Monat Shampoo and Conditioner: An In-Depth Ingredient Review

Monat has garnered significant attention in the haircare industry, prompting a close examination of its shampoo and conditioner ingredients. This article provides a detailed analysis of the components found in Monat products, aiming to offer clarity and informed perspectives.

Introduction to Monat

Monat is a haircare company. It is a family owned business.

Key Ingredients and Their Functions

A deep dive into the ingredients list reveals a mix of familiar and lesser-known components. Here's a breakdown of some key ingredients and their potential effects:

Water (Aqua/Eau)

The most common ingredient in cosmetics, water acts as a solvent. The water used in cosmetics is purified and deionized, meaning that almost all of the mineral ions inside it is removed.

Cleansing Agents

• Sodium Cocoamphoacetate: A versatile and biodegradable cleansing agent with high cleaning power and strong foaming properties. It is a mild, non-drying cleanser that leaves skin feeling soft. Its amphoteric structure, containing both positively and negatively charged parts, makes it very mild with great foaming properties.
• Cocamidopropyl Betaine: A super common ingredient in cleansing products, valued for its bubble-stabilizing properties and mildness. It works well with other cleansing agents to achieve a balance between effective cleansing and preventing over-cleansing.

Emollients and Oils

• Meadowfoam Seed Oil: An emollient plant oil with a unique fatty acid composition (high in long-chain fatty acids) that makes it extraordinarily stable. It contains antioxidant components such as vitamin E and phytosterols. It's described as non-greasy, rapidly absorbed, and having a similar skin feel to jojoba oil.
• Crambe Abyssinica Seed Oil: An emollient plant oil coming from the seeds of Crambe Abyssinica, a not very well-known plant native to the Ethiopian Highlands.
• Camellia Oil: A beautiful golden-yellow oil coming from the Camellia tree. It's a great emollient and moisturising oil for dry skin.
• Carrot Seed Oil: The oil coming from the seeds of the carrot. The fixed oil is a nice emollient plant oil that is loaded with moisturizing fatty acids (petroselinic acid - 60% and linoleic acid - 12% are the main ones). Other important components are carotol (30%) and daucol (12%) that give the seed oil antifungal and antioxidant properties. Browsing cosmetic manufacturer info, the oil is also often described as revitalizing, toning and stimulating.
• Coconut Oil: Coconut oil has pretty solid research showing that it can penetrate into the hair very well (better than mineral oil and sunflower oil) and it can prevent hair protein loss as well as combing damage. If you have problems with damaged hair, split ends, coconut oil is worth trying as a pre- or/and post-wash treatment.
• Moringa Oil: The oil coming from the seeds of the Moringa tree, a big white-flowered tree native to India. It's a yellow oil similar to olive oil.
• Sunflower Seed Oil: A great emollient that makes the skin smooth and nice and helps to keep it hydrated. It also protects the surface of the skin and enhances the damaged or irritated skin barrier. It's also loaded with fatty acids (mostly linoleic (50-74%) and oleic (14-35%)). The unrefined version is especially high in linoleic acid that is great even for acne-prone skin.

Peptides and Extracts

• Acetyl Tetrapeptide-3: A relatively new, four amino acid peptide that promises to help combat hair loss alongside red clover extract as part of the trademarked technology Capixyl. The main thing of Acetyl Tetrapeptide-3 is to stimulate the synthesis of key Extra Cellular Matrix components in the scalp. Together with red clover extract, the duo has a synergistic action and works to combat hair loss thanks to a neat multi-faceted approach: it not only stimulates important ECM components but also inhibits the DHT-causing 5-a-reductase enzyme and reduces micro-inflammation around hair follicles.
• Trifolium Pratense (Red Clover) Flower Extract: This ingredient may be of concern to anyone at risk for estrogenic cancers, like breast and ovarian, or those with the BRCA genes.

Additives

• Propanediol: A natural alternative for propylene glycol.
• Glycol: An often used glycol that works as a solvent, humectant, penetration enhancer and also gives a good slip to the products.
• Distearoylethyl Dimonium Chloride: A so-called diester created from two stearic acid molecules and an ethylene glycol molecule. Its main thing is being an opacifier and pearling agent in cleansing products making them white and glossy.
• Amodimethicone: A modified dimethicone-type silicone molecule that also contains amino-groups. Having amino-groups means that Amodimethicone also has Nitrogen in its molecule that likes to have a positive charge. Positively charged (or quaternised) molecules are substantive to skin and hair as those are negatively charged surfaces and are excellent film formers.
• Citric Acid: An AHA that comes from citrus fruits.

Preservatives

• Phenoxyethanol: It's one of those things that help your cosmetics not to go wrong too soon, aka a preservative. No matter the origin, in small amounts (up to 1%) it’s a nice, gentle preservative. Has to be combined with some other nice preservatives, like potassium sorbate to be broad spectrum enough.
• Ethylhexylglycerin: An Ecocert-approved, natural preservative that counts as gentle and non-irritating to the skin. Usually, it comes to the formula as part of a preservative blend as it's not enough on its own.
• Benzyl Alcohol: Benzyl alcohol is both naturally occurring as well as synthetic.

Fragrance

The generic term for nice smelling stuff put into cosmetic products so that the end product also smells nice.

Read also: Benefits of Innersense Shampoo

Controversial Ingredients and Concerns

Some ingredients in Monat products have raised concerns:

• Fragrance: Companies can hide thousands of harmful ingredients in this one label: fragrance. Roughly 95% of all synthetic fragrance is derived from petroleum, crude oil. Not only is this environmentally harmful, this process produces carcinogens like benzene and endocrine disruptors like phthalates.
• Steareth-20: Steareth-20 is a synthetic polymer composed of PEG (polyethylene glycol) and stearyl alcohol. Ceteareth-20 is the polyethylene glycol ether of cetearyl alcohol; may contain potentially toxic impurities such as 1,4-dioxane.
• Dimethylamine: The substance is severely irritating to the eyes and the respiratory tract . Inhalation of the substance at high levels may cause lung oedema (see Notes). As a pure chemical substance Dimethylamine is used as dehairing agent in tanning, in dyes, in rubber accelerators, in soaps and cleaning compounds and as an agricultural fungicide… Long-term inhalation of low concentrations or short-term inhalation of low concentrations has adverse health effects. This is likely with direct exposure to dimethylamine, but still fairly shocking. It is a known human lung and skin irritant as well as a known toxic substance.
• Centrimonium chloride: At low doses, it is a skin irritant . At high doses, it can potentially be embryotoxic (cause death, growth retardation and/or abnormal development) and teratogenic (disturb the development of the fetus). Again, this is only at high doses, not low doses .
• Lemon Peel Oil: Lemon peel contains a medium amount of them, more than sweet orange but less than bergamot. Be careful with it especially if it is in a product for daytime use.

Concerns Regarding Marketing Claims

It’s completely unacceptable that Monat states that they don’t use fragrance, PEGs or phtalathes when they are literally on their ingredient lists.

Read also: Natural Haircare with Mermaid Dry Shampoo

Read also: Is Bio-Groom Shampoo Safe?

tags: #monet #shampoo #and #conditioner #review #ingredients

---

---