Almost all of us need to use hair shampoo (and conditioner), and it’s a product that we tend to use pretty frequently. However, get the wrong one and it doesn’t only negatively affect your hair. If your hair is dull, lank or flyaway because you haven’t chosen the right hair product, it can affect your mood too!
This Body Shop Shampoo Review can help you decide if these products are right for you.
I have not received free products or payment from the Body Shop for this review.
Summary of my Body Shop Shampoo Review
Both the Ginger and the Shea shampoos and conditioners are high quality products that address different types of hair and scalp conditions. Both are available in environmentally-friendly refill bottles, and do their respective jobs very effectively.
Read my full Body Shop Shampoo Review if you would like more detail.
Pros
Cons
Need more information?
If you’d like to find out more about these products, read my full Body Shop Shampoo Review to see my take on the pros and cons.
Largely vegan, and completely cruelty-free
This is an absolute must for me. I will not knowingly use a product that contains animal ingredients, or that is tested on animals.
The Body Shop is accredited as cruelty-free by PETA and has the Leaping Bunny certification too. As a business, The Body Shop has never tested on animals and is an active campaigner on these issues too, trying to ensure that animal-testing is abolished worldwide.
Fortunately, both the Shea and the Ginger Haircare products are completely vegan as well as being cruelty-free. It is very easy to filter on their website for vegan products, and I have always found the in-store staff to be really knowledgeable on this subject too.
However, not all of The Body Shop’s products are vegan, so you need to be careful if this is important to you. Some products contain beeswax, honey, lanolin and even shellac (an insect secretion). The Body Shop are keen to state that they have not created any new products with lanolin or shellac, and are aiming to eventually remove all animal-derived ingredients EXCEPT for honey and beeswax.
Effective and easy to wash out
Let’s take the Shea shampoo and conditioner first.
Designed to repair and protect dry and damaged hair, the Shea range of haircare products look, smell and feel like luxuriant products. Both the shampoo and conditioner are thick and creamy which might make you think they are difficult to rinse out, but not so!
When my hair has been dry and brittle (I do a bit of swimming in the sea and in chlorinated pools), I have found that the Shea shampoo and conditioner really work miracles. My hair feels rehydrated, and because of the creamy texture of the conditioner, I can comb it through without causing more damage.
Because I have very fine, straight(ish) hair though, I find the product a little too heavy for normal use. I prefer to only wash my hair every 3 days, but tend to find that it needs washing again on the 2nd day with this because it gets a bit lank.
I don’t think this would be a problem though for someone with thicker, or curly hair. So, I reserve its use for times when I really need it.
Moving onto the Ginger shampoo and conditioner, I find I can use this range all the time, even when I don’t have an itchy or flaky scalp. I really love the fragrance too, which isn’t too strong, but definitely gingery!
It has a lovely, cooling feeling when you first use it and again, can be applied and rinsed out very easily. I am also able to leave my hair for 3-4 days between washes which is great.
My partner uses this product now too. Previously, he had used T-Gel to treat dandruff but that is quite a strong product that is also not vegan or cruelty-free. He has found the Body Shop Ginger range actually more effective, and kinder to his scalp.
Environmentally-friendly, refillable range
The Body Shop is promoting a range of their products that are refillable at many of their stores.
So, providing you don’t have to travel too far to get to the shop, or are going to that area regularly anyway, this is a very environmentally-friendly purchase.
The aluminium bottles are hardwearing, attractive to look at and can ultimately be recycled themselves if the need arose.
It is important to ensure that you clean the bottles thoroughly before you get them refilled though. The store staff are under strict instruction not to refill a bottle that hasn’t been cleaned properly, presumably because of some sort of cross-contamination issue.
It’s a shame they aren’t yet extending this to a wider range of their products, but maybe they are waiting to see how successful it is. I guess there must be a fair amount of investment involved to make this happen.
Still using some less 'natural' ingredients
By their own admission, The Body Shop does not claim to be creating completely natural products.
However, they have removed the use of things like microbeads, they don’t use Methylisothiazolinone (a controversial preservative) and state that their aim is to use natural ingredients wherever possible.
The Shea and Ginger haircare products for example contain 96% and 90% natural ingredients respectively. Unfortunately, they still use some forms of silicone, although these are more ingredients that they plan to phase out.
So, when you dig around in their FAQs, you do find that there are some ingredients used that, although considered safe, may have some environmental concerns. However, all The Body Shop’s stated aims are to improve in all these areas.
I believe The Body Shop is committed to doing this and I will watch with interest over the next 12 months or so.
Give your hair a treat today!
Conclusion from my Body Shop Shampoo Review
I really like The Body Shop products, and their haircare ranges are no exception.
It’s a shame that they are not completely ‘natural’ products, but they certainly avoid some of the nastier ingredients that you sometimes see in other brands of personal care products. They also have clearly stated aims about the ingredients they want to improve on.
From an environmental perspective, The Body Shop seem to be doing their bit. They use recycled, and recyclable plastic packaging, create some products that are packaged in cardboard and paper, and some in aluminium. They also offer refills across some ranges.
Strangely, I am old enough to remember when The Body Shop originally offered refills in-store (many years ago!). Presumably, it became unsustainable at the time.
Hopefully, they have now come up with better processes and products to ensure this can become a permanent feature. However, it takes two to tango as they say, and refill stations are great, providing people use them. I think they’re a great idea but I know some people find it all a bit inconvenient.
I hope we all realise the price we will pay if we don’t start making more of an effort to use these solutions.
Overall, in spite of the improvements I have talked about in this Body Shop Shampoo Review, I like using their products, I think their website is very user-friendly, and the majority of in store staff have been helpful too.
I would happily recommend these products to anyone. They may be a little pricier than the standard haircare products you buy in the supermarket, but I believe the quality (and the environmental commitment) of The Body Shop products are worth paying for.
Where can you buy Body Shop Shampoo?
You can buy all Body Shop products direct from their online shop.
I hope you have found this Body Shop Shampoo Review helpful. If you would like to read more of my product reviews and guides, visit my Lifestyle page.
Natura & Co, a Brazilian Personal Care Cosmetics Group, has owned The Body Shop since 2017, when it completed its purchase of the business from L’Oreal. Natura also own brands like Avon.
The Body Shop was originally founded in the UK in 1976 by Anita Roddick who sold it to L’Oreal in 2006.
You can find out more about The Body Shop’s slightly chequered history on Wikipedia.
