Can chamomile extract in products make hair dry?

[Henrietta]

Because tea rinse made my hair dry. I wanted to lighten my hair about a year ago. Bad idea… I should have read the whole article about chamomile before I started, not only “lightening effects” part. It is a good way to dry up a hair that is too greasy. Lightening is just a side effect, now I know that. So… if there is a chamomile extract in shampoo and conditioner for blonde hair- can it cause dryness? I am asking because I was considering buying Garnier’s Natural Care: Chamomile and Honey line.

[ktani]

Because tea rinse made my hair dry. I wanted to lighten my hair about a year ago. Bad idea… I should have read the whole article about chamomile before I started, not only “lightening effects” part. It is a good way to dry up a hair that is too greasy. Lightening is just a side effect, now I know that. So… if there is a chamomile extract in shampoo and conditioner for blonde hair- can it cause dryness? I am asking because I was considering buying Garnier’s Natural Care: Chamomile and Honey line.

I doubt that there is enough of it in there to cause a problem. Strong chamomile rinses dried my hair out too and built-up. There is chamomile in my Sunsilk Lively Blonde Shampoo. I have 0 build-up and 0 problems with it.

[Leisje]

I use Klorane's hypoallergenic chamomile brightening shampoo. It contains the extract, and I find the shampoo to be wonderfully softening, and with a sort ingredient list. It's suppose to gradually lighten hair and bring out golden highlights.

I think the extract is probably slightly different than say, the tea by itself. Because you don't have the astringent properties that the tea may produce, whereas the extract has been distilled or what not to only get the colour producing part. I don't know if that makes sense or not.
But I don't think you'll have a problem with it being in shampoo's.

[Henrietta]

I doubt that there is enough of it in there to cause a problem. Strong chamomile rinses dried my hair out too and built-up. There is chamomile in my Sunsilk Lively Blonde Shampoo. I have 0 build-up and 0 problems with it.

It's good to know thank you. I was afraid of trying the condish.
So I bet such small amount won't lighten my hair too?:)


I use Klorane's hypoallergenic chamomile brightening shampoo. It contains the extract, and I find the shampoo to be wonderfully softening, and with a sort ingredient list. It's suppose to gradually lighten hair and bring out golden highlights.

I think the extract is probably slightly different than say, the tea by itself. Because you don't have the astringent properties that the tea may produce, whereas the extract has been distilled or what not to only get the colour producing part. I don't know if that makes sense or not.
But I don't think you'll have a problem with it being in shampoo's.

That makes sense:) I hoped that chamomile in hair products has it's lightening ability minus drying;)

[ktani]

It's good to know thank you. I was afraid of trying the condish.
So I bet such small amount won't lighten my hair too?:)


My experience with chamomile is that it did not lighten my hair. It can from what I understand from the 1 only report on it that I read here that was someone else's experience with Roman not German chamomile. I used German chamomile for over a year. It did lightly stain my hair a golden colour. It did not stain my grey/white hair though.

[Heidi_234]

It could have been too acidic, hence drying out. Or the tannin(? Methinks?) content could make it dried out. There's a huge difference between chamomile rinse and conditioner containing chamomile. Actually, changes are that the conditioner you are considering contains only traces of chamomile extract anyway. They always put too small amounts of fancy lovely sounding ingredients to justify the fancy names they are giving their products.

btw, there's nothing in chamomile that can lighten hair. It's a myth, fueled by the fact that chamomile rinse can yield warm yellow tones on blond hair, possibly making it look brighter.

[Henrietta]

It could have been too acidic, hence drying out. Or the tannin(? Methinks?) content could make it dried out. There's a huge difference between chamomile rinse and conditioner containing chamomile. Actually, changes are that the conditioner you are considering contains only traces of chamomile extract anyway. They always put too small amounts of fancy lovely sounding ingredients to justify the fancy names they are giving their products.

btw, there's nothing in chamomile that can lighten hair. It's a myth, fueled by the fact that chamomile rinse can yield warm yellow tones on blond hair, possibly making it look brighter.

I had no idea it's a myht!
Now I don't worry. I will try the condish;) Thank you, people:) :flower:

[ktani]

I had no idea it's a myht!
Now I don't worry. I will try the condish;) Thank you, people:) :flower:

You are most welcome!

Chamomile tea is often recommended to be used with the sun. That would be where it came to "lighten hair" in traditional use, although there may be something in it that helps the process. When I first used German chamomile at lower strengths, it was somewhat conditioning. Both kinds of chamomile tea contain very little oil.

German chamomile contains polysaccharides that do build-up on hair (Roman chamomile contains resin that would do the same). It is not that high in tannins or that astringent.

The pH of German chamomile tea is about 6, which is fairly weak as an acid. The more the tea built-up, the drier my hair got and the build-up was not easily removed by my shampoo until I stopped using the tea.

I agree that the amount in hair products is not enough to worry about in most cases for any lightening effect or build-up. Build-up from the products would more likely be from other ingredients in the formulations.

Peer reviewed scientific information on chamomile (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/patient-chamomile.html) for various uses, including topical use, concludes that more and better human studies are needed to support traditional claims for chamomile. Example:
"Skin inflammation: Topical chamomile preparations have traditionally been used to soothe skin inflammation. The existing human evidence shows that chamomile may be of little, if any, benefit while animal studies support its anti-inflammatory action. Additional human research is needed in this area.
Grade: C"