Odele is a popular shampoo brand that launched in 2020. Their products are branded like a luxury shampoo but not priced like a luxury shampoo, costing only $12 for nearly a pound of shampoo. This is more expensive than most drug store shampoo brands but significantly less expensive than some of the most luxury shampoo brands.
But does Odele shampoo contain research-backed ingredients for improving hair quality or does the brand just rely on marketing? Are their products really more effective than drug store shampoo? Does Odele shampoo contain any questionable additive ingredients? And how do real users rate their products?
In this article we’ll answer all of these questions and more as we review every ingredient in Odele’s most popular shampoos based on clinical trials to give our take on whether the brand is worth it or if it’s a waste of money. We’ll highlight some questionable additive ingredients and share real, unsponsored user reviews of Odele shampoo.
Ingredient Review - Is Odele Shampoo Effective?
Odele’s most popular shampoo is their Clarifying Shampoo, ingredients shown above. This shampoo does contain some research-backed ingredients.
Aloe barbadensis (aloe vera) leaf juice was shown in a medical review published in the Molecules journal to have anti-inflammatory and skin-healing effects when applied topically.
Amaranthus caudatus seed extract was described in a 2022 medical review as having these effects when applied topically: “It perfectly moisturizes, soothes irritations, accelerates wound healing, and has antimicrobial properties. It provides skin-nourishing and anti-aging effects.”
Glycerin is proven in clinical studies to have a moisturizing effect which can reduce scalp dryness and flaking, as we documented in our review of another hair care brand called Nioxin.
Clearly Odele Clarifying Shampoo contains some ingredients that can improve scalp health and skin quality but we are unable to identify any ingredients proven to directly improve hair quality.
Unfortunately, the shampoo also contains several ingredients we recommend avoiding for health reasons.
Fragrance is included in this formulation and we recommend avoiding all fragranced personal care products. A medical review of fragranced consumer products published in the Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health journal concluded the following: “Results of this study provide compelling evidence that everyday fragranced products can impose serious risks to human health, environmental quality, businesses, and society.”
Odele does claim that their fragrance is sourced from botanical essential oils, but without a full list of every chemical compound used in the fragrance we cannot recommend it.
Phenoxyethanol is a synthetic preservative found in a clinical trial to be toxic to human cells, and this shampoo contains two other preservatives: cetrimonium chloride and ethylhexylglycerin.
Overall we consider Odele Clarifying Shampoo to be potentially effective for improving hair quality given that it contains some research-backed ingredients that can improve scalp health. We are unable to identify any ingredients that directly improve hair quality, and we do not recommend the product due to the inclusion of various questionable additive ingredients.
Real, Unsponsored Odele Shampoo User Review
One of the most popular YouTube reviews of Odele shampoo comes from a channel called “The Clean Beauty Code.” The creator shares her thoughts about Odele after using their products personally, including smell, consistency and the best way to wash your hair with Odele shampoo.
This review focuses more on the aesthetic effects of Odele shampoo than the health effects:
Questionable Health and Marketing Claims on Odele Website
There are a number of health and marketing claims on the Odele website that we consider to be questionable, and this is unfortunately a theme we’ve noticed in many other Illuminate Health reviews of cosmetics brands.
Odele claims that their Clarifying Shampoo is formulated with a “chelation technology” that “acts as a magnet for impurities.” There is no citation for this claim and we consider it to be unscientific. What does this even mean? Toxins are not hiding right under the scalp’s surface waiting to be removed from the body by a shampoo.
The brand claims that their Volumizing Shampoo is “fortified with amino acids to promote hair strength” however we cannot identify any amino acids in the ingredient list.
Odele also claims that their Moisture Repair Shampoo can “enhance color” of hair but there is no citation for this claim or explanation of which ingredients are proven to have this effect. We cannot identify any active ingredients that we would consider likely to have this effect.
We urge Odele to either provide citations for the health and marketing claims they’re making on their product pages or remove them.
Are Odele’s Other Shampoos Better?
Odele sells a wide range of shampoos for different purposes. Below is our quick breakdown of each.
Volumizing Shampoo: Contains nearly the exact same ingredients as Clarifying Shampoo. If nearly all of the active ingredients are the same, how is one “Clarifying” and one “Volumizing”? Contains multiple preservatives and fragrance. Do not recommend.
Smoothing Shampoo: Similar formulation to the other shampoos but is free of phenoxyethanol. We consider this to be Odele’s healthiest formulation. Do not recommend due to fragrance and other synthetic preservatives.
Dry Shampoo: Lavandula stoechas extract was shown to promote hair growth in an animal study. We consider this the most effective Odele formulation given that it contains an ingredient directly proven in a clinical study to have favorable effects on hair. Do not recommend due to the fragrance and preservative.
Moisture Repair Shampoo: Extremely similar formulation to Clarifying Shampoo and Volumizing Shampoo. Do not recommend due to the fragrance and preservatives.
We do not consider any of Odele’s shampoo formulations to be clearly superior to the Clarifying Shampoo we initially analyzed.
Our Clean Hair Care Picks
Acure Vivacious Volume Shampoo is our top shampoo pick, and only costs $7.49 at the time of updating this article.
This shampoo is formulated with effective and non-toxic plant-based compounds like aloe vera juice and argan oil. It also contains rosemary leaf oil which was shown in a clinical trial published in the Phytotherapy Research journal to promote hair growth.
Happy Head Topical is our top hair growth solution.
This formulation uses FDA-approved hair loss ingredients like minoxidil which is clinically shown to increase hair count by 11%.
The brand also publishes the percentage concentration of each active ingredient, which is a sign of quality and transparency.