How does a brand that’s outwardly ‘shunned’ silicone for years wind up using Amodimethicone? No, we haven’t been bought out by a big pharma company. No, we haven’t changed our stance on Silicone. And no! We’re not cutting costs!

In short, there are advances in ingredients, education and technology every day. When we looked into Amodimethicone, we felt this ingredient aligned with our ingredient philosophy and decided to add it to our new Anti-Frizz Shampoo and Conditioner. Let’s revisit why we’ve avoided silicone for so long, then look into why we like Amodimethicone and why we feel it aligns with our core brand values.

Silicone. The most discussed s-word in hair care. And for good reason!

Silicone has been used in hair care for decades. If you want soft, frizz-free and slinky hair, feel free to look for Silicone in your shampoo and conditioner. It genuinely helps to achieve those hair goals! It’s also an extremely cheap ingredient, which means companies can offer affordable hair care. Saying that, many companies just decide to add huge markups to their products to make high profit margins. We won’t bother giving our two cents on that…

Way back when developing our ingredient philosophy and deciding how we wanted to show up for our customers, we decided we wanted to offer affordable products that are gentle on the skin, the planet and actually work. What did that look like? Using naturally-derived ingredients as they’re generally better for you and the environment.

We didn’t (and still don’t) don’t like the use of Silicones in hair care. One, they're not water-soluble and wash into our fragile waterways. Two, they don’t actually address your hair concerns, just simply mask your problems. Kinda like that red wine (or three) after a hard day. They also linger on your hair, causing build-up that more often than not irritates your scalp, causing no end of issues.

In short, we still rate silicone 0 out of 5 stars. Use it if you want, but we don’t recommend it. We offer an entire range of hair care products that will help you achieve your hair goals without Silicone, starting at $16.90! 

Amodimethicone. More than just a tongue-twister.

When we decided to expand our hair care range, we knew we needed a Shampoo and Conditioner that targeted frizz. It’s a very common hair concern that many people on the A bit Hippy team have themselves. So, the product development team got to work to find a solution. We sampled numerous silicone-free anti-frizz formulations that were okay, but were definitely not up to standard.

We got thinking, talking and researching to figure out what the missing ingredient was. Literally. When the team started to look into Amodimethicone, to say they were surprised by the science of it would be an understatement.

Yes, Amodimethicone is a type of Silicone. Although, it’s a new type of Silicone that’s water-soluble, which means it can be easily rinsed off with water. So essentially, you won’t experience any of that build-up we mentioned that comes with traditional Silicones. We liked that Amodimethicone behaves in a way to target only the damaged areas of the hair; it’s not going to coat your entire hair shaft. Think of it like this, it's looking for the root cause (get it? 😜) instead of a blanket solution. Don’t fix what’s not broken!

The protective layer that Amodimethicone creates over the damaged parts of your hair means you’ll see:

• Reduced fly-aways, less frizz and manageable curls.
• Softer, smoother and shinier hair.
• UV and heat protection from thermal styling tools.
• Improvements with damaged and textured hair.
• No reduced body or volume (a usual side effect of traditional Silicones).
• An improved combing experience.
• Increased hair strength.

Exactly what we wanted for our Anti-Frizz Treatment Shampoo and Conditioner! We just knew this was the missing ingredient we needed.

If you’d like to research a little deeper into Amodimethicone, we recommend you begin with EWG.org. EWG stands for the Environmental Working Group and is a non-profit organisation governed by a board of directors, funded by individual donations and foundation grants. Amodimethicone rates 1-2 out of 10 on the AWG Skin Deep hazard score, 1 being ‘best’ and 10 being ‘worst’. Check it out here! 

“Woah, you’ve really gone against everything you stand for.”

First things first, transparency! Without naming names, SO many brands claiming to be ‘clean’, ‘non-toxic’, etc. use Silicones, Parabens and SLS without you even realising it. Just take a closer look at their ingredient list - usually written in a conveniently small font. As always, we’re being transparent. Highlighting what’s in our formulas, instead of sweeping it under the rug. We wanted to explain to you what Amodimethicone is and why we use it. That way, if you’re not a fan, you can avoid it. If you don’t like the sound of Amodimethicone, that’s okay! We have 4 other kinds of Shampoos and Conditioners that are completely free from Silicone. Don’t worry, we’d let you know if they did.

Here at A bit Hippy, we’re exactly that. A ‘bit’ hippy. We want to make products that are gentle on your skin and the environment, but firstly, they’ve got to do what we claim. If we want to claim ‘Anti-Frizz’, it’s got to reduce frizz. Period. We just couldn’t seem to achieve that without Amodimethicone. Industries progress all the time; there are 17 generations of the iPhone! That’s because they found improvements along the way. Now we’ve found a Silicone that we like, we’re more than happy to eat our words and say that maybe not ALL Silicones are inherently bad…

We hope this makes a little more sense as to why we’ve used Amodimethicone. As always, we’ll go the natural route where we can, but if we find an ingredient that performs better, we’ll opt for that and will always be sure to let you know. Knowledge is power!

If you have any questions or are looking for more clarity, give our friendly and very knowledgeable customer service team an email, message or buzz. They’re always up for chat and would love to hear from you!