I’d been battling a losing battle with blemishes and acne for the past month and a half. I’d never really had perfect smooth skin but I’d stopped getting breakouts too. I’m getting too old for having a face full of acne! So, I was at quite a loss last month when my whole face inexplicably broke out. Not only was I getting hard painful acne, I was also getting lots and lots of bumps under my skin which were horrid. My forehead, where I don’t get many spots, was a mess as were my cheeks.
I initially thought it was a skin product I was trying out so I stopped using it. Instead of going away, I kept getting one bump after another on my skin and it really bugged me.
That was until I was reading some reviews online and came across a user of Tresemme hair conditioner who loved how soft the conditioner made her hair, but said that it caused her to get body acne. That got me thinking. What if the skin problems I was facing was not to do with skincare but with the Tresemme conditioner I was using? I gave it a rave review previously, but I’d never thought it might affect the skin.
My hair conditioner was finishing, so I decided to stop instead of restocking, just to see if my gut feeling was right. I went instead for Himalaya Herbals Protein Conditioner which I have also reviewed.
Within 3 days of stopping my Tresemme conditioner, I realised I was not getting any new spots. Within a week, and with a little help from my trusty apple cider vinegar toner, my skin is now almost back to the way it was i.e. relatively smooth, with no new blemishes or spots. I’m very happy about that.
However, it got me wondering about why the Tresemme conditioner would cause my skin to break out. I’ve never had a hair product do this to me before. It could be because I wash my hair everyday so I am exposed to the product a lot and something in it did not agree with me.
Either way, I seem to have isolated the hair conditioner as the cause of my traumatic month-long battle with problem skin and I’m working on clearing it up now, with great success.
Have you had a hair product break you out before?
Another one googled and ended up here! Herbal Essences in particular gives me terrible spots on my scalp.
Wow! After reading everyone’s comments on these shampoos and conditioners, i’m worried and now convinced that my acne-like breakouts all over my face are from the Herbal Essences shampoo and conditioner i have recently switched to! I have stopped using the Herbal Essences and started using an organic shampoo and conditioner which doesn’t seem to irritate my face. Just hoping the pimples/spots/scars will disappear quickly. I usually have quite clear skin with the occasional blemish but nothing like what i have now!! I had been using the “Herbal Essences Moisture-Balancing Chamomile, Aloe Vera and Passion Flower” for about 4 weeks before my face broke out in allergy type acne. After a lot of research on the internet, all the “big name” brands such as; Pantene, Herbal Essences, Dove, Sunsilk etc all contain harmful chemicals… too many to list in fact but namely many people react to the Detergents and Fragrances in these products. Not everyone will have a reaction to the harmful chemicals but they definitely aren’t doing you any good in the long run. My advice is everyone should switch to Organic hair care and skin care products and you should see a lot of good changes physically and psychologically. No one has really posted since they have stopped using the products they suspected of causing break outs, i’m interested to know if anyone’s skin cleared up ??? The doctor gave me two cortisone’s to use and they have only helped minimally. My skin seems to be coping better without anything on it but fresh air and a little sunlight but because of work i have been having to use a little concealer. I have booked an appointment with a Dermatologist to try to find out exactly what has caused my face to break out but i am 99.5% sure it is the Herbal Essence Shampoo and Conditioner. Evil products. ha ha. These skin issues can leave us feeling ugly, stressed and downright depressed… i have been experiencing all of these feelings but with time, a positive attitude and a known cause for the skin issue hopefully sees us feeling much better. I’ll keep everyone updated on my face results. xx
WOW! I can’t believe it, I swear I thought it was just me! I finally figured out a few weeks ago that my Loreal ProVive was causing my face to break out HORRIBLY. I have used this brand for a long time and never had problems. So once I FINALLY made the connection, I quit using it immediately. Until I could get to the store to get something else, I used these little sample bottles of shampoo and conditioner that we had. My skin started clearing up right away. I thought, great! So off I go, and I bought Pantene Nature Fusion, thinking it was more natural, blah blah blah. Turns out it has the same chemicals everyone here has mentioned! So, then, after reading all of this, I was thinking – why did my skin clear up in between using the two major brands? I was using little sample bottles and I had NO idea where they even came from. I stopped reading here, grabbed those little bottles – and guess what! They are Giovanni Organic Hair Care!!! Although I wasn’t super thrilled with the results of the conditioner, I will happily deal with that over having skin that looks like a train wreck!! Thanks for sharing!!
I too have been plagued by acne that only occured on my forehead! At first I thought it was just my fringe causing it, but for a year now I have not had a fringe and it still persists. I heard about shampoo/hair products causing acne about a year ago, so far ALL L’Oreal products, Tresemme, Pantene and Toni & Guy cause the painful bumps and acne, but I went to my local craft market and bought some organic shampoo and conditioner-already I have no new spots and it’s slowly but surely clearing up. Seriously, as soon as you start t learn about what you slather your hair in every day and what the chemcials can do it sends you running to natural alternatives! They may cost more, but the cost of my shampoo and conditioner = £15. The cost of an acne free forehead = priceless.
