Product Description

As given on their official website:

Enriched in Shea Butter, this conditioning cream nourishes and restructures dry hair from roots to ends. Its rich formula regenerates and repairs dry ends and protects hair against harsh elements (sun, wind, cold, over processing).

Conditioning agents shield the capillary fibers and detangle hair. Ultra Rich Conditioner leaves hair shiny, soft and smooth.”

Product Claims

The L’occitane En Provence Ultra Rich Conditioner leaves hair instantly shiny, soft and smooth. Has the goodness of Shea Butter. Repairs dry ends, and protects hair from harsh elements such as the sun, the wind, cold, and over processing.

Packaging Of The L’occitane En Provence Ultra Rich Hair Conditioner

The L’occitane En Provence Ultra Rich Conditioner comes in a squeezable plastic tube bottle. The bottle itself is a shiny silver color, and the cap is dark blue. With the labeling in mustard yellow and dark blue colors.

I prefer flip-to-open caps because not only are they tight enough to securely hold the conditioner from leaking out, if you’ve got soapy hands, it won’t take you ten years to unscrew the bottle. With flip-to-open caps, you can’t really unscrew the cap as they’re usually often packed in an unscrewable way. But this conditioner can be unscrewed as well.

Labelling

I was quite happy with the labeling as even though some information was written in French, it was also repeated in English. On the front of the bottle, information like the name of the brand, the name of the product, ‘who’ it is for, what it is and the quantity was mentioned very clearly.

Now for the back, necessary information like the ingredients, what the product aims to achieve, the expiry date, manufacture date, and the MRP, etc. Some information was written in French, but it was also translated into English.

Overall, I found the labeling to be adequate and up to the mark.

Smell

Oh, it smells amazing! The fragrance is so fresh, and it makes you feel energetic. It also lasts for a long time, so even if you haven’t washed your hair for a day or two, your hair will still smell fresh, and pleasant.

Texture

The Loccitane en Province Ultra Rich Conditioner has a runny consistency and is white in color. I know some of you don’t like conditioners with runny consistency, but I prefer them. I have curly hair, so it’s easy to spread a conditioner that has a runny consistency on my hair evenly.

Ingredients Check

Aqua: Water
Cyclomethicone: one of the most commonly used silicones in hair care products, it helps in adding a ‘slippery’ feel to wet hair, helping in detangling. Cyclomethicone evaporates easily and doesn’t leave any build-up in your hair.
Dimethicone: Yet another kind of silicone used in hair care products. Unlike Cyclomethicone it does not evaporate and leaves residue behind, thus leaving some amounts of build-up. It has a ‘smoothening’ effect on hair.
Cetearyl Alcohol: Is a derived mixture of cetyl and stearyl alcohols that can come from either vegetable or synthetic sources. Cetearyl Alcohol is a fatty alcohol and helps seal in moisture in your hair.
Glycerin: A conditioning agent, that is sometimes also referred to as glycerol or glycerine.
Cetyl Alcohol: A fatty alcohol that will condition your tresses, makes it an ideal choice for dry, damaged and brittle hair.
Behentrimonium Chloride: this ingredient acts as both a preservative and conditioning agent. It’s ability to penetrate the hair, rather than just coating it helps in detangling hair, preventing static and strengthening hair.
Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter): Obtained from the nuts that grow on the; shea-karite tree. It’s a great conditioning agent and helps restore natural shine to your hair.
Tocopherol: It is a naturally occurring chemical compound that has similar properties to vitamin E. And functions as a hair conditioning agent.
Benzyl Alcohol: Added in hair care products as a preservative and does not affect the look and feel of your hair.
Benzyl Benzonate: It acts as an insecticide and helps kill lice, mites, and other insects that might cause scabies, however, is mainly used for its fragrance in hair care products. People with perfume allergies should consider avoiding this ingredient.
Citronellol: Often used as a fragrance agent, and masking agent (a chemical that’s added to a mixture to block impurities from affecting the chemical analysis). However, Citronellol is a naturally occurring scent derived from plants such as rose, geranium, and lemongrass.
Hydroxyisohexyl 3 – Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyde: More commonly known as lyral, and if a fragrance ingredient. People that have had pre-existing eczema conditions suffered from an allergic reaction to this ingredient.
Coumarin: Mainly used as a fragrance agent as it gives off a sweet, vanilla and nutty scent, however over exposure to this ingredient can be toxic and thus should be avoided.
Butyphenyl Methylpropional: Also known as Lilial is added to cosmetics and hair care products for it’s fragrance properties. Some researches show limited data on its association with allergies and contact dermatitis.
Alpha Isomethyl Ionone: Another fragrance ingredient, that occurs both naturally and may be synthetically produced.
Methylchloroisothiazolinone: More commonly known as MCI is a preservative with antifungal and antibacterial properties. It is quite effective against yeast and fungi. It may cause irritation in case it comes in contact with eyes, lungs, or skin).
Citric Acid: Used in cosmetics and hair care product as an acidity regulater, and PH adjuster. May also be added as a fragrance ingredient.
Methylisothiazolinone: A shorter name for this chemical is MI or MIT, and it acts as a preservative. Some lab studies have shown that MIT may be neurotoxic.

