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Aveeno Pure Renewal Shampoo Review

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Shampoos and conditioners as we know them, the liquid kinds, have been around for about a century. Before that, there were many other substances, methods, and techniques used for keeping one’s hair and scalp clean and good-looking. Some of these methods are still used. Infusions of various oils and plant extracts can be found in many a shampoo and conditioner formula. Aveeno have several hair care products in their lineup, and this is our Aveeno Pure Renewal Shampoo review.

Aveeno itself has been manufacturing and distributing skin care and hair care solutions for almost 75 years, and in that time they have released some of the finest products out there. Naturally, not all of their products will fit every single person, and not every one of them is a bull’s-eye. I don’t think that’s how skin care and hair care products work, am I right? Obviously, depending on the type of skin, hair, and body some items will be a good match and others will not.

Aveeno Pure Renewal Shampoo Ingredients Breakdown

Seaweed on a string.

Seaweed extract.

Aveeno likes to tout this as a sulfate-free shampoo. And to their credit, it certainly is. But it isn’t as if sulfates are the only ingredient that you may want to watch out for. This shampoo has some great ingredients, and some less-desirable ingredients. If preservatives, fragrance, and thickening agents are on your list of no-nos, this isn’t the shampoo for you.

This shampoo has different cleansing agents, one or two of which could be potentially irritating (to those who may be sensitive). There are several film-forming and thickening agents. A few lubricating and conditioning agents, a pH adjuster, some moisturizers and preservatives. There is also seaweed extract, water, mica, and citric acid.

Overall, as far as ingredients go, this is a shampoo I would consider to be worthy of occupying the top echelon space of drugstore or supermarket products. Aveeno made a name for itself as a company that takes advantage of natural ingredients. Some examples include oats, seaweed, and berries, but this doesn’t mean that they don’t use any detergents or rougher cleansers.

An ingredient worth mentioning is the seaweed. True, it’s closer to the bottom of the list of ingredients, so you can count on it not being such a major player. But luckily, with that kind of weed,  you can see great results in a week or two. Truly, seaweed has some magnificent properties, and it has the potential to provide a large array of nutrients to your scalp and hair.

Another ingredient worth a mention is fragrance. Many companies use this highly subjective ingredient, and guard its composition as a trade secret. Aveeno are no different in this aspect, and there is no telling what it is exactly that they put in there. I am sure that they comply with any FDA regulations, but if given a choice, I am more of a sans fragrance type of shampooer. I’d rather it be without a scent, unless the scent is particularly good.

Aveeno Pure Renewal Shampoo Review

Bottle of Aveeno Pure Renewal Shampoo.

Aveeno Pure Renewal Shampoo.

Shampoo is meant to clean your scalp, before anything else. If it fails at doing this, it’s clearly not the shampoo for you. The company can add any number of natural or synthetic ingredients, make it smell like this, that, or the other, and market it from here till the cows come home. But if you, the end user, don’t come out of the shower with a clean head of hair, something there is amiss. 

This Aveeno Pure Renewal shampoo – and its sister-product Pure Renewal conditioner – managed to get my hair back to its soft and manageable self, but for me it still is nothing to write home about (ironically, it is something to write a blog post about! Go figure…). It is said that sulfates should be avoided, because they could potentially strip your hair of its natural oils and leave it bare, but even so there are some who would benefit from using this shampoo every two days or so.

I would recommend this shampoo for a trial period, but not swear by it in my case. I am well aware that there are others who will use it to better and greater effect, so I am not ruling it out in any way. But for me? I didn’t see anything special about it that necessitated a gushing outpour of thanks. It’s a good shampoo, and it does its job, but it didn’t provide anything beyond that. There was some renewal there, I’ll give it that.

For the price you pay, it’s a fine shampoo. But that’s it. There are many other shampoos out there that are fine, and they could probably cost less. And if you want to feel like you’re using some natural ingredients, you can still skip this one and just add some essential oils to your current shampoo. My favorites are peppermint and lavender. I always enjoy their tingling sensation as they dance on my scalp and remove all the gunk and unclog my pores.

Aveeno Pure Renewal Conditioner Ingredients Breakdown

Unlike shampoos, which are applied to the scalp directly and are meant to cleanse the scalp and hair, conditioners are there to restore balance and ease manageability to the strands. After the shampoo removes dirt, sweat, product buildup, dead cells, and what not, the conditioner arrives on the scene and brings a different action. This is why it is applies to the strands, not the scalp.

Like similar products, this conditioner has the standard ingredients: water, fragrance, preservatives, film-formers, thickeners, and lubricants. It also contains moisturizers, hair and skin conditioners, fatty acids, and seaweed (just like in the shampoo).

The caveats are the same as with the shampoo. Yes, it’s free of sulfates, but if sulfates are not a terrible bother to you, that may not make much of a difference. I felt a definite difference in these two products, and not just in the sense that they are two separate products of the same line.

Aveeno Pure Renewal Conditioner Review

Bottle of Aveeno Pure Renewal Conditioner.

Aveeno Pure Renewal Conditioner.

I saw much better results with the Aveeno Pure Renewal conditioner than I did with the shampoo. I didn’t use it for months and months, so take this with a grain of salt. But I know what good conditioner does to my hair, and I know what a ‘meh’ conditioner does to my hair. This was definitely in the former group. 

Again, say not that it is a good or bad conditioner. But rather say that this is one which I found to work well for me. Unlike with the shampoo, I really did feel a kind of pure renewal with this product. There was a real softness, vitality, and grace to my locks. A day after using the conditioner, I woke up to a great hair day. And oh my, do I love me a good hair day. Some days, when I am feeling good about myself, it’s like I can do no wrong. Can all this be achieved solely with the use of a hair care product? Not really, but it does provide me with a wonderful start for the day, and I find that it often sets the tone for everything that comes afterwards.

Conclusion

Is it worth checking out? In my opinion yes, but there are other Aveeno products which I consider better. If I decide to renew my supply, I think I would ditch the shampoo and go for the conditioner. I condition once a week, pretty much, and for that kind of schedule this conditioner really hits the spot.

Depending on your own hair care routine, you may find that your experience varies. In fact, you can count on it varying! Like I said, Aveeno products are highly affordable and you can find them pretty much anywhere online and offline. They are still a drugstore brand, but a very good one at that. You can count on the product being of good quality, even if it doesn’t exactly live up to your expectations.

I know Aveeno love to gab about their natural complexes: the seaweed, the oats, the berries, shea butter, etc. But the truth is that often, these are located in the middle to lower part of their respective products’ ingredients list. When you are buying a shampoo or conditioner, I suppose the question you should be asking yourself is: would I purchase this hair care product even if it did not have this one ingredient which is being hyped on the label or in the commercials?

Once you answer that, you will have a better idea of what it is you consider to be worth your money and your time. That said, it comes down to productivity, so you need to experiment and see for yourself. If the product does what it says, and if you find that it’s worth the expense, then there is no reason not to continue using it. Personally, the shampoo didn’t really do it for me, but the conditioner is a keeper.