Essentials Daily Clarifying Conditioner

In the US, ingredients above 1% are listed from most to least. Below 1% they can appear in any order. Each note keeps three things apart: what the ingredient generally does, its role in this type of product, and what its position can tell you.

• 1 Water
  General function

  The base of almost every rinse-off and cream hair product. It carries everything else and is normally the first ingredient on the label.

  Leading ingredient

  Listed in the first three ingredients, it is likely a structural part of this formula.

  • solvent
• 2 Cetyl Alcohol
  General function

  A fatty alcohol used to thicken creams and add slip. It softens rather than dries.

  Leading ingredient

  Listed in the first three ingredients, it is likely a structural part of this formula.

  May suitDry, coarse, or high-porosity hair

  The waxy solid that gives a conditioner its body. It deposits a soft lubricating layer, which is most of what makes hair feel smooth after rinsing.

  May suitFrizz-prone, damaged, or high-friction hair

  Deposits with the cationic conditioners and helps them lie flat along the strand, which is where the detangling actually comes from.

  DependsFine or easily flattened hair

  Near the top of a conditioner it is doing most of the conditioning, and most of the weighting, at the same time.

  PubChem
  • fatty alcohol
  • emollient
  • thickener
• 3 Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine
  General function

  A gentle conditioning agent activated by the acid in the formula. It smooths the cuticle without much build-up.

  Leading ingredient

  Listed in the first three ingredients, it is likely a structural part of this formula.

  May suitFrizz-prone, damaged, or high-friction hair

  A cationic conditioning agent: it binds to the damaged, negatively charged parts of the cuticle and lowers combing friction there.

  May suitVery dry or highly damaged hair

  The class that does the detangling in a conditioner. It deposits lubrication where the cuticle is worn.

  DependsBuild-up-sensitive routines

  Substantive by design. A routine with no detergent wash gives it nothing to leave with.

  PubChem
  • conditioning agent
• ▾Below about here, the order stops meaning much. These are usually used at 1% or less.
• 4 Lactic Acid
  General function

  An acid used to set pH and, in scalp products, to loosen flakes.

  Estimated lower-concentration zone

  It appears around or below the estimated 1% line, where label order no longer indicates relative amount; its role may be minor or technical.

  May suitDry, coarse, or high-porosity hair

  High-porosity hair loses water fast; a humectant holds some of it in place for longer than the wash itself would.

  May suitVery dry or highly damaged hair

  Binds water into the outer layers of the strand, and water is what makes dry hair flexible again rather than brittle.

  DependsClimate-sensitive or frizz-prone hair

  A humectant moves water in whichever direction the air allows: it holds moisture in humid conditions and can pull it back out of hair in very dry ones.

  PubChem
  • pH adjuster
  • humectant
  • exfoliant
• 5 Potassium Chloride
  General function

  A salt used to thicken a liquid formula.

  Estimated lower-concentration zone

  It appears around or below the estimated 1% line, where label order no longer indicates relative amount; its role may be minor or technical.

  PubChem
  • salt
• 6 Fragrance
  General function

  An undisclosed blend of scent ingredients. Regulations let it stay unlisted, so a fragrance-free product is the only way to be certain what is not in it.

  Estimated lower-concentration zone

  It appears around or below the estimated 1% line, where label order no longer indicates relative amount; its role may be minor or technical.

  May not suitFragrance-sensitive routines

  Declared fragrance. On a fragrance-sensitive routine this is the line that decides it, wherever it sits on the label.

  • fragrance
  • declared fragrance
• 7 Disodium EDTA
  General function

  Grabs metal ions from hard water so they cannot dull the hair or destabilise the formula.

  Estimated lower-concentration zone

  It appears around or below the estimated 1% line, where label order no longer indicates relative amount; its role may be minor or technical.

  May suitBuild-up-sensitive routines

  Binds the calcium and magnesium in hard water, which is what stops mineral deposits accumulating on the strand wash after wash.

  May suitGray, silver, or brass-prone hair

  Copper and iron carried in tap water deposit on the strand and read as a dull, warm cast on gray or light hair. A chelator holds those metals in solution so the wash carries them off.

  PubChem
  • hard-water chelator
• 8 PEG-150 Distearate
  General function

  A thickener that gives shampoo and body wash their pourable, slightly gel-like texture.

  Estimated lower-concentration zone

  It appears around or below the estimated 1% line, where label order no longer indicates relative amount; its role may be minor or technical.

  • thickener
  • emulsifier
• 9 2-Bromo-2-Nitropropane-1,3-Diol
• 10 Tocopheryl Acetate
  • antioxidant
  • vitamin
• 11 Methylchloroisothiazolinone
  • isothiazolinone
  • preservative
• 12 Methylisothiazolinone
  • isothiazolinone
  • preservative

What the whole list adds up to

• 2 thickeners
• 2 isothiazolinones
• 2 preservatives
• 1 solvent
• 1 fatty alcohol
• 1 emollient
• 1 conditioning agent
• 1 pH adjuster
• 1 humectant
• 1 exfoliant
• 1 salt
• 1 fragrance
• 1 declared fragrance
• 1 hard-water chelator

Ingredient list captured 2026-08-24. Formulas change, so check the package in your hand when an ingredient matters to you.