TotalBeauty.com average member rating: 5.6* Why: "Not only did it NOT clean my hair, [this shampoo] dried it to a Brillo pad. It's an item to bring with you on a camping trip, I suppose, but not if you intend on combing out your hair afterward. I had to reenter the shower and use half a bottle of conditioner to get my hair somewhat approachable," says a reader. Others complain about the lack of suds saying, "I had to use a lot of this to get some kind of lather in my long hair [and] it still didn't get my hair very clean." Another agrees saying, "it was pretty difficult to get enough lather to completely get my hair clean, and I ended up in the shower for way longer than I wanted to be."
TotalBeauty.com average member rating: 5.5* Why: "This has to be one of the worst shampoos I have ever used," says a reader. "Not only did it make my hair greasy and tangled, but it also did not seem to be preserving my color at all. I even used it with other products in the line: the conditioner, the color enhancing cream, etc. and all it did was stain my fingernails and towels red." One reader says, "the first (and last time) I used it my hair turned a maroon color." And another says, "after one shampoo my white towel was red from the color this shampoo stripped."
TotalBeauty.com average member rating: 5.4* Why: Readers say, "this did nothing for my color. It didn't help it last longer or brighten it and it worked so-so in terms of cleansing." Another reader says, "At first I really liked this shampoo, but maybe after three times of using it, my scalp was itchy. And I'm not allergic to any shampoos." And one woman simply warns, "beware."
TotalBeauty.com average member rating: 5.4* Why: One woman says she "thought my hair was going to fall out" after using this product. And another says, "it burns my scalp and got in my eye -- you don't want to know what that feels like." One reader says, "this bottle got tossed in the trash before my hair was dry. I'd rather live with the dandruff than to ever put myself through that again. I had a minor out-break of dandruff and, of course, decided on the one and only dandruff shampoo that I've known since the '70s. Never again. The burn that penetrated my scalp was painful and I could feel the texture of my hair disintegrate in my hands."
TotalBeauty.com average member rating: 5.3* Why: This product "smells great but doesn't do anything for color depositing like the name suggests," says a reader. Another reader says, it "doesn't really act as a coloring agent. If you use this in the shower, as most people do, prepare for a lot of brown residue on places other than [your] hair." Overall, readers say it "left my hair frizzy and stripped," and is "way too expensive for shampoo."
Of all the hair care products in your shower, your shampoo is a nonnegotiable necessity.
We all need a good lather to wash out the grime after a run or after we've employed multiple styling products. But a great shampoo (like the reader-approved hair care products on this list) should not only leave our hair soft, clean and smelling delightful, it should also help cut down post-shower styling time by priming strands for our desired style of the day.
But when the shampoo we choose to use ends up dirtying our hair instead of cleaning it, and dries it out instead of infusing it with the moisture we need -- that's when it ends up on our worst shampoos list.
Readers say these shampoos left their hair high and dry -- literally. Instead of creating soft strands, these hair care products left hair feeling "plastic-y," "waxy," and some even made readers fear that their "hair was going to fall out" due to the burning and itching feeling left behind on their scalps -- yikes! Some of these shampoos were so bad that they were "tossed in the trash before my hair was dry," or condemned to being used only on "a dog they didn't like." Curious to see which products our readers are referring to?
