Polyquaternium-32, PPG-1 Trideceth-6, Glycerin
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There are many other products from Design Essentials that are super popular. However, I hesitate recommending them given it’s important to be careful of product buildup in your locs. As for the ones above, they can work for you. However, I find the key ingredients portion to be a bit misleading. The reviews are great and the ingredients for the most part for the shampoos are fine.
Overall, I think some Design Essentials can be a buy for locs, but I would not buy them for their “key ingredients.” You’re likely better off just buying some of the essential oils/ingredients listed if you really want to smooth those through your locs. The best products by ingredients I’d recommend are the Oat and Henna or the medicated version of Peppermint shampoo. Those ones have strong cleansing agents, which is great for locs.
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