BioSilk is a popular haircare brand that sells everything from shampoo to styling gel to conditioner and more. Some of the brand's formulations do contain silk protein, and the brand describes its offerings as "some of the most powerful and effective" haircare products, containing "botanical extracts and herbs."
But does BioSilk actually good for your hair, or are these just marketing claims? Does the brand use ingredients shown in research studies to improve hair quality and appearance? Does the brand use any questionable additive ingredients? And how do real BioSilk users rate and describe the effects of these haircare products?
In this article we'll answer all of these questions and more, as we analyze the ingredients in two of BioSilk's most popular products (Silk Therapy Shampoo and Silk Therapy Oil) based on clinical studies to give our take on whether or not these products are good for your hair.
We'll also feature unsponsored customer reviews of the brand.
Ingredient Analysis — Silk Therapy Shampoo
The ingredients in BioSilk Silk Therapy Shampoo are shown above.
There are some ingredients in this formulation that have been shown in clinical studies to be good for hair.
Lavender extract may promote hair growth, because lavender oil (a less concentrated form of the same botanical compound) was shown to do so in a 2016 clinical trial.
Peppermint is also clinically shown to cause hair growth, as we documented in our Allurium Hair Growth Serum reviews article, on another hair product containing this ingedient.
Hydrolyzed silk, from which BioSilk presumably gets its name, was shown to have natural hair conditioning properties in a medical review published in the Indian Journal of Dermatology.
Panthenol is likely effective for moisturizing the scalp, as documented in a medical review published in the Journal of Cosmetic Science.
While BioSilk Silk Therapy Shampoo clearly contains some research-backed active ingredients, it also contains some inactive ingredients that may be questionable from a health perspective.
Linalool, hexyl cinnamal and citronellol are fragrance compounds, one of which can cause contact dermatitis in some individuals, according to a 2022 clinical trial.
Fragrance is even less healthy than these individual fragrance compounds in our opinion, because it can trigger "adverse health effects" as we documented in our article on is Aussie good for your hair.
Overall, we consider BioSilk shampoo to be good for your hair, because it contains a number of effective active ingredients.
However, we don't currently recommend this brand or consider it a healthy option due to the inclusion of the fragrance compounds highlighted above.
Real People Try BioSilk
A YouTube creator named "Life With Quanda" shows how to do a "silk press" to straighten hair using BioSilk products:
A YouTube creator named Deja Arielle shares her thoughts on the BioSilk Trio sold at Target:
Ingredient Analysis — Silk Therapy Oil
The ingredients in BioSilk Silk Therapy Oil, which is used to smooth hair and aid shine, are shown above.
Hydrolyzed silk and panthenol are effective ingredients for supporting hair quality, as we documented in the previous Ingredient Analysis section.
Dimethiconol is a compound derived from silicone that's clinically shown to protect hair color, and to protect hair from UV damage.
Like the previous BioSilk formulation that we analyzed, this product also contains a number of fragrance ingredients that may be questionable from a health perspective.
Fragrance, citronellol, eugenol, geraniol, hexyl cinnamal, hydroxycitronellal and linalool are all fragrance ingredients, making 47% of the ingredients in this hair oil fragrance-based.
Hydroxycitronellal was described as a "dermatologic irritant and allergen" in a PubChem resource page, as we documented in our review of Glossier You Perfume.
Overall, we consider BioSilk Silk Therapy Oil to be good for hair, because of the three active ingredients highlighted above.
We don't currently recommend this product due to the fragrance ingredients, and we consider this to be a less healthy formulation than BioSilk Silk Therapy Shampoo, which had one more active ingredient that we considered likely to be effective, and four fewer fragrance ingredients.
