How to camoflage the scent of Neutrogena?

[Intransigentia]

Neutrogena clarifying shampoo seems to be my holy grail. It works great as a base for movie star shampoo, and if I've gotten really grungy I can use it super diluted with water, and get clean without getting itchy. But I really, really dislike the scent. And it just seems to linger; I can still smell it a bit when I wet my hair the next time I wash.

I would really prefer if it just came unscented - I should write them! - but since it doesn't, has anybody had any luck covering that funny chemical smell by adding essential or fragrance oils?

If you have multiple suggestions, I'm not a big fan of fruity scents other than citrus, and my favourite single fragrance note is rosewood. My two favourite BPALs that I have tried are Lorelei and Bastet.

Thanks for any advice you can give!

[SimplyViki]

It's a really strong smell, isn't it? I have no idea what to suggest. I can't imagine much covering it up, but hopefully someone will chime in with something! Have you tried the Redken Clear Moisture shampoo? That's one of the ones people have used successfully with the movie star shampoo, if I recall correctly. I have that shampoo, and I remember thinking it had a rather mild scent, although it is not unscented.

[Artsy]

Hmm, I never had a problem with covering up that smell with any leave-in or conditioner. However, if you don't use conditioner, you might want to try perfumed oil. Miracle oil from body shop has very nice scent of gardenia, I use it sometimes.

[Copasetic]

I can only imagine that mixing any kind of oils into your shampoo would result in a combination smell, which would not be pleasant.

Maybe you could try rinsing with vinegar after you wash; I have heard it is good for neutralizing odors.

[Intransigentia]

That's the thing - I do rinse with vinegar. White vinegar with vanilla bean pods sitting in the bottom of the bottle. And I still smell just the neutrogena.

I should look into that Redken shampoo. I'm guessing it's not as cheap as the Neutrogena though.

[torrilin]

The scent is pretty much a straight up white floral, heavy on the narcissus. Eugh, because narcissus in particular wants to kill me. For me, trying to hide the scent would likely just make things worse. (and thankfully, the fragrance added is relatively light... I react so badly to narcissus and a lot of other white floral ingredients that it's a miracle I can use the shampoo at all. this suggests to me that you may be amping the fragrance, so it smells much stronger on you than it would on someone else.)

Neutrogena's T-gel shampoo and their (I think) volumizing shampoo are very similar in terms of ingredients. T-gel also stinks to high heaven, but it's due to the coal tar only... no fragrance added. Since a lot of the time my product reactions are due to fragrance and we have to have T-gel on hand no matter what for my partner's psoriasis, I can always snitch a bit for clarifying. The volumizing shampoo probably doesn't have the same scent as the anti-residue shampoo, so it might be more tolerable. But it does have fragrance added, so it's not a great choice for me.

[luthein]

I haven't tried Neutrogena before, but I have had issues with shampoo scents being too strong.

I have a bottle of Esencia shampoo that is incredibly potent. It was nauseatingly strong to me. To dull the smell, I took off the cap, covered the opening with cheesecloth, and secured that with a rubber band. It was an air freshener until the scent went mostly away. It's not a sterile environment, however, I've used 1/3 of the bottle with no issues.

[Intransigentia]

The scent is pretty much a straight up white floral, heavy on the narcissus.

You're right, now that I think of it! It has that same grossness that I feel from some kinds of lilies. :puke:

[Roseate]

When I was trying MSS, I used the Neutrogena with vanilla-scented coconut oil (http://www.amazon.com/Monoi-Tiare-Tahiti-Vanilla-fl/dp/B000LVHTDO/ref=pd_sim_bt_5). It didn't get rid of the high-pitched Neutrogena scent, but I found the scent more palatable when combined with the warmer, lower-pitched scent of vanilla.

I also diluted my MSS in warm water, so that I was using the minimum amount possible of the shampoo; that helped too.

[selderon]

It sounds like your options are to cover the smell up with another aroma (perhaps essential oil added to dry hair) or change shampoos. You might try Aveda's Rosemary Mint shampoo if what you need is a lightweight shampoo.

[Intransigentia]

hmmm, if lower warmer notes were helpful, maybe a bit of BPAL Bastet. That would be super-sexy even if I didn't have camo issues!

I might eventually switch shampoos, but I have most of a litre bottle of the Neutrogena to use up and my dislike is purely aesthetic as opposed to health-related.

[torrilin]

You're right, now that I think of it! It has that same grossness that I feel from some kinds of lilies. :puke:

For a long time I was sure I hated white florals... turns out between narcissus, star jasmine, and various lilies, white florals are full of stuff that wants to kill me. Gardenia isn't great either (actual flower is fine, but iirc you can't actually extract the gardenia scent compounds).

Tuberose and some of the other jasmines are great tho, and if it's not mixed in with noxious white florals, so's orange blossom/neroli/pettigrain (different extractions of the same flower). The problem is all the ones that are actually good on me are all rather inclined towards being green and overpowering for most women. My skin takes anything even vaguely green scented, noms the green and then makes it smell sweet and gooey. (or just plain overpowering. a few stalks of tuberose will happily scent most of a square MILE in Los Angeles)