Scalp Scrub Showdown Round 4
By Jill Oliver-Fox Monday, March 18, 2024 christophe robin, marc anthony, scalp scrub, scalp scrub showdown, the body shop, yves rocher
It is once again time for another Scalp Scrub Showdown. This is now my 4th time comparing 4 different scalp scrubs under a microscope. Of course, my microscope stopped working and I had to buy a new one for this round.
This round I am going to compare scrubs from Yves Rocher, Marc Anthony, Christophe Robin, and The Body Shop. Now I have already reviewed a scrub from both The Body Shop and Marc Anthony before, but they both seem to no longer exist. With that I will also note that today's Yves Rocher scrub isn't available anymore, it has been replaced with something new and the Marc Anthony scrub is on clearance. I think this just shows how fickle the market is for scrubs, I had a hard time finding four new ones to review and the fact two are already not available is a bit sad.
Above is what all four scrubs look like. You can see The Body Shop one is just goo; the Yves Rocher is a bit like a paste but still creamy. The Marc Anthony is creamy, and the Christophe Robin is thick. They are all very different and hard to compare one-on-one, but that is where the microscope comes in.
The Body Shop Ginger Hair & Scalp Scrub
Aqua/Water/Eau, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Glycerin, Juglans Regia Shell Powder/Juglans Regia (Walnut) Shell Powder, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Cocos Nucifera Shell Powder/Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Shell Powder, Polyglyceryl-2 Caprate, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Hydroxide, Benzyl Alcohol, Caprylyl Glycol, Panthenol, Coco-Glucoside, Glyceryl Oleate, Acacia Senegal Gum, Xanthan Gum, Propylene Glycol, Sodium Gluconate, Pseudoalteromonas Ferment Extract, Dimethicone Propyl PG-Betaine, Sodium Salicylate, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Parfum/Fragrance, Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein, Linalool, Citric Acid, Salix Alba Bark Extract/Salix Alba (Willow) Bark Extract, Limonene, Citronellol, Citral, Eugenol, Zingiber Officinale Root Oil/Zingiber Officinale (Ginger) Root Oil, Geraniol, Isopropyl Alcohol, Betula Alba Bark Extract, Sodium Benzoate, Tocopherol, Hydrogenated Palm Glycerides Citrate.
I really enjoyed The Body Shops Green Tea scrub from 2020, it was thick and had large chunks of salt in it to really scrub the scalp. I thought when I got this new scrub it would be similar. I was wrong, very very wrong. This is a thin sloppy goop with some little beads in it. It is essentially a shampoo in gloopy form. I have no clue why they put it in a tub, it is truly the worst packaging I could think of for a product of this texture.
It is basically a clarifying shampoo, it has no real grit to it, but surprisingly did a good job of getting my scalp and hair clean. I am honestly thinking that a really good clarifying shampooing of hair is all most people actually need to get their scalp clean. It lathered a lot and took a bit to rinse, it was as almost using very concentrated shampoo (I am used to this from diluting shampoo at my former work for dogs, it just isn't wise to use straight because it takes forever to rinse). I hardly consider this one a scrub at this point.
My hair seemed ok after, not the best but not the worse. The photos show my scalp isn't very clean at all. The day I used it, I noticed my scalp felt a bit tight and itchy. If I were to give it a grade, it would be a B-.
Pros:
· was a good clarifying shampoo that removed quite a bit of buildup
Cons:
· is messy in the tub
· is did not remove much buildup at all
· has no exfoliants, physical or chemical
· isn't really a scrub
· took forever to rinse
Yves Rocher Anti-Pollution Oxygenating Scrub
Sodium Chloride, Aqua/Water/Eau, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Glycerin, Methylpropanediol, Cocamide MIPA, Glyceryl Stearate, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Stearic Acid, Lauryl Glucoside, Parfum/Fragrance, Ethylhexylglycerin, Inulin, Fructooligosaccharides, Gellan Gum, Citric Acid, Limonene, Moringa Pterygosperma (Moringa Oleifera) Seed Extract, Maltodextrin, Tocopherol
I got this in late 2022 and by the start of 2023 it seemed to be removed from their website. I wish I reviewed it sooner but only got it with my advent calendar order. I has a typical salt scrub texture; it has a finer grade of salt to it than the Sephora Collection scrub I previously reviewed. It is a little hard to squeeze out of the tube due to its texture. I found it moderately awkward to apply to my scalp, but nothing too challenging. It lathered a fair amount and rinsed relatively easily considering the suds and salt in my hair.