Pros

Leaves hair incredibly soft.
Detangling your hair is something you will not have a problem with after using this L’occitane En Province Ultra Rich Conditioner.
There are many conditioning agents in this conditioner. Hence it does a great job at conditioning your hair, the final result will always be manageable, smooth, soft and silky hair.
It does what it claims to do — makes hair instantly shiny, soft and smooth. It does temporarily repair your hair and makes them manageable. (It made handling my curly hair seem like it was nothing!)
Putting in serum after using this conditioner is entirely optional as it does a pretty good job of keeping your hair looking gorgeous the entire day, and it detangles really well.
No parabens
Some good alcohols like Cetyl and Stearyl alcohol were added.
Great for dry, damaged, rough, brittle and hair prone to split ends

Cons

Did I mention it’s not easily affordable? Yup, it’s a little on the pricey side.
One of its pros is also one of its cons, and while it lives to its product claims, that’s partially true as once you stop using this conditioner your ends don’t feel “repaired” anymore. Meaning that’s only temporary, and not a long-lasting effect.
I was honestly confused as to why some ingredients were added in this particular product. I understand that since they avoided adding parabens as preservatives, they needed an alternative, but the alternatives sound just as bad to me in not more. Why would I want to put something that may be neurotoxic, on me?
I did not like the fact that many ingredients had possible allergic reactions to them, and some ingredients just felt like they shouldn’t be there at all.

My Experience With The L’occitane En Provence Ultra Rich Conditioner

Now I know that I disagree with the use of a lot of ingredients in the L’occitane En Provence Ultra Rich Conditioner but I have to say it was kind to my unmanageable, and otherwise dry and rough curly hair.

The performance was just amazing. I saw a difference from the first wash, my hair felt smooth and detangled easily, which otherwise is a big task. Regarding the ingredients, I’ve used this conditioner regularly for 1.5 months and alternating with other conditioners for five months and never had any allergic reaction to it.

I strongly suggest you patch test on your elbow first before you use this conditioner, as it has many ingredients that can cause allergic reactions. Since the conditioner is only applied from mid-length to the ends of your hair, I wasn’t worried too much about the addition of Methylisothiazolinone (which could be neurotoxic) as it wasn’t going to get absorbed by my skin and I would also rinse it out.

Using the L’occitane En Provence Ultra Rich Conditioner was a really good experience for me, detangling my hair was never a nightmare. And it made my hair, smooth, soft and silky every time I used it.

I liked that it has the goodness of shea butter and alcohols such as Cetearyl and Cetyl alcohol which are perfect for moisturizing your hair. As a general rule of thumb, you should remember that alcohols that start with “S” and “C” are usually good for your hair.

It also has tocopherol, which is quite similar to vitamin E in chemical activity. Thus, L’occitane En Provence Ultra Rich Conditioner has its quota of good ingredients that have worked like a charm for my hair.

How I used the L’occitane En Provence Ultra Rich Conditioner

I’ve used this conditioner regularly in summers, and I can’t complain about its results. I’ll say that if budget is not a problem for you and if your hair is dull, dry, damaged and brittle, you’re going to love this conditioner.

Alternatively, I used it on and off for five months, sometimes substituting it for a hair mask and had great results with that as well. I just love how it makes your hair so manageable in just some minutes.

You have to remember, that these are temporary fixes, and when you stop using this product, the effect wears off. For naturally stronger, and healthier hair you might want to use this 100% natural hair mask.

Overall thoughts on the L’occitane En Provence Ultra Rich Conditioner (What to do about the ‘less desirable’ ingredients)

I get a lot of e-mails and comments about people wanting to ‘try’ a particular product, but they’re just not sure about it because of the ingredients. I really want you to understand that not all products affect all people the same. While I had great results with this conditioner, you might see ‘good’ or ‘average’ results in your case.

Don’t let the bad ingredients scare you off too much. Some ingredients are harmful to you if you’re over-exposed to them, and as a product reviewer, I think it’s my job to tell you about that. But by no means, am I trying to scare you!

I know I don’t agree with a lot of ingredients in this conditioner, but I know that they were probably used in small quantities, so most likely won’t be any trouble for me. Even then, I patch test on my elbow, if I’m not sure before trying a new product. That way I can make sure I won’t have any allergic reaction to it.

And if in case you are really concerned, then visit a dermatologist and ask him/her whether it would be okay for you to use a particular product.

Personally, L’occitane products work very well for me, and since conditioners are almost never applied to the scalp, (hair — once out of your head, doesn’t absorb and add anything into your bloodstream) I overlooked the less desirable ingredients and just went ahead and used the L’occitane En Provence Ultra Rich Conditioner.

Overall, I liked the L’occitane En Provence Ultra Rich Hair Conditioner and the way it made my hair feel.

Will I Buy It Again?

Yes, I will. There aren’t many conditioners that give me such quick fixes on my hair. I may or may not use it regularly depending on what hair care routine I’m following, but I’m definitely purchasing again. Since I’m only putting it on the mid-length till the ends of my hair, I’m not too worried about the ingredients.

Do I recommend it?

Yes: For those who have curly, rough, dry, damaged and brittle hair that are prone to split ends.

No: For those that have fine hair because it will weigh down your hair.

Product Review: L’OCCITANE EN PROVENCE Ultra Rich Conditioner