We’ve all been there before. We find our favorite products for our natural hair and it’s like the sky opens up and glitter rains down over our afros and curls. But then, the company decides to switch it up and change our formulas! The holy grail that you once thought was going to get your hair through winter and any other hair dilemma is gone. In my opinion, when companies change ingredients, they might as well not even call the product the same thing, because the ingredients are totally different and it will most likely behave differently on your hair. But why do companies do this?
It really could be a number of things, but in my experience it looks as if this is mainly driven by the almighty dollar. When a company increases in popularity, they have to produce more and a lot of the natural ingredients that we love make a hefty dent in their profits. So, they opt for cheaper ingredients and we’re left with watered down products (sometimes, literally) and frizzy hair.
One of the most disappointing ingredients changes that I will never (ever) forgive are the changes made to Kiss My Face Upper Management Gel. This was my and several others absolutely favorite gel, yet they decided to change the formula and make glycerin the second ingredient. Luckily, I bought twenty bottles when I found out about this change. Companies – let me make something clear to you: When you add a large amount of glycerin to a product, it is NOT the same product. And yes, we know about the moisturizing properties of glycerin, but there are several other ingredients that have the same moisturizing properties that are not as heavily affected by the weather or climate. Please, give us those instead.
But sometimes, a change may be unavoidable. The owner of Uncle Funky’s Daughter recently went through a messy personal situation that caused her to change the ingredients to the Curly Magic, leaving several of us in shock and disappointment. I was extremely happy to find that she is starting another line called Hello Curly that will have the same formula as the original Curly Magic. Mark your calendars, curlies!! The holy grail is back.
In the end, we can’t really control what these companies do to their products. But what we can do is choose what to purchase. If a company changes the ingredients to a product every six months, I’m not buying it because I don’t know what will happen in another six months. No thanks, my Izzy likes some stability with what I use. But I will say, if Curl Junkie starts switching up ingredients, I’m inciting at natural hair riot. Just saying.
Have you fallen in love with a product only to have the manufacturer change the ingredients on you?
questfortheperfectcurl.com 
What is their deal truly?! Recently got hooked on Aubrey Organics Rosa Mosqueta Moisturizing Conditioner and now I found they’ve completely revamped the formula. At least they have the decency of having a 50% off sale on the old (aka original packaging) formula. Still heartbroken over KMF; I weep as I see my stash dwindling.
Great article!!!! I now only have two KMYHMG left and I am dreading the day they are all gone!!! I am also down to quarter of bottle left of UFDCM which was my absolute best gel for my hair, and I am so excited about the good news you shared that they are planning to bring back this formulation in “hello curls”. Oh, my, can’t wait!!!! Thanks for the invaluable information you always provide.
When good stylers turn bad – Damn you, KMF!!! I understand your angst. I’m holding on to my last 2 bottles (sad face).
Elle- you are really “salty” about that company changing the Kiss My Face Gel- as you have mentioned it a few times in your videos and now have written an article…I ain’t mad a you girl…as Kevin Hart would say…”say it whit ya chest!”…I’m being silly-sorry! 🙂 Anywho, I tried the Kiss My Face after they reformulated and hated it. Thing is, I never knew there was an original- I just thought they changed the packaging. That stuff flaked all over the place. Now I see from your “gel wreath” that you bought all of them. 🙂 Can you send me one from your stash so a sista knows what’s she’s missing?…since the answer is likely “no” :-)…I still love the Super Wet you suggested and the Wetline Xtreme. My wash and go’s have been all good- all summer. I even went to Essence Festival this summere where it was crazy hot and my wash and go held up, looked cute everyday, defined and I got soo many compliments from strangers. Thanks for the article.
Don’t get me started with changed formulas OR makeup colors they discontinue for what seems like no good reason. One of the biggest perpetrators is Carol’s Daughter. Those products are straight garbage now in my opinion.
The first company that comes to mind for me is a skincare company. I remember using Cetaphil’s very gentle Cleanser and loving it back in the day. I have very sensitive skin–if you look at it funny, it breaks out–that kind of skin. Cetaphil didn’t have anything that irritated my skin. It cleansed without drying or stripping, you could even use it to cleanse away makeup. It had a consistency that was perfectly milled, part creamy, a little gel, just perfection. Then they changed it. The consistency was now all gel of dubious color and texture. Fragrance had even been added and my skin no longer liked it. In fact, my skin couldn’t stand the new formula and rejected it wholesale. It was harsh yet surprisingly, did not cleanse my skin properly. That was several years ago that I stopped using it but I’m still miffed. That was used to be my ‘go to’ cleanser when I wanted to remove makeup or cleanse before using a mask or exfoliating. I also think Neutrogena had a decent (but not as good) Extra Gentle Cleanser and they discontinued that in favor of their so called Organic/Natural line that contains a bunch of dubious ingredients.
Now, I make my own cleansing products but I’m still on the lookout for a no fail, very gentle, kind ingredients cleansing product.
Yeah, Really annoying…..Shea Moisture Extra Moisture Detangler was the bomb.com, they recently changed it and now the first ingredient is glyercin and its alot thicker and not as much slip…..While I like glyercin this product has too much of it, makes my hair feel gummy at times……
Fortunately, that hasn’t happened to me yet. Luckily the things I love still have the same ingredients. *knock on wood*
I honestly don’t pay attention to the ingredients in my holy grail products anymore. The only time I know if they’ve changed is through youtube, instagram or blogs such as yours. I haven’t had an experience where I tried a product and figured out that the company changed something so I’ve been lucky so far. I love Tresemme Naturals Conditioner and when they changed those ingredients the product was actually better. I hope to never have my holy grails change without notice – I would be so disappointed!
I icannot agree more. I even wrote to the Kiss My Face Company regarding the Upper Management Gel. I asked them my on earth did they change the formula and I wanted to know if they still had any of the old formula on hand. Of course, they said no. Wish I had known earlier they were changing the formula, I too would have purchase a load of them. My hair has a BIG issue with glycerin as well. It is so hard to find a product that do not have glycerin or glycerin near the bottom of the list.