Nexxus is a popular shampoo brand which claims to both “strengthen hair from the inside” and form “a weightless, invisible barrier around every strand to block out humidity & frizz.”

But can shampoo ingredients actually prevent frizz? Does Nexxus shampoo contain any unhealthy ingredients? What was our Product Tester's honest experience trying it for a month? And is Nexxus better or worse than popular shampoo brands like Routine?

In this article we'll answer all of these questions and more, as we analyze the ingredients in one of Nexxus' most popular shampoos, to give our take on whether or not it's likely to be effective.

We'll also feature our Product Tester's experience purchasing and testing this product for a month, highlight some health claims on the Nexxus website that we disagree with, and compare Nexxus to other popular shampoo brands to pick our winners (and losers).

Key takeaways:

• Contains research-backed active ingredients for hair appearance
• Contains inactive ingredients we consider unhealthy
• We do not currently recommend Nexxus Shampoo

Ingredient Analysis

The ingredients in Nexxus Ultralight Smooth Weightless Protection Shampoo are shown below:

image source: https://www.nexxus.com/us/en/products/shampoo.html

Coconut acid was shown in a medical review published in the Scientific Reports journal to improve scalp health by increasing levels of healthy bacteria and reducing levels of harmful and inflammatory bacteria.

Hydrolyzed keratin is a a shampoo ingredient we consider potentially effective.

A 2018 clinical trial found that a specific type of hydrolyzed keratin (not the one in Nexxus shampoo) fixed damaged hair.

Hydrolyzed wheat protein was shown in a meta-study to be a safe and effective hair conditioning agent.

Unfortunately, while Nexxus shampoo has some effective ingredients, it also has two inactive ingredients we recommend avoiding.

Fragrance is an ingredient with toxicity concerns, as we documented in our Olaplex reviews article, and we recommend sticking to fragrance-free shampoos.

Benzyl salicylate was categorized as a “hazard class 2” by a Japanese regulatory body due to toxicity data. It has potentially endocrine-disrupting effects.

Overall, we consider Nexxus shampoo to be potentially effective for improving hair quality and reducing frizz, but we do not currently recommend it due to the inactive ingredients highlighted above.

We Tested Nexxus Shampoo

One of our product testers named Anna Chin tried Nexxus Shampoo for a month. 

Here's her experience:

The packaging comes in a bottle with a push-down dispenser which provides the right amount of product, and which is easy to control.

What I love about it is that you can lock the dispenser and it’s also small enough to bring on a weekend trip. I also love that its shaped like a geenie bottle , so it doesnt easily tip over on the shower counter. 

The smell is slightly scented and definitely not overpowering. It has a “fresh from the beauty salon” scent and it’s lovely without smelling like grandma’s closet.

It just feels clean and not overly scented. I love the subtleness of the smell and appreciate it. 

My hair feels soft and clean after a month of use.

I have very “oily at the roots but dry at the ends” type hair. I noticed that after several weeks of usage, that my hair feels cleaner and seems to wash away the greasy buildup.

Here's an image of my hair before using Nexxus Shampoo:

And here's an image of my hair after using Nexxus Shampoo for a month:

In the past, I’ve used drug store brand shampoos like Dove and Herbal Essence. This shampoo is definitely many steps up from drug store brands. It doesn't leave shampoo build up esp after several weeks of continued usage.

The only side effect I noticed was that my scalp was slightly itchy, but that could have been caused by the cold weather.

Honestly, I didn’t expect to be able to go two and sometimes three days without washing my hair and still have it look so good. I noticed improvements in strength and manageability beyond just cleaning.

I think potential customers should note that a little goes along way. It suds easily and leaves behind a fresh clean scent.

Overall, I would rate this product 8 out of 10, and would consider purchasing it again.

Questionable Health Claims

Update: after our publication of this article, these claims appear to have been removed from the Nexxus website.

At the time of initially publishing this article, the Nexxus website contained a number of questionable health claims, including the statement shown above that their shampoo creates an "invisible barrier" around hair follicles to block frizz:

image source: https://www.nexxus.com/us/en/products/shampoo.html

There is no citation for this claim and we do not understand how it would be possible for shampoo to create an invisible barrier around hair.

