Is Design Essentials Almond & Avocado Shampoo worth buying? After testing it on my curly, color-treated hair, I found that it cleansed without stripping and left my hair soft. However, its detangling performance didn’t live up to my expectations.

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Why I tried it

I picked up the Design Essentials Almond & Avocado Moisturizing & Detangling Sulfate-Free Shampoo during Ulta’s 21 Days of Beauty sale. I’ve seen so many people talking about Design Essentials online, especially on TikTok, that I really wanted to finally try something from the brand.

The shampoo I actually wanted was the Honey Crème Moisture Retention Shampoo, but it was sold out by the time I went to buy it, so I picked this one up instead. SPOILER ALERT: I picked up a bottle of the Honey Crème shampoo during another sale Ulta had!

I had pretty high expectations because I kept seeing people say they could easily detangle their hair while using this shampoo. I was expecting a ton of slip and enough moisture that it would feel noticeably different from my usual shampoos.

For reference, I normally reach for Olaplex No. 4 Bond Maintenance Shampoo or Redken Extreme Length Shampoo, so because this one is specifically marketed as moisturizing and detangling, I expected it to outperform those in the hydration department.

What I loved

The first thing I noticed was the lather. You really don’t need a lot of product to get a rich, satisfying lather, which I love because it means I’m not flying through the bottle. And it cleans my hair really well without leaving it stripped. After the first use, my curls already looked more elongated than usual.

Looking at the ingredient list, the cleansing power makes sense. Sodium C14-16 Olefin Sulfonate is the second ingredient, so even though this is a sulfate-free shampoo, it still has a fairly strong cleansing agent at the top of the formula. It’s paired with milder surfactants like cocamidopropyl hydroxysultaine and cocamidopropyl betaine, which may help explain why my hair feels thoroughly cleansed without feeling stripped. There are also conditioning ingredients like Polyquaternium-7, along with avocado oil, sweet almond oil, hydrolyzed wheat protein and hydrogenated vegetable oil further down the list. So there’s actually a nice balance here between getting my hair clean and putting some softness back in.

After my first wash with the shampoo, I also did a wash-and-go using the entire Design Essentials Almond & Avocado line (shampoo, leave-in conditioner and mousse), and my hair stayed nicely moisturized until my next wash. The only reason I washed it again was because I had a particularly sweaty gym session, didn’t love the way my hair was looking anymore — I was also ITCHING to install some flat twists!

And the hydration became much more obvious the second time I used it. I used it after clarifying with the Ouai Detox Shampoo, and while my hair didn’t feel particularly moisturized during the shampoo process, it felt extremely hydrated once I rinsed the shampoo out.

That was when I started to understand the hype. I followed it with Redken All Soft Conditioner rather than a deep conditioner to get a better sense of how much hydration was coming from the shampoo itself. After letting my hair air-dry for about an hour, it felt really soft, hydrated and moisturized afterward without using a leave-in conditioner.

What I didn’t love

The biggest disappointment for me was the detangling. After seeing so many people online talk about how much slip this shampoo has, I was expecting the tangles to melt away like a hot knife through butter, but that was absolutely not my experience.

It wasn’t difficult to work through my hair, but it definitely did not cut through my tangles the way I had imagined based on the reviews I had seen. I also wasn’t blown away by the moisture after my first use. I followed it with the Eva NYC Therapy Session Hair Mask, which is a product I already know leaves my hair soft and moisturized, and afterward my hair didn’t feel noticeably different from how it normally does when I use that mask. It took another wash for me to really appreciate what the shampoo was doing.

Who I think it’s for

I think this is a great option for anyone looking for a shampoo that gives you a really nice lather and cleans your hair without leaving it feeling stripped. If your hair tends to feel dry after shampooing, I can also see this being a good option because the hydration really shows up once the product is rinsed out. I just wouldn’t buy it solely because you’re expecting an amazing detangling shampoo. If slip is your number-one priority, this may not live up to the hype.

The verdict

Rating: 4/5 ★★★★☆

Bottom line: This is a really great shampoo that I’ll definitely continue reaching for—it lathers beautifully, cleans without stripping and leaves my hair feeling soft and hydrated, even if the detangling claims didn’t quite live up to the hype for me.

With love,

Ash ♡