REVIEW – My hair has always been fine, but ever since my adventure with cancer 10 years ago, it’s been also been thin and it sheds a lot. This is most likely the lasting side effects of chemo and the fact that I was thrown into instant menopause with my first treatment. I’ve tried different vitamins and even the iRestore Laser Hair Growth System without any noticeable improvements. When I was offered a sample of British M Kombucha Shampoo, I thought what the heck, let’s give it a try. Let’s see what happened.
What is it?
British M’s Kombucha shampoo is what they call a “teatox” for your hair and scalp. It’s a daily PH perfect shampoo that is free of: Parabens, Phthalates, SLS, Silicone, Triclosan, Unrefined Talc, Mineral Oil, Petroleum, Polyethylene, Microbeads, Metallic Aluminum, Toluene, Octinoxate, Oxybenzone, and Avobenzone.
Ingredients and claims
The claims according to the press release info:
Daily use maintains vibrant, smooth, shiny hair and a healthier scalp and is approved by KFDA/MFDS to help prevent shedding hair.
Ingredients:
Water, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium C14-16 Olefin Sulfonate, Glycerin, Alcohol, SodiumChloride, Saccharomyces/Xylinum/Black Tea Ferment, Polyquaternium-10, PPG-3 Caprylyl Ether, Coco-Betaine, Sodium Benzoate, Coco-glucoside, Phenoxyethanol, Citric Acid, Tetradecene, Salicylic Acid, Hexadecene, Panthenol, Sodium Citrate, Niacinamide, Disodium EDTA, Malt Extract, Allantoin, Butylene Glycol, Sodium Acetate, Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate, Caffeine, Cocamide MEA, Xylitylglucoside, Isopropyl Alcohol, 1,2-Hexanediol, Anhydroxylitol, Xylitol, Caprylyl Glycol, Glucose, Ethylhexylglycerin, Denatonium Benzoate, Fragrance, Benzyl Benzoate, Citronellol, Hexyl Cinnamal, Hydroxycitronellal, Linalool
Yikes, that’s a LOT of ingredients. The “kombucha” part of the shampoo is the fermented black tea. Most people drink kombucha but I’m going to use it on my hair 😉
I tend to wash my hair every day with either baby shampoo or Sauve Daily Clarifying Shampoo. I rarely if ever use a conditioner and I don’t find my hair to ever feel dry or oily.
The British M Kombucha shampoo comes in a large 750ml pump bottle and is thick and rich feeling with a gender-neutral pleasant/clean scent. It lathers very well and left my hair feeling smooth and slick like I was rinsing out conditioner instead of shampoo.
Typically after I rinse out my hair, I will lean over in the shower and sort of gently wring it out with my hands to get most of the water out before I wrap my head in a towel. This is when I have noticed shedding hair. I also notice stray hairs in the sink while standing over it styling my hair with my fingers. After using the Kombucha shampoo every day for a week, the shedding hair has almost completely stopped.
What I like
- I think it really stopped my hair from shedding
- Thick rich lather
- Nice smell
What I’d change
- Nothing
Final thoughts
I was shocked and surprised because not seeing 6-10 hairs in the sink is not normal for me. Is it a coincidence? I wasn’t sure so I changed from using the Kombucha shampoo every day to only using it a couple of times a week. So far the shedding is still gone. So my next test is to stop using it altogether and report back in a couple of weeks to see if the shedding has started back up again. The problem is that I really like it and don’t want to stop using it 😉
Update 11/15/21
Over a month ago I promised in a comment that I would stop using the shampoo for a while to see if my hair would start shedding again. So I stopped washing my hair with the shampoo for several weeks and I may have noticed one or two extra hairs in the sink, but nothing truly noticeable. Does that mean that this shampoo doesn’t really do what it claims? It’s very hard to know without a scientific test which I’m not set up to do. All I can really say is that I “think” this shampoo has lessened my hair shedding. Even if it hadn’t, I really like the shampoo. It smells great and makes my hair feel wonderful. British M also sent me a bottle of their hair mask conditioner and it’s equally nice – but I don’t even think it’s needed because the shampoo already makes your hair feel like it’s been washed AND conditioned.
Price: $36.00
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by British M.
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I’ll be interested to hear your follow-on results. I’m still on an aromatase inhibitor (=super menopause no estrogen) so my once-curly hair is thin and flat. I tend to only wash my hair once or twice a week (with Trader Joe’s Teatree shampoo & conditioner) to avoid stressing it.
Betty, I used it yesterday and stopped. I’ll report back at the end of the month. 🙂