Costly shampoos not head above rest

WOMEN could be wasting their money by buying expensive shampoo brands rather than low-cost alternatives, a survey by the consumer magazine Which? has found.

The magazine picked 22 shampoo brands to assess how well they prevented dyed hair from fading, or how well they treated dry and damaged hair. The survey found cheap makes of shampoo were often as effective or better than many of the best-selling products on the market.

In tests, a supermarket own-brand shampoo priced at just 99c scored highly while a make used widely in hairdressers, and costing 14.50, performed badly.

A shampoo expert contacted by Which? said manufacturers often “tend to stretch the truth, rather than make completely unfounded claims”.

Top-selling brand Fructis, for example, says it contains fruit acids but the expert questioned what benefit they had in a shampoo. Clairol Herbal Essences boasts that it uses mountain spring water in its shampoo. But the expert described that as “another worthless ingredient”. Eleven shampoo brands which claim to prevent hair colour fading were tested in a laboratory to assess how well they performed after washing and after being exposed to ultraviolet light.

Pantene Pro-V Classic Care, priced at 2.90 for a 200ml bottle, scored bottom in both categories. Which? also tested shampoo brands promoted as being good for dry and damaged hair by looking at how easy hair was to comb after washing, and softness.

Among those scoring the lowest was Paul Mitchell Instant Moisture Daily, a shampoo used in hair salons which costs 7.65 for a 250ml bottle. The two top-rated makes in this section were Umberto Giannini Urgent Repair Moisture Booster, priced €6.04 for 250ml and Elvive Nutritive shampoo (€4.64 for 300ml). Close behind was Tesco Wheatgerm and Cornsilk shampoo priced 99c for 750ml.

Which? editor Helen Parker said: “Don’t assume that specialist shampoos are head and shoulders above the rest. Some were less effective than a Tesco own-label shampoo, which makes no claims at all.”

Proctor and Gamble, makers of Clairol and Pantene, and L’Oreal, which makes Fructis and Redken, refused to comment until they had seen the report.