Not to get all Allure Magazine on you people, but here’s a pesky question I ask once a day, while lathering up with a dollar-an-ounce conditioner, imagining there must be a better way. What’s the best cheap conditioner? Is there some scraggly-hair salvation in those elephantine jugs of Suave and Pantene at Costco? Is there a secret drugstore brand that’s worth its weight in jojoba oil? So, Broketown, I put it to you. Speak your truth in the comments. Bonus points if your before hair looks like Phil Spector’s (cause you need ’em).
Related Articles
Outings
Continue
FREE: The Bar Method Anniversary Celebration in Cobble Hill (12/1)
Free barre classes, mini facials, and more.
Guides
Continue
Healing without healthcare: A guide to Brooklyn’s botanicas
The state of American healthcare is up in the air, so now’s a good time to find your nearest botanica and consider investing in some alternative healing.
15 Comments
Leave a Reply
tresseme!
Definitely Pantene. Treseme kills your hair. Garnier is just ok.
This is the best photo editing job for a story ever.
If you have curly/afro/dry-prone hair,
1. Aussie 3-Minute Miracle is great.
2. Suave Naturals Almond & Shea Butter
3.Pantene, if you don’t mind a really fragrant one
4. Suave Tea Therapy line for the 99 cent variety
I love the Aussie conditioners for dry & colored hair too. AND they usually have them at the Dollar store near my apt, for half the price they are anywhere else. Score!
not drug store, but one of the best conditioners i’ve ever used came from a dollar store on broadway in williamsburg.
the brand is called “hairvitalize.” i think it’s a common dollar store hair brand, as i’ve seen them in several other spots… try checking at your local one. totally helped my curly/ frizzy hair, and was either $1 or $3. can’t remember.
I definitely agree about Pantene – their volumizing one is brilliant. Also, they *do* send Bumble & Bumble in drugstores now, but those are hardly thrifty options (even though their coco leave-in conditioner is of the gods).
Pantene or Aussie for sure (and those two are often on sale). What’s great about Aussie is that a little bit goes a long way. I’m having the opposite issue with Herbal Essences right now. I have to use twice the amount of conditioner for every shampoo.
And this isn’t drugstore, but the conditioner from Trader Joe’s is pretty cheap, and is good quality/lasts a long time. Only slight downside is that there’s only two kinds (I think): tea tree oil and citrus.
I have kinky/curly Afro.hair and I like VO5 Passion fruit smoothie and suave coconut
No Joke: “Mane & Tail” Conditioner and Shampoo available at CVS. Its by Straight Arrow and i think it was originally only used on horse’s hair and then experimented by a trainer on her own hair…the rest as they say is hairistoy.
http://manentail.com/
Trader Joe’s Nourish Spa is the best cheap shampoo and conditioner and it is mostly natural ingredients (unlike pantene or Aussie)
It makes my hair perfect every time and is only $3.
I actually just use diluted apple cider vinger as a conditioning rinse, about one or two tablespoons in two cups of water. You smell the vinegar while your hair is drying, but once it’s dry, you definitely don’t smell it at all.
Thanks for the ideas everyone. I still don’t get this vinegar thing though. I’ve heard it before, but wouldn’t vinegar be an astringent? How does it possibly condition?
I know, right; vinegar as a conditioner sounds completely counter-intuitive! I can’t really explain it, but it definitely works. I’ve been doing the “no-poo” thing for a couple months now, (wash with a baking soda paste, rinse with the diluted vinegar) and my hair feels great and I only have to do it once a week. I was in a rush one day and I only did the baking soda and my hair felt dry and terrible for the rest of the day, so the vinegar definitely serves a purpose. It’s definitely worth trying, even if you only do it a few times.
Also, “no-poo” is a terrible name for something as simple as “not using shampoo.”