fuck you, Nature's Gate

[tisiphone]

So, the shampoo I use is Nature's Gate Daily Herbal Shampoo. I've used this shampoo since, I am not even kidding, I was like eight. This week when I went to buy shampoo, I find that it is now NEW AND IMPROVED with seven botanical hair enhancers! Panthenol, borage oil, jojoba, a bunch of other junk - I'm unenthused but it doesn't seem deadly so I buy it anyway. Girl's gotta wash her hair, right?

Well. I went to use it this morning, and it's awful. It's the consistency of phlegm - I had to double-check to make sure I didn't accidentally buy the conditioner. It weighed my hair down something fierce, and now I look like something out of the bad-trip half of the Sixties. Worst of all, though? The thing that makes me inclined to abandon it entirely instead of sticking it out and seeing if it will work eventually? They took away the sweet-herbal scent (which I think was mostly yarrow, rosemary and lavender) and have replaced it with the chemical scent of paraffin wax. Instead of like a sunny garden, my hair smells like a fucking dollar store candle. I can smell it even though I spritzed my hair with Lust in an effort to get rid of it. I might as well have used Pantene - I could have had the same lousy results for half the price!

It's official, Nature' Gate. I fucking hate you and what you've done to my shampoo. And also, I have no clue what I'm going to wash my hair in now. I used that shampoo because everything else I ever tried sucked.

This has ruined my whole day. I'm going to be sulky and crabby all day because of it. In conclusion, grr.

Comments

[erik]

This is indirectly why I make my own soap: Dr Bronner's "improved" their formula after like a million years to include hemp oil, and I don't fancy smelling like a hippie.

[tisiphone.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I'm allergic to hemp, so Dr. Bronner's is out for me, too. Ugh.

[owlfish]

Frustrating as it is, I am impressed your brand lasted intact for so very long! My attempts at product loyalty when it comes to shampoo usually are undermined within a year or two.

[tisiphone.livejournal.com]

Well, they changed it a few years ago, but not enough to make me stop using it. This is a step too far though.

[catness.livejournal.com]

Augh, every product I use does this. Everything that works perfectly or smells good gets EOLd entirely or "updated" into something that is useless and drives animals into hiding. It's so UNBELIEVABLY annoying.

I have this crazy bi-racial hair which needs specific products to condition or detangle (very different things), and while not exactly an allergy, a HUGE sensitivity to scents that can prevent me from being able to sing and can sometimes make me sick for 3 or 4 days if I can't get a perfumey/alcoholy scent off me right away. (I have to be really careful who touches me when they have strong colognes or hair/skin products, and I get hugged by probably 2 dozen people every time I go somewhere that has live music.) I condition my hair every day in the shower to get out the tangles. However, I don't use shampoo at all for my hair, because it messes it up plus adds an extra scent to me that I don't want; my hairdresser washes my hair every 3-4 weeks for me and that's the only time it happens. She has a nice apple smelling thing that doesn't hurt my mucous membranes.

A couple of years ago I took digital photographs of about 45 hair conditioners that I had kicking around my house, in order to try to identify what was the same about the ones that worked and throw out or donate the useless products. I was only partially through the project when Pantene solved it for me by changing one of the only reliable low-cost solutions I'd found - their HydraCurl conditioner. Their packaging had changed a couple of times without changing the product, but this time the product did, and it was awful. Comparing old and new labels led me to the solution: cyclopentasiloxane. In general, any product that has this works on my hair as a conditioner *and* a detangler, and products that don't... don't. There are other things that are just as good for conditioning (especially in the POC sections of markets) but they are not good for detangling, and I have dreadlocks every single day so the detangling is crucial. Every natural product I've tried ends up like I've fried eggs in my hair and now I have to get it out strand by strand.

Anyway, blah blah blah... all good things get destroyed by DESIRE FOR BETTER MARKET SHARE. Seething hate.

[tisiphone.livejournal.com]

We're like, hair opposites! My hair is incredibly fine, I only use conditioner once a month or so unless it gets long enough to tangle (which is why I keep it short, because then I have to choose between enormous rat's nests and American Gothic.) I totally hear you about the stupid products though, it's insane.

[yix.livejournal.com]

One of the things that they sometimes do is to re-market their old product with a new name after they change the formula of the original product.

I've written letters about this sort of thing, but it never helps.

[tisiphone.livejournal.com]

I wrote a letter. I don't think it will help, but it made me feel better.

[cinema-babe.livejournal.com]

Ugh, I had this happen a few moths ago with Aussie brand products. I chemically relax my hair so getting just the right mix of soft but not goopy is a balancing act.

A couple of suggetions if you're motivated.
1. You can write to them as see if they still make the old formula but have slapped a different name on it. A lot of companies will "Old Coke" a product.

2.If there is a shampoo you are interested in buying I'd try emailing the company and tell them that you are shopping around for a new brand of shampoo and ask them if they have any sample they can send you so you can test their product.

Good luck in finding something new!

[tisiphone.livejournal.com]

Arg, Aussie. I love the way their products smell, if only they would stop tinkering with them!

[noveldevice.livejournal.com]

Your hair texture is a lot different than mine, so who knows, but I have used two different shampoo/conditioner pairs in a brand called "Live Clean" that I've been pretty happy with. I used to use Organix but they did something to it and it started irritating my scalp. I'm currently using their argan oil, and it's really nice.

[tisiphone.livejournal.com]

I can't use the Organix, it's too waxy (basically anything that leaves residue at all is too heavy for me). I haven't seen the Live Clean stuff. I can use some Aveda, it's just hard to find and I don't want to spend $30 a bottle on shampoo if I can avoid it!

[taldragon.livejournal.com]

have you found a UK shampoo you're happy with?

[tisiphone.livejournal.com]

Nope.

[mhaille.livejournal.com]

I have no helpful product advice, because my hair is a totally different beast than yours (prone to dryness, frizz, and OMGWTF fork inna light socket volume), but I share your ARGH.

You know what worked awesome? Dreadlocks. Dreadlocks and wonderful LUSH bath bombs to soak them in.

[zinnea.livejournal.com]

I feel your pain. I have had this happen to me more than once and it really sucks.