Bottega Verde Balsamo Argan 150 ml

It is marketed to "condition brittle, thinned, unruly and dull hair".

Ingredients: Aqua, Behenyl alcohol, Glycerin, Ethylhexyl cocoate, Mel, Behentrimonium chloride, Quaternium-80, Cetrimonium chloride, Decyltetradecanol, Cetearyl Alcohol, Sesamum indicum seed oil, Argania spinosa, Kernel oil, Hydrogenated vegetable oil, Butyrospermum Parkii Butter, Parfum, Cetyl alcohol, Oleyl erucate, Benzyl alcohol, Guar hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride, Phenoxyethanol, Cocos nucifera oil, Potassium sorbate, Citric acid, Tocopherol, Lecithin, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Benzyl salicylate, Ascorbyl palmitate

The formula is quite complex as it includes as many as 29 components, so let's look at the most significant ones, in order of the quantity inserted, to understand if this product can do what it promises and if it doesn't have any ingredients that are contraindicated in terms of health.

Behenyl alcohol  Is a saturated long-chain aliphatic alcohol with 22 carbon atoms. Its main use in cosmetic products is as a surfactant, removal of dirt particles.

Glycerin. In detergents, shampoos and other cosmetic products it is included in the formula with the aim of moisturizing and softening the skin, preserving it from aging or roughness. In this case it acts on the hair in the same way.

Ethylhexyl cocoate  is a chemical compound, ester produced by the reaction of coconut oil with ethylhexanol.It is used in cosmetic skin care and hair care products as an emollient.

Miele Honey is used in dermatology to treat lesions, ulcers and more and for skin care so its inclusion in a cosmetic formula for "brittle hair" seems appropriate.

Behentrimonium chloride is a straight-chain alkylrimonium chloride chemical compound commonly used as an antistatic, hair conditioner, emulsifier or preservative agent in personal care products.

Quaternium-80 is a chemical compound, quaternary ammonium salt, cationic surfactant, is included in the formulas of cosmetics and body care products such as shampoos, liquid soaps and more. It has antibacterial properties. Quaternium-80 possesses numerous interesting properties including that of softening and that of preventing hair from twisting together. It also forms a protective film. This seems to me the component that best suits the solution to the problem of "unruly hair". From the comments of those who have used this product, a large part claims to have benefited, someone else does not, but it is a minority.

Cetrimonium chloride Is another surfactant, cationic.

Decyltetradecanol is a chemical compound mainly used in cosmetic products for skin care and hair care. Its life cycle is about 3 years and it is used as an intermediate component in organic synthesis. The main functions of this chemical compound in this product are: viscosity control, emollient.

Cetearyl Alcohol Is a chemical compound used in cosmetic products to give creamy consistency. It is a fatty acid composed of C16 Cetyl Alcohol and C18 Stearyl Alcohol, so it is more useful to the manufacturer than the user of the product.

As for sesamum indicum seed oil, organic, an excellent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, I frankly don't see its usefulness in a hair care product.

Argania spinosa kernel oil. An excellent vitamin E source oil with high nutritional power. It is commercially called Argan oil and contains polyunsaturated fatty acids, therefore beneficial to health, with 30% linoleic acid. It is therefore supposed to nourish the hair as well....

Butyrospermum Parkii Butter is a butter obtained from the Shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa), contains vitamin E and has emollient and moisturizing properties. For the record it is used as a decongestant in nostril inflammation.

Oleyl erucate is a chemical compound, oleic ester of erucic acid that is usually extracted from the Brassicaceae plant family.It is used in cosmetic skin care and hair care products as an emollient.

Guar hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride is another ingredient aimed at solving the problem of "thinned, unruly and dull" hair: a cationic polymer that is used as a conditioner in shampoos to improve the uniformity and efficiency of deposition of conditioning agents on the hair and to lubricate and soften it to avoid the frizzing effect.

