Paraben Free, Gluten Free, & Sulfate Free Shampoo & Conditioner Ingredients

Our commitment to the highest standard of hair care product safety for bio:renew shampoos and conditioners.

At Herbal Essences, securing and maintaining your trust is our most important job. And we’ve been committed to upholding your trust for over 46 years (a job we do not take lightly!).

As we’ve worked to have even more open conversations with you, it’s clear that many of you are asking about the ingredients in our products. At Herbal Essences, we’ve always believed you deserve a safe hair product experience.

And while your definition of what is safe has evolved over time, our commitment to continuing to raise the bar on your safety has not wavered. This is not a one-person job. In fact we work with external scientists, regulatory agencies and internal experts on new safety methods. We are committed to continuing to make our products effective and safe and provide Paraben Free, Gluten Free, and Sulfate Free shampoo and conditioner hair care options for you.

Bio Renew Shampoo Ingredients We Avoid

The ingredients listed below are those relevant to our bio:renew shampoos and conditioners. There are other ingredients not used in Herbal Essences bio:renew that we did NOT capture here as they are not relevant to our products. All Herbal Essences bio:renew traditional shampoos and crème rinse conditioners are formulated to meet the ingredient standards of the Cosmetics Directive of the European Union Commission. This EU regulations exclude over 1,300 ingredients from personal care and beauty products.

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  • BHA
  • Coal tar hair dyes and other coal tar ingredients
  • DEA
  • Mineral oil
  • No added pthlatates (DBP, DEHPDEP and others)
  • Paraffins
  • Parabens
  • Toulene
  • Colorants
  • Known food allergens not used:
  • Egg Derivatives
  • Milk Derivatives
  • Gluten Free
  • Barley
  • Rye
  • Soy Derivatives
  • Fish or Shellfish

Herbal takes your safety so seriously that our standards meet or exceed what is actually required by law. We validate each ingredient and product’s safety through a four-step scientific evidence based process. This process is based on how many regulatory agencies and scientific groups around the world ensure safety, like the European Union Commision, the World Health Organization and the National Academy of Sciences.

An ingredient will only make its way into our product if it is within the Safe Range. If an ingredient doesn’t fall within the Safe Range, it is simply not used! And if an ingredient’s origin, long-term or sourcing impact is in question, we will find alternatives as we’re committed to sustainability and responsible sourcing. An example is how we select our botanical ingredients. Every botanical must be in compliance with CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) to ensure we are protecting and conserving precious natural resources. While we have committed to formulate without the following ingredients, there can be incidental, trace levels due to the complexities of the supply chain and manufacturing process. We work incredibly hard to minimize any trace materials through on-going monitoring and quality checks.

For more information on what’s in our products, please check out our ingredient list which explains why each and every ingredient is included.

In addition to the ingredients we avoid in our shampoo and hair products listed above; we are working to share our specific fragrance formulations for Herbal Essences bio:renew collections with you. Our first example is the Arabica Coffee Fruit fragrance with ingredients listed in alphabetical order down to 0.01% in the product.

Arabica Coffee Fruit Fragrance

Ethyl Hydroxypyrone

Sweet caramel aroma also found in a wide number of other foods and product fragrances.

Ethyl Vanillin

Vanilla aroma also found in a wide number of other foods and product fragrances.

Ethylene Brassylate

Woody musk aroma also found in a wide number of other foods and product fragrances.

Hexylcinnamal

Fresh, green aroma also found in cinnamon, a wide number of other foods and product fragrances.

Linalool

Citrus aroma also found in citrus fruits, coriander, thyme, a wide number of other foods and product fragrances.

Methyldihydro-jasmonate

Nuanced citrus aroma also found in tea (black tea), and a wide number of other foods and Nuanced citrus a product fragrances.

Oxacyclohexadecen-2-one

Powdery, musk aroma also found in a wide number of product fragrances.

Triethyl Citrate

Plum-like aroma also found in cabbage, many other foods and product fragrances.

See the list of all ingredients excluded from our fragrances

*While most of these ingredients would never be used in personal care products, we have heard your questions and are providing this detailed list of what we do not use because we want to be transparent with you.