Ingredient Breakdown #6 – L’oreal Elvive Dream Lengths Shampoo & Conditioner

Hi everyone!

It’s time for another post in the ‘Ingredient Breakdown’ series! This time I will be focusing on the *kinda* new shampoo & conditioner by L’oreal Elvive called Dream Lengths. This shampoo is aimed at people with long hair who want to save the last few inches of their hair. It is meant to reinforce your lengths. I was keen to try this combo as my hair is long and I want to prevent the ends from getting damaged best I can. I also really liked the packaging…

L'oreal Dream Lengths 1

Here is a list of the other combo’s I’ve covered in this series:
#1 – Herbal Essences daily detox shampoo & conditioner (Golden raspberry & mint)
#2 – John Frieda Sheer Blonde Highlight Activating shampoo & conditioner
#3 – Garnier Ultimate Blends Shampoo & conditioner, The Delicate Soother
#4 – L’oreal Elvive Fibrology Air Volumising and Thickening Shampoo & Conditioner
#5 – Herbal Essences Luscious Length Bee Strong Shampoo & Conditioner

My thoughts on this shampoo & conditioner so far
This L’oreal combo is really nice if you want to add extra moisture into your hair. The conditioner especially. If you struggle with dry hair then I think this one would be good for you (but lets see what the ingredients say). However, I find that my hair doesn’t stay feeling clean for a long time afterwards. I normally wash my hair every other day, but I would like to decrease this number. When I use these products, I find that the day after my hair is already starting to look kind of greasy… such a shame!

Shampoo
*the higher the ingredient, the more there is within the product
L'oreal Dream Lengths shampoo

Aqua – Water
Sodium Laureth Sulfate – This is a surfactant found in many personal care products and produces the lather in the shampoo, (because it breaks down the molecules to allow better interaction between the hair and shampoo). Although this is deemed as safe to use by many organisations, it is a known irritant to skin and eyes.  It has a very similar name to Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS), however Laureth (SLES) is a gentler surfactant. Some people try to stay away with the two SLS ingredients as they believe it causes dry and brittle hair.. a little strange when you consider this is meant to reinforce tips of hair..
Cocamidopropyl Betaine – Another surfactant which causes lather in the shampoo and it comes from coconut oil. It is also a thickening agent to the consistency of the shampoo.
Dimethicone – A type of silicone. Silicones are said to weigh hair down and will eventually make hair dull, limp and lifeless, despite the initial illusion of shine. Can prevent moisture from penetrating hair shaft, therefore hair can become dry and brittle and start to break. This is an ingredient that some people choose to stay away from.
Sodium Chloride  This is basically salt and is totally safe to use. It is used to thicken shampoo.
Parfum – Fragrance.
Titanium Dioxide – A naturally occurring mineral. Used as a colorant to make the product white.
Guar Hyrdoxypropyltrimonium Chloride – This prevents hair from becoming static and is also a conditioning agent and is generally considered safe.
Niacinamide – Forms of vitamin B3. Used to enhance the texture of hair, especially if it has been damaged.
Ricinus Communis Seed Oil – Castor Oil.
Mica – A mineral ingredient widely used in cosmetics to add shimmer and sparkle.
Coco-Betaine – An anti-static ingredient. Can be considered an environmental toxin.
Sodium Benzoate – This ingredient is found naturally in cranberries, cinnamon and other foods. It is used is shampoo as a preservative.
Sodium Hydroxide – Produces lather and can be a PH balancer. Nothing to worry about.
Hydroxycitronellal – A perfume ingredient. Floral scent with notes of lily and sweet melon.
Hydrolyzed Corn Protein – A hair conditioning agent made with hydrochloric acid and corn.
Hydrolyzed Soy Protein –  A hair conditioning agent made with hydrochloric acid and soy.
Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein –  A hair conditioning agent made with hydrochloric acid and wheat.
Hydroxypropyltrimonium Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein – An anti static agent.
Phenoxyethanol – A preservative and a fragrance. A limited amount of evidence that this is a skin and immune system irritant.
Steareth-6 – When added to cosmetics and personal care products, the Steareth ingredients reduce the interactive forces between molecules of other liquids so that an emulsion is formed.
Acetic Acid – An organic acid used for fragrance. Can be an irritant to the skin.
PEG-100 Stearate – A cleansing agent. Suspected to be an environmental toxin.
Trideceth-10 –  a surfactant. Some limitations in use as it expected to be toxic for organs. However it is safe in the amounts that it is found within cosmetics.
Trideceth-3 – Surfactant. Again, some limitations in use.
Salicylic Acid – Can be obtained from willow trees. It is an anti-dandruff agent and conditioning agent.
Limonene – Fragrance from citrus fruit. An irritant and toxic to wildlife and possibly humans. Has restrictions in cosmetics but in small amounts is allowed. (This is literally in every shampoo/conditioner combo that I have reviewed!)
Fumaric Acid – Fragrance ingredient. Classified as an irritant.
Panthenol – A form of vitamin B5, used as a moisturiser. PETA have warned that this can be derived from animals. (It can also be derived from plants, or be synthetic).
Benzyl Salicylate – A fragrant ingredient which is a known allergen and human immune system toxicant. There are some restrictions in use. Some people choose to avoid this.
Linalool – Used in floral fragrances. Occurs naturally in essential oils.
Benzyl Alcohol – A natural, non volatile alcohol used as a preservative. However, in products, we often find a synthetic version rather than the natural version. It is safe in the quantity that it is found in hair care products.
Amodimethicone – Another dimethicone. As I earlier mentioned some people choose to stay away from these ingredients.
Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone – A fragrance ingredient. Restrictions in cosmetics, possibly immune system toxin and allergen. An environmental toxin. Skindeep cosmetic database have this as a medium hazard and say there are medium to high restrictions. Perhaps something to be wary about?
Carbomer – Thickening agent.
Geraniol – A fragrance ingredient which is known to be a human toxicant and allergen. There are restrictions in use. Skindeep have this as a medium to high hazard on their database, which is slighly higher than Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone.
Citric Acid – This can cause irritation. However, since there isn’t too much of it in the shampoo it is safe to use. It’s found in citrus fruit.
Citronellol – Another fragrance which Skindeep have similar with Geraniol and Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone.
Coumarin – This is now the fourth fragrance ingredient that appears to be toxic and an allergen.
Hexylene Glycol – A surfactant and fragrance which is safe to use.
Hexyl Cinnamal – A natural ingredient used as a fragrance additive to make floral scents stronger.
Glycerin – This binds water which is mainly derived from vegetable oil. It isn’t usually in shampoo’s and is more commonly found in conditioner’s. It is known to prevent breakage in hair and leaves hair feeling soft.
Glycol Distearate – This produces the pearlescent effect in shampoo. It also creates a lot of foam. It is considered safe, but not natural.

