Product Review: Redken Extreme Shampoo

Here is a lovely example where the marketing lingo surrounding products can prevent you from getting the best possible product: this shampoo, even though it's marketed as an ultra gentle anti-drying shampoo for super damaged hair, is actually harsher and more drying than the color protection shampoo in the same line. So even those who don't color, would likely experience better results with the Color Extend product. Ironic isn't it? The product's ingredients are almost identical (usually the case), but using it completely shows the difference in concentration. Both are relatively sudsy, rinse nice and clean, and don't leave the hair feeling like straw post-use. However, the straw feeling is more present with the use of the Extreme shampoo, along with slightly more suds. Which is all the explanation required, really.

I personally like the scent of this one a little bit better, it's a bit of a warmer, more dessert like smell. But both are fairly light considering they're hair products and neither lingers on the hair, so it hardly matters in the long run. However there are a lot of people for whom the pleasurable experience of washing their hair absolutely must be capped off with a scent they like, which is why 99.9% of hair products on the market are scented. If you are one of those, and if you like products with light, somewhat floral, somewhat citrusy, somewhat vanilla like, you will most likely love this.

Ingredients:

1. Aqua/Water: To ensure liquidity of product
2. Sodium Laureth Sulfate: As described in the review for the Redken Color Extend Shampoo, this is one of the gentlest options for cleansing hair, especially when it's concentrated below a certain percentage and mixed with milder co-surfactants. Whether hair is colored, dry, damaged, long, curly, chemically altered etc etc etc, in all cases, milder cleansing systems are better for hair. This one is just slightly more concentrated than the color extend.
3. Coco-betaine: Ultra-gentle co-surfactant which helps the SLS foam and clean, while making the overall product gentler.
4. Glycol distearate: Emollient/emulsifier which helps the product rinse clean from hair while still helping prevent the shampoo from defatting the hair too much.
5. Sodium chloride: Regular table salt, thickens the formula
6. Dimethicone: Limits foam capacity, while increasing the conditioning of the product
7. Parfum/Fragrance: My God this stuff smells nice
8. Cocamide MIPA: Surfactant, thickener and emulsifier
9. Sodium benzoate: Preservative
10. Hexylene glycol: Solvent, which helps create the perfect texture
11. Salicylic acid: pH is likely too basic for this to work as a scalp exfoliant and off course a higher concentration would be needed anyway
12. Guar hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride: Cationic conditioning agent
13. Carbomer: The ultimate thickener
14. Cetyl alcohol: Emollient, emulsifier, thickener
15. Behentrimonium methosulfate: Well HELLO lover. This is the gentlest possible conditioning agent on the planet and it's INCREDIBLY effective.
16. Quaternium-33: Cationic conditioning ingredient
17. Benzyl benzoate: Fragrance
18. Limonene: More scent
19. Arginine: An amino acid/ fluff.
20. 2-oleamido-1 3-octadecanediol: The special stuff only l'oreal companies put in their products, that supposedly helps deliver phospholipids into skin. Does it do so for hair? Doubtfull, but I also don't see why else they would add it in.....
21. Hydrolyzed soy protein: Fluff at this point, fantastic in high concentrations
22. Linalool: Scent
23. Benzyl alcohol: Preservative
24. Methyl cocoate: Coconut oil derived surfactant
25. Sodium cocoate: Gentle surfactant
26. Hydrolyzed vegetable protein PG-propyl silanetriol: L'oreal brands use this synthetic protein on a regular basis. Why bother at this concentration though? 
27. Sodium hydroxide: pH adjuster
28. Citric acid: More pH adjustment