Product smackdown

 

I bought these because the name and packaging reminded me of another brand I used to love... 10? 15? years ago. I remember the name as Origanix, and they had a very similar bottle design. Like, classic bottles with a bit of roundness to them. Is this maybe the name brand, just renamed and repackaged? Hmm.

I bought four bottles:

OGX Biotin & collagen
OGX Brazilian keratin smooth
OGX Keratin oil
OGX Orchid oil

I'm going to compare them on a few different factors:

First impressions
Effect: Shine and manageability
Ingredient analysis and interesting ingredients such as "actives": Oils, fruits, keratin, sunscreen

First impressions 

My first impression is being annoyed that the Orchid oil doesn't match in shape to the other conditioners! I wanted to review products in the same line or range, pricewise and all, otherwise it makes very little sense to do any comparison. But the price and size (385 ml) is the same, so maybe it's just an older or newer edition bottle? 

I will come back to this later with a conspiracy theory. And no, I'm not joking. I'm quite serious.

Second impression was to... Well, be impressed. It's rare that you find a product in this price range where the heavy hitting ingredients are so high up on the ingredient list. Especially when you find several interesting ingredients in a product like this.

I received these a while ago, and it took me a while to work through them because all except the Orchid oil contains a lot of protein, and I have to be a little careful with that,

OGX Biotin & collagen

Smells "warm" and good. Like, sweet and warm. Does that make sense?

Mr Igor says: "Huh. It smells like a drink. It smells familiar but I don't know what it is. It smells like a drink. It reminds me of an alcoholic drink that I liked."

Colour: Purple, but turns white-ish once I started working it into my hair.

OGX Brazilian keratin smooth

Smell's very sweet and fruity. 

Mr Igor says: "This smells like beach basically. Like an ice cream on the beach. It reminds me of going to the beach and have ice cream. Like a sunny day on the beach... With ice cream. Vanilla ice cream. It's quite nice."

Colour: Brown. It made me laugh when I first squeezed it out. Brown?! I don't think I've ever seen a brown conditioner before? Of course it turns white-ish when I distributed it in my hair, but it was still a surprise. Usually conditioners are white, but some times there are the yellows, pinks, and what have you. You know: Girly colours.

OGX Keratin oil

Smells very fruity, but without the sweetness that the Brazilian keratin one has.

Mr Igor says: "Doesn't smell a lot. A little fruit maybe. Like, garden or something. Strawberries?"

Colour: Yellow, but turns white-ish once I started working it into my hair.

OGX Orchid oil

Smells fresh and fruity. I guess it's supposed to smell like orchids?

Mr Igor says: "It reminds me of the spa we went to on Læsø. Something that smelled like that there." *Reads the label* "Orchid oil? Yea, I don't know what orchids smell like. It smells like showers and spa. Whatever that smells like." Mr Igor is truly a maestro of words.

Colour: White with a sort of slightly pink-ish hue to it. 

Effect

OGX Biotin & collagen

Pleasant enough to work with. No real dripping. Not too thick consistency, but creamy and easy to work with.

It made my hair pretty cranky afterwards. It did this thing where it doesn't really tangle as such, more like the length sort of.. sticks together? Glues together? 

After a bit of leave in-conditioner, my hair was back to normal and felt soft and shiny. 

I can usually judge how well a conditioner conditions by how my hair almost repels water afterwards: It's like water just slides down the length and dries top down instead of all over. And this one did a good job of conditioning based on that!

OGX Brazilian keratin smooth

*groan* I thought I had checked the ingredient lists thoroughly enough when I placed the order, but nope. This one contains aloe vera. Which means that I wouldn't test it for a CO, but used it in a nodosaurus instead. So not really the same playing field as the rest of the conditioners.

It was pleasant enough to work with though. No issues with dripping. Thick and creamy consistency. Generally a very pleasant conditioner to use.

My hair was really cranky and tangly once I rinsed it clean though. But as soon as I had finished combing it, threated it to some leave in conditioner and braided it, it was back to it's shiny and nice self again. 

This one also had that "water slides down the length" effect that I take as meaning it conditioned well. 

OGX Keratin oil

This one also had a really nice texture: Not too thick, not to thin. Just creamy and easy to distribute, and didn't drip.