I don’t see anything in the ingredients or application that would make it anti-pollution, so that was definitely a big gimmick to it.
I very much liked this scrub. My scalp and hair felt nice after using it. It did a very good job getting the buildup off my scalp, but my hair still felt some buildup. I would give this one A-.
Pros:
· it did a good job
· left scalp feeling nice
Cons:
· may be discontinued
Christophe Robin Cleansing Purifying Scrub with Sea Salt
Sodium Chloride, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Water, Butylene Glycol, Cocamide Mea, Glyceryl Stearate, Peg-100 Stearate, Saccharide Isomerate, Hydrated Silica, Bisabolol, Menthyl Lactate, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Fragrance, Phenoxyethanol, Benzyl Salicylate, Linalool, Limonene, Citronellol, Hexyl Cinnamal, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Evernia Furfuracea (Tree Moss) Extract, Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate.
This scrub seems to have a bit of a cult following when I looked up reviews. It seems to be pulled from Sephora but is still sold at The Bay and Nordstrom. It has a very thick texture with large and extra-large salt granules in it. For this round it has the largest chunks of salt but is most comparable to Nexxus or Ouai from past showdowns.
I found the formula just too thick to really get into my scalp area, obviously, if you suffer from hair loss it should be an easier task. The larger chunks of salt seemed almost too big in this formula, there were few smaller bits, so it was just large chunks scraping my scalp and slowly dissolving in the water. You can see below it is far larger than Nexxus scrub, which I thought already had big chunks.
It did a terrible job with my hair. It was hard to work with and the results weren't great. My scalp was red and itchy afterwards. My hair didn't look that clean and my scalp had more buildup than I would like. I am giving this a C+, there are better products that cost way less.
Pros:
· has visible and large physical exfoliants
Cons:
· messy
· left my scalp red
· left buildup
Marc Anthony Strictly Curls 3x Moisture 2-In-1 Scalp Scrub + Shampoo
Aqua/Water/Eau, Sodium Chloride, Sodium C14-16 Olefin Sulfonate, Propanediol, Glycerin, Bentonite, Cocamidopropyl Hydroxysultaine, Kaolin, Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate, Phenoxyethanol, Cetyl Alcohol, Caprylic /Capric Triglyceride, Fragrance/Perfume, Cetearyl Olivate, Citric Acid, Xanthan Gum, Sorbitan Olivate, Polyquaternium-7, QUARTZ, Coconut Oil, Ethylhexylglycerin, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter), Sodium Benzoate, Butylene Glycol, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Caffeine, Sclerocarya Birrea (Marula) Seed Oil
I picked this scrub up at Dollarama of all places, so I would assume it is discontinued or being reformulated. It has an interesting finer texture that has a grit to it. It has quartz in its ingredients as well as citric acid and kaolin, I believe these are the exfoliants in it.
It claims to remove buildup on the scalp and hair as well as pollutants. It is supposed to help with dry scalp and keep curly hair from drying out. It has some citric acid in it for chemical exfoliation and kaolin and bentonite clay to help physically remove build-up and help control oil.
I found it did easy to apply to the scalp since it wasn't too thick. It spread around and lathered easily. Rinsing took a bit of time but wasn't excessive. The instructions say to leave on for two minutes, which I did. After using my hair had tons of body.
This one actually did a fantastic job of getting my scalp and hair clean. I was very impressed because so many have not done this good of a job this time around. I am giving this one an A. If you see it, I would pick it up.
Pros:
· It was easy to apply
· worked pretty darn well
· is meant for curly hair (which is rare)
Cons:
· May be discontinued
The winner is...
I will be getting rid of The Body Shop one, I will not be using it again. I am going to try to use the other two up, I really did think the Yves Rocher one did a great job, I am going to look for the newer one when I run out of scrubs to review.