CONDITIONER
*Anything without a description is listed above.L'oreal Dream Lengths conditioner

Aqua
Cetearyl Alcohol – An emulsifier and surfactant. Could be an environmental toxin.
Dicetyldimonium Chloride – An anti-static and conditioning agent. There is ‘strong evidence’ that this is a human toxicant and allergen.
Cetrimonium Chloride – An anti-static agent and a surfactant. Again, there is ‘strong evidence’ that this is a human toxicant and allergen. There is also strong evidence that this is a skin irritant.
Niacinamide
Ricinus Communis Seed Oil
Sodium Benzoate 
Hydroxycitronellal
Hydroxypropyltrimonium Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein
Hydrolyzed Corn Protein
Hydrolyzed Soy Protein
Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein
Phenoxyethanol

Steareth-6
Acetic Acid
PEG-100 Stearate
Trideceth-10
Trideceth-3
Trisodium Hedta
– A chelating agent
Chlorhexidine Digluconate – Used as a preservative. A respiratory toxicant and allergen. Skin toxicant. Restricted in Japan and Canada. Skindeep say it is a low to medium hazard.
Dimethicone
Limonene

Panthenol 
Benzyl Salicylate
Linalool

Benzyl Alcohol 
Isopropyl Alcohol – Anti-foaming agent, thinning agent and fragrance.
Amodimethicone
Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone
Tartaric Acid –
pH adjuster and a fragrance.
Geraniol
Cetyl Esters –
A skin conditioning wax.
Citronellol
Coumarin
Hexyl Cinnamol
Parfum

What a huge list?! I feel that this shampoo has quite a lot of ingredients compared to some of the other products in this series.
Although not many of these ingredients seem to be actually bad for the hair, there are a number which are considered toxic for either humans or the environment.
I will probably stay away from this combo in the future mostly because it doesn’t leave my hair feeling as clean as I would like! However, I do think it would help restore the tips and lengths of the hair, as it claims.