This one didn't piss my hair off after using it. However, it took some extra rinsing because it left a weird feeling of coating on the hair for a while. But once I had rinsed it enough, it felt really good. Soft and nice. It cleaned well too. 

I can usually judge how well a conditioner conditions by how my hair almost repels water afterwards: It's like water just slides down the length and dries top down instead of all over. And this one did a good job of conditioning based on that!

OGX Orchid oil

This one was the most "Meh" of the bunch. I mean, it cleaned nicely, my hair felt smooth and looked shiny afterwards, but it didn't really felt like it "did" a whole lot. When your hair gets pissed off over a conditioner, at least you know it was affected by it...

It did that thing where is starts "foaming" up when I worked it onto my hair, so it dripped quite a bit. But it had an immediately smoothing effect on my hair, and it was very easy to comb with the conditioner in it. It had a funny moment where my ends felt pretty weird and tangled, like right before I had finished rinsing it clean. But once it was finished rinsing, the weird tangling went away again. Odd. It cleaned my hair well enough, and left it soft and nice enough. But it didn't leave my hair as shiny or, well, as pissed off as the other ones. 

This one didn't do that "water slides down the length effect" as much as the other ones. 

Ingredient analysis
The ingredient lists were freely available on the website, so plus for that. I hate when I have to type all the lists myself. And why would companies try to hide the ingredients anyways? It seems suspicious.

OGX Biotin & collagen

OGX Biotin & collagen ingredient list
Water (Aqua), Cyclopentasiloxane, Cetearyl Alcohol, Dimethicone, Biotin, Hydrolyzed Collagen, Ethyltrimonium Chloride Methacrylate/Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein Copolymer, Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, Behentrimonium Methosulfate, Cetyl Alcohol, Dimethiconol, Polyquaternium-37, Propylene Glycol Dicaprylate/Dicaprate, PPG-1 Trideceth-6, Fragrance (Parfum), DMDM Hydantoin, Violet 2 (CI 60725).

Applying the Beauty Brains "First five ingredients rule"

Cyclopentasiloxane, Cetearyl Alcohol, Dimethicone, Biotin, Hydrolyzed Collagen

So in the first five ingredients we have two silicones, an emulsifier, biotin and protein. Which is... Mildly confusing actually? I feel like this is a weird mixup of a deep conditioner and a cheap, cone-heavy conditioner? 

Interesting ingredients

Cyclopentasiloxane is a silicone used to retain moisture, and has been regulated to under 0,1% of product weight in rinse off products in the EU since 2018 so I'm surprised to see it so high up on the list. 

Cetearyl Alcohol is a surfactants that lowers the surface tension between oil and water, so it can dissolve oil

Dimethicone is a silicone and an emollient.

Biotin doesn't penetrate skin, so it doesn't do anything in the product, but can't really harm either. I have no strong opinion on this as long as the product isn't advertised with "OMG it has biotin to make your hair grow!!11!"

Hydrolyzed Collagen is a protein.

Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein is a protein.

Behentrimonium Methosulfate is, despite the scary name, a ammonium compound made from rapeseed oil and functions as an emulsifier

Cetyl Alcohol is an emulsifier which means it lowers the surface tension between oil and water so it can dissolve oils and be used for cleansing

Dimethiconol is a silicone polymer, which is a non-water soluble film former. Since it isn't water soluble, it's a silicone that builds up easily. 

Polyquaternium-37 is a quaternium ammonium compound and will bind to the damaged areas of hair.

OGX Brazilian keratin smooth

OGX Brazilian keratin smooth ingredient list
Water (Aqua), Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetyl Alcohol, Behentrimonium Chloride, Glycerin, Hydrolyzed Keratin, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Seed Butter, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Glycol Stearate, Glycol Distearate, Ceteareth-20, Isopropyl Alcohol, Dimethicone, Cyclotetrasiloxane, Citric Acid, Cyclopentasiloxane, Panthenol, Tetrasodium EDTA, DMDM Hydantoin, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, Red 40 (CI 16035), Yellow 5 (CI 19140), Blue 1 (CI 42090), Fragrance (Parfum).

Applying the Beauty Brains "First five ingredients rule"

Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetyl Alcohol, Behentrimonium Chloride, Glycerin, Hydrolyzed Keratin

In the first five ingredients, we have the two first ingredients that are basically the same. Cetearyl alcohol is made from cetyl alcohol, and both are emulsifiers with the only difference being in the number of carbon atoms in the molecule. Behentrimonium Chloride is an emulsifier. Glycerin is a moisturizer. Hydrolyzed Keratin is of course a protein. 