I had a ichy scalp and I decided to try Burts Bees shampoo line. Well I can say it DEFINETLY worked. I was also exsperiencing bacne. When I used Burts Bees shampoo I was getting pimples on my back and back of my neck. I want to say it was because of all the hairspray I was using but I am not 100% sure what caused it. I stopped using the burts bees to see if that was causing the acne. but no, i still have it. So i decided to try tresemme, but then everytime when I went to straighten my hair it started to get static. So i realized it needed more moisture. I never had static with burts bees products. So i had to decided whether I wanted staticy hair or pimples on my back. I said screw it and went back to burts bees. My hair is very important to me. Well I just started using Burts bees super shiny shampoo and conditioner. I have not noticed any new breakouts. But only time will tell. It could have also been the soap i was using. Bar soaps are a no no for me. It makes my back really dry. So i bought a bottle of Burts bees body wash. I am going to see if this clears up my acne. I HOPE SO WISH ME LUCK!!! and good luck to you all. But if I had to recommend a shampoo and conditioner. I would recommend Burts Bees. If you have a ichy flaky scalp. it will clear it right up…no lie. and for bacne…well try burts bees and if it doesnt improve then change your body wash/soap to stearic free soap bars. and sodium laureth sulfate free body wash.
In the last two weeks, my skin has broken out horribly! My skin had been fairly clear for months, previously. At first, I thought it was hormonal, but my period is still at least a week away. Then, I realized I just switched shampoo/conditioner. I’ve been using Garnier smooth and sleek. For one thing, it makes my hair really oily, and I’m fairly certain that this is the cause of my breakouts! my skin is broken out everywhere my hair touches my face. I switched to herbal essence… so we’ll see if this is any better.
Thank you so much for this information. I have also recently begun using Tresemme and started getting horrible cystic bumps and acne on my back and chest. I do have oily skin and have been prone to breakouts most of my life but at 35 I thought it was behind me. I’ve been terribly upset about it and have seen a dermatologist. Nothing worked and my skin scarred. It finally dawned on me that my conditioner could be exacerbating the problem and did a google search. Sure enough, here it is…the same thing I was thinking. I wish I had thought of it sooner but at least now I can stop using that crap and hope my skin will heal.
Hi there
I use tresseme hairspray and when I sprayed my side swept bangs I would get hairspray on my forehead which caused me to break out. I wouldn’ t break out if I didn’t get any hairspray on my skin.
I LOVE this site!!! Has totally made my night and made me feel so much better knowing that I am not alone. I’ve been using Pantene, which isn’t too hard on my skin but, makes my hair fall out. I tried Neutrogena shampoo and conditioner and broke out on day one. I used to use salon brands like Bumble and Bumble and broke out all the time. I’m going organic. Thank you ALL for the advice!
are you sure it’s acne and not an allergic reaction? like a skin rash or something?
Use Loreal EverPure it is sulfate free and is made for hair that has been colored
I recently pitched Loreal EverStrong Reconstruct shampoo/conditioner for causing breakouts on my forehead and cheeks. I’ve had similar issues with Nexxus Humectress, Matrix Biolage, Burts Bees and now Suave Professionals Almond/Shea Butter.
No!! Do not use L’Oreal EverPure. I started using it several months ago thinking I was doing a favor for my hair. Around that same time I started breaking out TERRIBLY- just as described above: some painful acne and TONS of small, hard bumps under the skin. The small bumps were what bothered me most as they are impossible to hide. I fortunately found this page and immediately replaced my L’Oreal with Burt’s Bees for color treated hair. It has been only 2 days and I am already noticing a difference. Can’t go wrong with Burt’s Bees as their products are always 90-something % natural with no sulfates or parabens. Good Luck!!
I was told by a dermatologist that the ingredient “panthenol” (which I believe is a B-vitamin) will cause breakouts on the face and body. I know a lot of the drugstore shampoos and conditioners add panthenol to their products (like Tresseme!) because it is a cheap ingredient that will smooth and soften hair. After a long battle (8 years!) with face/body acne, I stopped using products with panthenol and my face/body is perfectly clear! I use Aveda products now, the majority of them do not have panthenol added. Hopefully this will help someone else as much as it helped me!
I used Herbal Essences for years, all the while getting very painful boils on my head, which would then drain and leave small round bald spots on my head. I finally figured out that it might be the shampoo/conditioner might be causing these things and swithed to Aquage hair products and didn’t have anymore problems. Well, then I had 2 more kids, and am now a stay-at-home mom of 5 kids and budgeting for a family of 6 on one income has brought the need to make cuts in areas that I can. So, I started using the Garnier Fructis products. It took a while, but over the last year, my skin has been breaking out all over…like it did when I was a teenager, but worse!….back, shoulders, face, neck. And I’m getting those boils on my head again, and they are so painful. And the acne on my face is very painful as well.