The company claims that jasmine flower is “known for its ultra-light moisturizing properties” but provides no citation for this claim.

We cannot find a single clinical study showing that jasmine flower (botanical name Jasminum) is an effective topical moisturizer.

The Nexxus website also claims that “18-MEA lipids” can “boost the cuticle cells’ natural hydrophobicity.” This suggests that these ingredients repel water, and again, there is no citation for this claim at the time of updating this article.

18-MEA is short for 18-methyleicosanoic acid, which is not an ingredient in the Nexxus shampoo we reviewed, making this claim even more confusing to us.

We cannot locate clinical studies suggesting that any of the ingredients in Nexxus shampoo can naturally repel water, or what the benefit of that would be to hair.

Overall, we consider all of these questionable and uncited health and beauty claims to be a red flag about the brand.

Why Was Nexxus Recalled?

In October of 2022, Unilever (the company that owns Nexxus) announced a recall of Nexxus dry shampoo due to "potentially elevated" levels of benzene, which is a carcinogen.

This means that this ingredient can potentially cause cancer.

There's also an active lawsuit investigation on the ClassAction.org website that lists Nexxus among other shampoo brands that may be facing lawsuits in the future over the ingredients DNDM hydantoin and sodium lauryl sulfate which the attorneys allege may cause hair loss and scalp irritation.

It's important to note that Nexxus has not been sued for any product damage claims at the time of updating this article, but we do find these developments to be concerning.

Nexxus vs. Popular Shampoos

Here's how Nexxus compares to other popular shampoo brands in terms of formulation quality, in our opinion:

Routine

Contains phenoxyethanol, which is clinically shown to be toxic in vitro.

However, we consider this ingredient to be less of a health risk than fragrance.

We give Routine Shampoo the advantage from a health perspective.

Winner: Routine

Viori

This shampoo bar contains fragrance, as we documented in our Viori Shampoo reviews article.

However, it's free of the preservative categorized as a hazard by Japanese regulators.

Thus, we consider Viori Shampoo bars to be a healthier choice.

Winner: Viori

Hairitage

Similar to Viori, this brand contains fragrance but not 

Winner:

Our Clean Hair Care Picks

Acure Vivacious Volume Shampoo is our top shampoo pick.

It contains argan oil which is clinically shown to help protect hair from damage.

Ritual HyaCera is our top hair growth supplement.

This supplement contains wheat oil extract, and a 2024 clinical trial reported that a wheat lipid complex had "a reducing effect on hair shedding and a stimulating effect on hair reappearance and growth."

Both of the products recommended in this section are free of ingredients we consider to be unhealthy.

Nexxus Shampoo Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Some effective botanical ingredients
• Hydrolyzed keratin may reduce frizz
• Should effectively condition hair
• Great branding/packaging
• Our Product Tester enjoyed the scent
• Our Product Tester enjoyed the product experience
• Our Product Tester enjoyed improvements to hair quality

Cons:

• Expensive
• Questionable health claims
• Contains fragrance
• Contains synthetic preservatives
• Dry shampoo was recalled due to contamination
• Lawsuits over inactive ingredients may be incoming

Conclusion

We do not understand how or why Nexxus claims that their shampoo creates an "invisible barrier" around hair, and not only is this claim uncited, we consider it unscientific.

Nexxus shampoo does contain some ingredients that may prevent frizz, such as hydrolyzed keratin, and we consider Nexxus Ultralight Smooth Weightless Protection Shampoo (the formulation we analyzed in this article) likely to improve hair quality.

The Nexxus shampoo that we reviewed contained fragrance and synthetic preservatives, so we don't currently recommend it from a health perspective.

Nexxus Dry Shampoo was recalled due to a contaminant that may cause cancer, but this doesn't appear to be an ongoing concern since this contaminant should have been removed or severely reduced from the production process.

Amazon reviews for Nexxus are highly favorable at the time of updating this article.