So we have emulsifier, emulsifier, emulsifier, moisturizer and protein. Nice. I expect this one to be a really good cleanser.

Interesting ingredients

Cetearyl Alcohol is an emulsifier which means it lowers the surface tension between oil and water so it can dissolve oils and be used for cleansing

Cetyl Alcohol is an emulsifier which means it lowers the surface tension between oil and water so it can dissolve oils and be used for cleansing

Behentrimonium Chloride is, despite the scary name, a ammonium compound made from rapeseed oil and functions as an emulsifier

Glycerin is a really good moisturizer and an humectant.

Hydrolyzed Keratin is a protein

Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil

Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil

Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Seed Butter

Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice. Well, crap. This one slipped. I'm painfully allergic to aloe vera when its pressed with skin, but you never can tell when you just see it on the ingredient list like this. So the Brazilian keratin smooth will be stuck becoming a length-only product for me. I can't risk having it near my skin.

Panthenol does maybe-maybe not penetrate and strengthen hair.

OGX Keratin oil

OGX Keratin oil ingredient list
Water (Aqua), Cetearyl Alcohol, Dimethicone, Hydrolyzed Keratin, Argania Spinosa (Argan) Kernel Oil, Behentrimonium Methosulfate, Dimethiconol, Polyquaternium-37, Propylene Glycol Dicaprylate/Dicaprate, PPG-1 Trideceth-6, Cetyl Alcohol, Fragrance (Parfum), DMDM Hydantoin, Yellow 5 (CI 19140), Yellow 6 (CI 15985), Blue 1 (CI 42090)

Applying the Beauty Brains "First five ingredients rule"

Cetearyl Alcohol, Dimethicone, Hydrolyzed Keratin, Argania Spinosa (Argan) Kernel Oil, Behentrimonium Methosulfate

So in this one we have emulsifier, emulsifying silicone, protein, oil and finally another emulsifier. So this is a good cleanser and deep treatment. 

Interesting ingredients

Cetearyl Alcohol is an emulsifier which means it lowers the surface tension between oil and water so it can dissolve oils and be used for cleansing

Dimethicone is an emollient and silicone

Hydrolyzed Keratin is a protein 

Argania Spinosa (Argan) Kernel Oil

Behentrimonium Methosulfate is, despite the scary name, a ammonium compound made from rapeseed oil and functions as an emulsifier

Dimethiconol is a silicone polymer, which is a non-water soluble film former. Since it isn't water soluble, it's a silicone that builds up easily.

Polyquaternium-37 is a quaternium ammonium compound and will bind to the damaged areas of hair.

Cetyl Alcohol is an emulsifier which means it lowers the surface tension between oil and water so it can dissolve oils and be used for cleansing

OGX Orchid oil

This is the only of the products that is protein free. 

OGX Orchid oil ingredient list
Aqua, Cetearyl Alcohol, Glycerin, Behentrimonium Chloride, Cetyl Alcohol, Dimethicone, Cymbidium Grandiflorum Flower Extract, Vitis Vinifera Seed Oil, Euterpe Oleracea Fruit Extract, Malpighia Glabra Fruit Extract, Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate, Dimethiconol, Cyclopentasiloxane, Polyquaternium-37, Propylene Glycol Dicaprylate/Dicaprate, Ppg-1 Trideceth-6, Propylene Glycol, Alcohol, Butylene Glycol, Caprylyl Glycol, Sodium Chloride, Hexylene Glycol, Tetrasodium Edta, Leuconostoc/Radish Root Ferment Filtrate, Dmdm Hydantoin, Diazolidinyl Urea, Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate, Parfum, Benzyl Benzoate, Linalool, Benzyl Salicylate, Hydroxycitronellal, Limonene, Citronellol, Ci 17200

Applying the Beauty Brains "First five ingredients rule"

Cetearyl Alcohol, Glycerin, Behentrimonium Chloride, Cetyl Alcohol, Dimethicone

So emulsifier, moisturizer, emulsifier, emulsifier and a silicone that also functions as an emulsifier. Yep, this is a cleansing conditioner for sure.