Cocos nucifera oil. Coconut Oil is present in cosmetic products and in particular in cosmetic products for hair as it is able to protect them from external agents and exerts a revitalizing action on dry hair. It also has a moisturizing action.

So far all good components, well targeted to the purpose of this product. But since no product is perfect, even here I found two ingrtedients that I do not like. Nothing serious, mind you, but I would have preferred that they were not there:

Phenoxyethanol, a broad-spectrum preservative used in cosmetics against Gram-negative bacteria, mold and yeast. It occurs naturally in green tea but is produced chemically using phenol and ethylene oxide. As with many other preservatives included in formulas in cosmetic products, the scientific literature warns about general and specific contraindications concerning the application of this preservative. Specifically, regarding the eyes, this 2020 study by Jingyi Wang et al. warns about the toxicity of Phenoxyethanol to the epithelial cells of the Meibomian gland, which secretes, via its ducts, the human tear film, a major source of lipids. You can read an abstract HERE

Butylphenyl Methylpropional o Butylphenylmethylpropional. It is a chemical compound, a synthetic fragrance whose function is to perfume the product. Used in cosmetics. It is a component that could give allergy so its name must be mandatorily reported on the labels of the components of the product. An estrogenic activity has been detected in vitro and in vivo verification is needed to ascertain the extent to which Butylphenyl Methylpropional could enter human breast tissue and be absorbed through human skin (1). It is noteworthy that this ingredient is included in the third-to-last place on the label and therefore in a laughable amount, however Regulation (EU) 2021/1902 as of 1 March 2022 banned the marketing of products containing Butylphenyl Methylpropional (Lilial) as dangerous to human health.

Conclusions

Definitely an excellent product, aimed at achieving the result that is set out in the label: ""to condition fragile, thinned, unruly and dull hair". The components are suitable for the purpose. In general it does its job well, but, as with most of these products, the result depends very much on the type of hair. Price medium-high range but beware of the eyes.

References___________________________________________________________________

(1) Charles AK, Darbre PD. Oestrogenic activity of benzyl salicylate, benzyl benzoate and butylphenylmethylpropional (Lilial) in MCF7 human breast cancer cells in vitro. J Appl Toxicol. 2009 Jul;29(5):422-34. doi: 10.1002/jat.1429.

Abstract. Benzyl salicylate, benzyl benzoate and butylphenylmethylpropional (Lilial) are added to bodycare cosmetics used around the human breast. We report here that all three compounds possess oestrogenic activity in assays using the oestrogen-responsive MCF7 human breast cancer cell line. At 3 000 000-fold molar excess, they were able to partially displace [(3)H]oestradiol from recombinant human oestrogen receptors ERalpha and ERbeta, and from cytosolic ER of MCF7 cells. At concentrations in the range of 5 x 10(-5) to 5 x 10(-4 )m, they were able to increase the expression of a stably integrated oestrogen-responsive reporter gene (ERE-CAT) and of the endogenous oestrogen-responsive pS2 gene in MCF7 cells, albeit to a lesser extent than with 10(-8 )m 17beta-oestradiol. They increased the proliferation of oestrogen-dependent MCF7 cells over 7 days, which could be inhibited by the antioestrogen fulvestrant, suggesting an ER-mediated mechanism. Although the extent of stimulation of proliferation over 7 days was lower with these compounds than with 10(-8 )m 17beta-oestradiol, given a longer time period of 35 days the extent of proliferation with 10(-4 )m benzyl salicylate, benzyl benzoate or butylphenylmethylpropional increased to the same magnitude as observed with 10(-8 )m 17beta-oestradiol over 14 days. This demonstrates that benzyl salicylate, benzyl benzoate and butylphenylmethylpropional are further chemical components of cosmetic products which give oestrogenic responses in a human breast cancer cell line in culture. Further research is now needed to investigate whether oestrogenic responses are detectable using in vivo models and the extent to which these compounds might be absorbed through human skin and might enter human breast tissues.