Have you tried these products? What do you think?

Jazmin xx

19 Comments

  1. May 23, 2018 / 6:33 pm

    I like this range for what it’s supposed to do in keeping my long hair looking healthy but I agree it’s not the most cleansing shampoo. The ingredients list was really interesting- thanks x

    • jazminheavenblog
      Author
      May 23, 2018 / 6:51 pm

      I’m so glad you agree!! Probably good for really damaged hair. I’m glad you found it interesting xx

  2. May 23, 2018 / 8:22 pm

    Love that you put the ingredients list and what they mean that was super helpful! The idea of this combo sounds amazing and I think I just might give the conditioner a try!

    • jazminheavenblog
      Author
      May 24, 2018 / 9:35 am

      I’m glad you found this useful!!! It’s great if you want to repair your hair x

  3. May 24, 2018 / 9:46 pm

    I love this blog series! It’s so interesting and informative! I need to pay more attention to ingredients in hair products! Thanks for doing this series!

    • jazminheavenblog
      Author
      May 25, 2018 / 11:58 am

      I’m so glad you find this helpful! X

  4. heidi
    November 21, 2018 / 12:37 pm

    Hey, I’m trying to understand if these contain silicone? I couldn’t see, but …

    • jazminheavenblog
      Author
      November 21, 2018 / 8:30 pm

      Hi yes, it does have dimethicone which is a type of silicone xx

  5. Gilberte Caron
    February 10, 2020 / 12:55 pm

    Hello from Canada I bought both shampoo and conditioner .It seems so hard to read the ingredients bought it anyway .My scalp very itchy and glad I found your blog reading the ingredients .Shame on L’Oréal so bad for the enviroment toxic too much fragrance.I am returning this product .Thank You ..

    • February 15, 2020 / 3:34 pm

      Yeah I wish companies would think more about what ingredients they are using. Thanks for reading I am glad you found this useful x

  6. Christine Williams
    March 9, 2020 / 2:01 pm

    Thank you for this great detailed information. I just colored my hair brown from blonde. Will this shampoo fade my new color?

    • March 9, 2020 / 6:12 pm

      Hi, I would recommend using hair products specifically formulated for coloured hair to keep your colour as fresh as possible x

  7. Charlotte
    July 25, 2020 / 8:56 pm

    I only use the conditioner and not the shampoo as I use it to de-knot my hair. Was wondering if it is still okay to use as my hair has been partly bleached blonde. I’m starting to get really paranoid about the brands I’m using, as the pantene shampoo has been nasty on my hair making terrible knots.

  8. Anjali
    August 26, 2020 / 11:14 am

    Hi guys i was reading your opinion but would say this shampoo and conditioner is soo good for my hair as i have frizzy and dry scalp. I was facing dandruff and hair fall from long time But this series has reduce the hair fall at the great extent as well as itchy scalp. I was wondering while reading comments why is this series too bad so i thought i must share my opinion with you guys. btw i have finished my third bottle.

    • August 26, 2020 / 9:21 pm

      Hey! Everyone is different so if these products work for you thats amazing! I personally have a more oily hair type, so i find these products can weigh the hair down. However if you have frizzy hair, then your hair may not feel so weighed down! Other ingredients in here are just personal choice if you want to avoid them or not, for example some people can find they are irritated by certain ingredients if they have a more sensitive skin. Other ingredients are bad for the planet, so people can choose to not use them for ethical reasons! Ultimately it mostly comes down to preference x

  9. KVN
    March 28, 2021 / 4:42 pm

    Thanks for the detailed explanation. I bought the conditioner and started using it. I also wanted to buy the shampoo but wanted to identify the ingredients. I only wanted to know if it had sulphate or not but this is very helpful. i love long silky hair but not at the cost of toxifying the environment.
    From now on i’ll try to find out ingredients in the items i use and limit the use as per necessity. Thanks.

  10. Deepa Ganesh Kumar
    March 30, 2021 / 3:25 am

    That’s a very beneficial review , the ingredients list . Thank you Jazmin

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