Glad I found this site…I am thinking I will have to start budgeting for Burts Bees products because I can not take this discomfort anymore. I feel disgusting and am literally in pain all day every day. Crazy!
Hello! I am so glad I found this website because I have trouble with acne. I am 14 so, that does explain some of my acne but, I’ve never had acne this bad before! I get huge red bumps on my forehead and my cheeks and all over my back. I didn’t know what it was since I don’t wear any foundations of any sort. My mom suggested that it was my hair product. I didn’t want to believe her because it makes my curly hair look good, but after not using the Infusium for my hair my acne stopped! I just recently started using it again and it’s not making my face pretty. I will have to find a different hair product so I can get rid of this terrible acne. Thank you so much for posting this!
Does Burts Bee’s really work? I love their lipstick and stuff but does their shampoo and leave in conditioners work?
I have never used the Tresemme line, but the Herbal Essences and Aussie lines are death to my complexion. I went a full year before I realized that the problem was with my hair product. I spent a month washing with baby shampoo to test my theory, and after a month, I had my skin back to my pre-Aussie condition. Now I am super picky. I have had great luck with the Dove line, and their conditioner in the dark blue bottle is amazing. Also, the Curls Rock line from TIGI has been pretty safe. It took me a while and some trial and error to get back to good skin, but I am pretty happy I did it.
I have naturally curly hair, and have been using smoothing products, leave in conditioners and smoothing frizz control elixirs on my hair for years to control the frizz, especially in humity, and to limit damage from blow-drying my hair straight and using a flat iron. I recently stopped using the leave in and elixir and switched to a mouse, and noticed a big difference right a way in less breakouts on the sides of my face and my back. I don’t know why I never made the connection before, that my long hair touching my face and back, with all the hair products in it, could be the problem. No skin care professional I’ve ever been to ever suggested it either.
Now I’ve also been using the Aveda darkening shampoo and conditioner to keep my hair color longer, but I think I’m going to switch to WEN and see if that helps.
i’ve been using pantene shampoo and conditioner but if youll notice now i think they reformulate their products.. just got their new shampoo and conditiner w/ the new package/container already, and whala! my skin horribly breakout specially in forehead then side of cheeks… my dermatologist told me johnson johnson baby shampoo is godd, im still up to try it… so scared of those products now they can really damage skin.
Wow I am so glad to find this!! For the past 3 or 4 months I have been getting these hard, big, painful, under the skin blemishes and they are all in one area-right at the end of my jaw line towards my ears, on both sides of my face. I was like what could possibly be gathering there and nowhere else? I do have breakouts elsewhere on my face, but not horrible and nothing like this before! I Googled and saw it called several things; severe acne, hormonal acne, paraben allergy…Somehow it dawned on me that about 3 or 4 months ago I switched from Sunsilk (which I can no longer find in the stores) to Pantene!! I am going to go to the store TONIGHT and buy something different!! I am really hoping that this is what the problem is, at least for these stubborn painful under the skin blemishes!!
Ironically, I also felt like my hair was thinning in spots over the past few months. My friend that does my hair even said it feels like my hair is thinning! I saw another post that Pantene causes your hair to fall out?!?!?! Pantene doesn’t even make my hair look THAT great! DEFINITELY not worth this acne!!! Thanks everyone and best wishes to all! I will try to post results in a week or so!
White Rain Coconut Conditioner –
Water, Cetyl Alcohol, Dicetyldimonium Chloride, Citric Acid, Stearyl Alcohol, Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Extract, Panthenol (Provitamin B5), Ceteareth-20, Behenyl Alcohol, Fragrance, EDTA, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone.
As you can see, no SLS. SLS can be an irritant, but that’s actually not very common. I’ve been using this conditioner (I’m curly and mostly CO wash) for years under the assumption that a short ingredient list and no dyes meant safe.
I’ve had long term problems with my skin in the form of heavily clogged pores and blisters / bumps and itching/burning with occasional rashes. My skin is very dry and irritated. Lovely! Not acne, although it looks similar.
I am experimenting now, but it seem the culprit is probably the Methylchloroisothiazolinone & Methylisothiazolinone – both chemical preservatives that give many people contact dermatitis. Not so sure about the Dicetyldimonium Chloride.
Darn it! I love the smell of that conditioner!
Don’t jump to conclusions about which ingredient is causing issues. my advice is to just find the simplest products you can – sans chemical preservatives, sls, silicones, essential oils, fragrances, you name it. Understand though, that even “natural” products can cause reactions, and any surfactant can be an irritant.
I’m even trying to get away from our hard water.
Trial and error.
BTW – EDTA is a persistent organic pollutant – a very nasty. I won’t be buying this one anymore. (Dang it!)