Interesting ingredients

Cetearyl Alcohol is an emulsifier which means it lowers the surface tension between oil and water so it can dissolve oils and be used for cleansing

Glycerin is a really good moisturizer and an humectant.

Behentrimonium Chloride is, despite the scary name, a ammonium compound made from rapeseed oil and functions as an emulsifier

Cetyl Alcohol is an emulsifier which means it lowers the surface tension between oil and water so it can dissolve oils and be used for cleansing

Dimethicone is an emollient and silicone

Cymbidium Grandiflorum Flower Extract. Hmm. First extract in any of the products. I'm sort of impressed: Most products have pointless extracts. But this one is actually not pointless, since it's an orchid, so it's right there in the name. Don't get me wrong: I dislike extracts like this, but it's nice that it has the advertised extract in it so high on the list. I like that OGX didn't try to fancy it up by calling it "Asian orchid" or "Indian orchid" or something stupid to make it sound extra fancy. That seems to be a tendency for a lot of other products. However, I have to point out that this is actually a (lol) Hooker's Cymbidium *snicker* (Yes, yes, grow up, Igor) 

Vitis Vinifera Seed Oil. This is the common grape, so grape seed oil.

Euterpe Oleracea Fruit Extract is the açaí fruit. One of those super fruits. But since it doesn't seem to penetrate skin or scalp, it's a pointless extract.
Malpighia Glabra Fruit Extract is red acerola. Again, one of those super fruits with high levels of vitamin C, but that probably doesn't penetrate skin or scalp. As usual, there are no explanation on what "extract" really means. There is an episode of The Snailcast where Shell of Holysnails talks about how a supplier to her webshop offered her ruby extract to add to her products. Which is completely nonsensical, but explains a lot of what extracts can be. It can be something good, but it can also be a single berry quickly dipped in a bucket of alcohol. What it takes to extract the extract is never specified. 

Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate is a UVB sunscreen ingredient. It also goes under the name of octyl methoxycinnamate and or octinoxate. As much as I love sunscreen ingredients in my haircare products and actively seek them out, this one I feel unhappy with: This ingredient is so harmful to coral reefs that it's restricted in some countries. I actually spotted SPF products on Fuerteventura last year that had stickers on them with texts about this and a stylized image of a coral on it. Back then, I didn't really think anything of it, but now I understand why. I still have a bottle left:

So maybe that explains why this product has a different shape than the other bottles: OGX is shipping their old stock of this one to countries that doesn't have laws against this ingredient, and are making more without the ingredient or discontinuing it completely. Of course, this is just my speculation. But I would say it's a pretty good guess. Sweden is pretty much as far away from coral reefs as you can get, so they are probably trying to ship them off to the colder edges of the world. 

Dimethiconol is a silicone polymer, which is a non-water soluble film former. Since it isn't water soluble, it's a silicone that builds up easily

Cyclopentasiloxane is a silicone used to retain moisture, and has been regulated to under 0,1% of product weight in rinse off products in the EU since 2018 due to concerns about buildup in water

Polyquaternium-37 is a quaternium ammonium compound and will bind to the damaged areas of hair

Leuconostoc/Radish Root Ferment Filtrate. This is a preservative made by fermenting radish root. My best guess is that it simply sounds "better" than the names of normal preservative ingredients.

In conclusion..

Lady Igor says

First of all: I'm impressed. Like, genuinely impressed. In fact, I'm so impressed that I have ordered three of the four again. Just two of each this time. And I have ordered three leave in conditioners from the brand to try as well. 

I will, of course, not buy the OGX Orchid oil conditioner again. Even though I do love SPF in my haircare, I will not get this one again. I will stick to my usual tablespoon of SPF in my leave in products over this. 

Second: It's rare that you find a product in this price range where the heavy hitting ingredients are so high up on the ingredient list. Especially when you find several interesting ingredients in a product like this.

OGX Biotin & collagen would be used as a deep conditioner for me. 
OGX Brazilian keratin smooth is a cleanser and deep conditioner, and used as such, I think this was my favorite of the bunch.
OGX Keratin oil is another cleanser and deep conditioner. If you want some argan oil with your protein and deep conditioning, this is the one to pick over the Brazilian keratin smooth.
OGX Orchid oil is a cleansing conditioner, but I will not buy it again.