In the search for more natural and healthy products for ourselves, one cannot forget hair care. A few months ago I noticed this on a store shelf and decided to try it, more for my husband then myself as I very rarely use conditioner. The front label caught my attention thanks to the colors and the fact that it was labeled “certified organic, naturally derived, pure vegan, and paraben free” – now assuming this is all true, does it get any better?
So what is it? Well it is a conditioner from a company called Live Clean. I checked them out and love what they stand for! They aspire to being green and earth friendly. They offer 3 lines of hair care. The “Green Earth” line has a shampoo and conditioner that is invigorating, the “Clean Air” line has a shampoo and conditioner that is volumizing and the “Fresh Water” line has a shampoo and conditioner that is moisturizing.
The product I picked was the Green Earth Invigorating Conditioner. The conditioner is a good thick consistency and has a very nice scent to it. It kind of smells like a really fruity pina colada. It works very well as a detangler for your hair, leaves her soft and rinses out well too.
As for the ingredients here it goes: in terms of the organic label, there is no certification stamp so you just have to take their word for it. The first ingredients are plant based and so that is great as they constitute the majority. The chemical ingredients are almost all low health risk based on Skin Deep’s Database. It is not listed yet in their database, but I have contacted them to add it. There are two ingredients that are high risk and those are the parfum and the DMDM hydantoin. I have contacted the company to verify the source of the parfum and suggest that it can be reformulated to become an even better product in terms of health. For now I have not yet received a response. So by no means is the product perfect as a natural product, but it appears much better than the average commercial conditioner.
Ingredients (italicized are from plants)
- Aqua (Purified Water)
Certified Organic Botanicals:
- Camellia sinensis (White Tea Extract)
- Lavandula angustifolia (Lavender Extract)
- Chamomilla recutita (Matricaria Flower Extract)
- Rosmarinus officinalis (Rosemary Leaf Extract)
- Eucalyptus globulus (Leaf Extract)
- Cetrimonium Chloride
- Cetyl Alcohol
- Stearyl Alcohol
- Glycerin
- Quaternium-18
- Polysorbate 60
- Retinyl Palmitate (Vitamin A Palmitate)
- Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E Acetate)
- Retinyl Palmitate
- Panthenol (Provitamin B5)
- DMDM Hydantoin
- Parfum
- Phenoxyethanol
- Sodium Benzoate
- Citric Acid
Packaging
The conditioner comes in plastic #2 bottles so easy to recycle once product is all used up. The bottle of this one is green and white and very simple so it gives a wonderful Earth friendly feeling.
Price & Availability (as of this posting)
- $5.99 CAD (any drug store/department store throughout North America – I am pretty sure)
- Around $7.00 CAD/US from Well.ca (Canada’s online Drug store)
The Good
- Great Detangling Properties
- Pleasant scent
- Leaves hair soft
- Paraben Free
- Lots of plant derived ingredients (at top of ingredient list)
- Fair price
- Nice Packaging
The Bad
- No official certification to verify organic products
- Includes “parfum” and “DMDM Hydantoin” ingredients which are considered high risk ingredients
- Not yet widely available
Overall Rating as a Great Natural Product
6 OUT OF 10
About the author:Evita Ochel, B.Sc., B.Ed., CHN - is a certified holistic nutritionist, biologist, educator, writer, researcher and speaker in the areas of health, science and holistic wellness. She is a nutritional science expert and her teaching and writing focus on natural, wholesome, plant-based and organic nutrition to achieve optimal health and longevity. Learn more about Evita Ochel or Follow Evita Ochel on Twitter.
4 Comments to “Review: Live Clean – Green Earth Invigorating Conditioner”
hey this is the best shampoo…..YOU MUST TYY IT!
Just curious to know, which shampoo, available in Canada, would you recommend as the least toxic? I use the Skin Deep Database too, but it’s not 100% reliable. If a product has an ingredient that’s not recognized by the data base, it’s artificially given a toxicity rating of 0 out of 10. The site does mention that there is a “Data Gap” (more studies are required to determine toxicity) which is fine to mention, but I think it’s initially misleading, requiring you to do a lot more clicking to read the fine print.
Hi Aaron
The best that I have found in Canada, that I feel most comfortable with at the moment is the Green Beaver line. I use their products almost solely. You can check out their site here:
http://www.greenbeaver.com/
Are they perfect, probably not. But nothing in a bottle is. What I like is that they are Canadian, do not use any obvious chemicals, make organic and vegan products, really care about people’s health and the environment, etc….
(I do have a whole write up on them on this site as well, also reviews of their products including shampoo).
As for the Cosmetic Data Base, I agree. It is a great tool, but not perfect either. I do only consider items that are of the top three lowest ratings, and with that alone, although there may be issues, I know that they are still much better than the obvious products with say a 7, 8 or 9 rating, etc…
All the best, and feel free to let me know if you have more questions, etc…
I want to let people know that LIve Clean Shampoo and other products made by them are totally NO GOOD formaldahye ingredients.etc We don’t need this in a hair product unless we’re dead.