Do you guys remember the choke hold TRESemme Naturals (the white top) had on the natural hair community over a decade ago? 😭
I remember. It wasn’t an outstanding RINSE-OFF conditioner for natural hair, even though that was it’s intended purpose. Many of us found it’s amazing qualities by using it as a LEAVE-IN conditioner! To be clear, we were using TRESemme Naturals for an off-label purpose.
For me, it was a ‘mid’ rinse-off conditioner for 4-x hair. But that ‘mid’ conditioner turned into a great leave-in once diluted with water and left on the hair.
It managed to grip the hearts of many of us who were searching for products that would work well for the hair we were learning to care for. We were searching for products to get rid of frizz, to add moisture, and to improve shine. And for a lot of us, TRESemme Naturals was part of that arsenal.
Basically it was fairly inexpensive and made a great leave-in conditioner for frizzy, curly, 4a/b/c hair. It made my hair soft for almost a week. I’m not exaggerating. If I applied it well, it gave multiple days of softness. I didn’t learn until later that that’s the nature of Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine. 😘
Let me be clear: I’m referring to the TRESemme Naturals version manufactured by Alberto-Culver (AC), which was later bought by Unilever. This is their version of the formula:
Water, Caprylic/Capric Triglyrceride, Stearyl Alcohol, Cetyl Alcohol, Stearamidopropyl Diemthlyamine, Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract, Brassica Campestris/Aleurites Fordi Oil Copolymer, Fragrance, Caprylyl Glycol, Aspartic Acid, Lauroyl Lysine, Distearyldimonium Chloride, Benzyl Alcohol, Citric Acid
Nothing crazy. Nothing too ridiculous. Minus the Aspartic Acid, the Lauroyl Lyside, and Benzyl Alcohol, this formula resembles something that a good DIYer could make at home and thoroughly enjoy.
The main conditioner in this formula seems to be Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine. You’ll recognized this as Conditioner SD (MakingCosmetics). It’s also the main conditioning agent in my Rosemary and Green Tea Leave-in formula.
At some point after they were bought out by Unilever, the formula changed… and so did the color of the top and the background of the title. The color was now black. So if you wanted a clear visual that you were buying the “old” formula, you’d look for TRESemme Naturals with a white top, black writing and white background.
But the NEW formula? From Unilever?? The formula was… different. No, it was not my imagination. Caprylic/capric Triglycerides was now way down on the list and there was no Cetyl alcohol eiether (or the glide it gives to some conditioner formulas).
Here’s the list of the Unilever version:
Water, Cetearyl Alcohol, Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine , Behentrimonium Chloride, Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil , Brassica Campestris/Aleurites Fordi Oil Copolymer, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract, Fragrance, Dipropylene Glycol , Potassium Chloride, Lactic Acid, Disodium EDTA, DMDM Hydantoin, PEG 150 Distearate, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride , Lauroyl Lysine, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone
Of the ingredients that were added:
PEG-150 Distearate – a stearic acid based thickener
Dipropylene Glycol – a multi-use ingredient meant to improve spreadability, give it a smooth texture and to mask odor of other products. Its also used to improve moisture retention
Potassium Chloride – Its said to help increase viscosity in some formulas and to improve emollient properties.
Lactic Acid – neutralizer and pH adjuster
Disodium EDTA – heavy duty chelator
DMDM Hydantoin – heavy duty preservative
Methylisothiazolinone(MIT) and Methylchloroisothiazolinone (CMIT) – heavy duty preservative
This formula was… a’ight. (；′⌒`) It felt a little gummy when used for it’s off-label intention: as a leave-in.
The whole point of me using TRESemme Naturals was to leave it on the hair to prolong softness and moisture. But once they made these changes, it didn’t work… for my hair… like it used to.
Apparently I wasn’t the only one with complaints. Natural haired curlies were hot! I mean, piping mad but also sad that every time we find something that works well, something happens.
And so, a hunt began. The hunt to find any and all TRESemme Naturals conditioner bottles, with a WHITE top, that were still on store shelves. The goal was to stack it back because it would no longer be available.
The TRESemme Naturals Lawsuit
Fast forward to around 9 years ago. Long after most of us had moved on because of the formula change, news broke that “TRESemme Naturals” was being discontinued.
The TLDR version is the parent company (now Unilever ) of TRESemme Naturals was sued by plaintiffs who claimed the labels “falsely or misleadingly” gave the impression that the products were “natural” when they contained synthetic ingredients. Don’t even get me started on the term “natural” in the context of commercial products.
The slightly longer version is plaintiffs in a class action suit alleged they bought the product because they read “natural” on the bottle. And… I guess… they thought all the ingredients were organically grown in the backyard of the CEO of MountainRoseHerbs or something? Can you feel me rolling my eyes right now? I’m sure you can.
Plaintiffs called it “unfair and deceptive business practices” and said a “reasonable consumer” could be misled by the false advertising.
“This action seeks to remedy the unfair and deceptive business practices arising from the marketing and sale of the Products as “Natural”. The term “Naturals,” which appears prominently next to a green leaf on the PDP of each product, is false and misleading to a reasonable consumer…”
-Corrected Second Amended Class Action Complaint
Here’s more information about the lawsuit:
They further claimed they “paid a premium” for the TRESemme Naturals over regular TRESemme products. That “premium” is about $1.20 – 1.75 for 25 oz of product. Yep. You read right. They paid $1.20 – 1.75 more for the “Naturals” products so… clearly… it had to cease to exist!
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Mind you, by this time a lot of natural hair curlies had already moved on. But if you still liked that conditioner, imagine it’s removal being caused by someone feeling they paid $1.25 too much! Well actually, they didn’t have to imagine. It was discontinued.
Furthermore, define “reasonable consumer”? I guess I’m not a “reasonable consumer” then.
I’ll never root for Unilever. Full stop. But I never looked to that product to be “all natural” (as in no synthetic lab-based ingredients). It’s a commercial conditioner so of course I assumed there were synthetic ingredients in there.
To put something on your hair and get immediate softness that lasts for days? Nothing I can grow in my backyard can compete with that.
Or, shall I say, to my knowledge there is no individual plant that performs as well as Behentrimonium Methosulfate or Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine at instantly softening hair and smoothing cuticles for a prolonged period of time.
If there were, the billion dollar corporations would’ve probably lobbied Congress to classify it as a S1 conτrolled subsτ₳nce. But I digress.
Unilever denied all allegations but reportedly settled the class action lawsuit for about $3 Million. Part of that settlement was taking TRESemme Naturals off the market.
In my constitutionally protected opinion, it wouldn’t surprise me to learn someone (or maybe even a competitor or someone influenced by a competitor) instigated legal action to get it off the market. That’s my completely unsubstantiated conspiracy theory. LOL!
It never crossed my mind to assume the “Naturals” in “TRESemme Naturals” meant the conditioner was 100% organic. I can’t speak for other natural haired curlies, but it was never an issue for me.
Conclusion
I have fond memories before I used to create my own hair care products almost exclusively. Testing out commercial products is how you learn what your hair likes or doesn’t like. It gives you a baseline when you’re creating your own stuff.
Through the older formula of TRESemme Naturals, I learned what my hair needed and what it responded well to. I developed ideas about how I wanted a conditioner to feel, how slippery I needed it to be, and how long I wanted it to moisturize my hair before reapplying.
It was a pivotal conditioner for a lot of naturally curly women at a crucial time in our natural hair journeys.
Do you remember TRESemme Naturals? Did you use it? Comment below!
