A couple of weeks ago, I saw a Softee Rejuvenating Growth Oil in the beauty supply store that caught my attention. I’m not really down with growth aids, but I liked this oil because of its ingredients: (Ed. Note – I just found out that I listed the ingredients for another Softee product — one of their oils, but not the one that I was reviewing. So, I’ve updated the article with the ingredients right off the bottle. You see what happens when you try to find ingredient listings online and don’t double check. Sheesh.)
Soybean Oil, Meadowfoam Seed Oil, Shea Butter Extract, Chamomile Extract, Tea Tree Oil, Sulfur, Menthol, Rosemary Extract, Olive Oil, Jojoba Oil, Corn Oil, Safflower Oil, Retinyl Palmitate, Cholecalciferol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Extracts of Hops, Balm Mint, Yarrow, Nettle, Horsetail and Neutral Henna, Fragrance, Yellow 11, Red 17, Green 6.
It had good things like tea tree oil, nettle, shea butter extract and more. I especially loved the fact that it was supposed to stop the itchies. This was the soothing and anti-itch formula that 1) promotes healthy scalp for healthy roots and hair growth; 2) helps eliminate dry skin, itching and flaky scalp; 3) traditional formula enriched with soothing extracts.
Cool. If you’ve read this blog, you would now that I have scalp issues. So, if I can find a product that will stop my scalp from itching, I’m all over it.
My scalp had been doing pretty well over the past few weeks. In Miami, my scalp was happy! If I lived there, I could certainly stretch my protective styles for up to two weeks. In Toronto, not so much. Anyway, to make a long post short, I used this scalp oil for the past three weeks and my scalp is in TERRIBLE shape! Biting, itching, flaking and generally making me miserable. I was scratching to the point made my scalp bleed.
Not cool. Not a good look.
Before I bought it, I read all of the ingredients and nothing sent up red flags… except the fragrance, which can be an irritant and the meadowfoam seed oil – not that I know anything about meadowfoam seed oil. I don’t know if I’m allergic to it or not. Some research that I’ve done says that it’s a stable oil and it’s most similar to rapeseed oil. I highly doubt, from what I’ve read, that the meadowfoam seed oil is the culprit. It also contains yarrow — another ingredient I’m unfamiliar with. I just read that yarrow can cause skin irritation… Interesting… The Cosmetics Database says that there is strong evidence that yarrow is a human skin toxicant.
Sensitizer – can instigate immune system response that can include itching, burning, scaling, hives, and blistering of skin
That’s me! That’s me!
Sigh.
Regardless, as my sister said, “stick with what you know. If you don’t know an ingredient, no matter how good the product looks, put it down.”
Amen. I just had to wash out a lovely style I did on Friday because the itching and flaking was too intense and working it’s way down my neck and forehead.
I’ll be sticking to olive oil and castor oil for my scalp from now on.
The Accidental Natural 
glad to hear you got to the bottom of the problem with this product…before it got any worse. I agree… stick with what you know.
Take care.
Thanks! The internet is great for researching ingredients. I will be sticking with what I now from now on.
Wow. Funny how one ingredient can negate the effectiveness of the entire product. I never heard of the meadowfoam. Anyway, I want to try the Jamaican Black Castor Oil. I heard that was very good.
It is funny. If you’re like me and have allergies — and hayfever — you have to be more conscious of what you use. I’m so jealous of people who can just use whatever products they want without worrying about allergic reactions. Oh well! I’ve found enough products that work to fool around with ones that I know nothing about. I’ve tried JBCO. It’s OK — I didn’t find it to be as great as a lot of people said it was. Regular castor oil did the same job.
Unfortunately for naturals its trial and error most times which means wasted money! I’m just glad my favorite product, CD Healthy Hair Butter, works for you. As for the JBCO, I guess I will have to do some more reading to see if it is worth trying over the regular castor oil and what it will do for my hair. Right now I think I am set on what I already use. I guess the product junkie in me always wants to experiment!
Urbanista,
On the front label of your oil, it claims to be a Sulfur and Tea Tree Oil formula. But Tea Tree (Melaleuca Alternifolia) Oil isn’t included in the ingredients list. The Rejuvenating list is identical to the list on their Thickening formula: Soybean oil, meadowfoam seed oil, shea butter extract, rosemary extract, lecithin, sulfur, olive oil, retinyl palmitate (Vitamin A), tocopheryl acetate (Vitamin E), corn oil, safflower oil, hops extract, balm mint extract, chamomile extract, yarrow extract, nettle extract, horsetail extract, neutral henna extract, cholecalciferol (Vitamin D), fragrance, yellow 11. (I removed Softee’s “comma” typo between “tocopheryl” and “acetate.”)
Ironically, I had been using their Stimulating formula for the last few months and had been experiencing a burning sensation in the crown of my head. But because I hadn’t settled on a regimen yet, it was difficult for me to pin down the culprit. (For a long time, I thought it was the behentrimonium methosulfate in Kinky Curly’s Knot Today that I had been using as a leave-in.) I finally remembered that the Stimulating oil ingredients include Black Pepper Extract which could likely be the cause of the burning. It also lists Capsicum, but I had never looked it up. I did so last night and found out that it’s a genus of plants that includes bell, jalapeno, and habanero chili peppers! Yikes!
Needless to say, I won’t be using the Stimulating oil anymore. But all of this (including the “Tea Tree Oil” claim on their label and your experience with the oil) makes me wonder if there was some mix-up with the bottling/labeling of the oil that you bought. Could it be that they put Stimulating oil in a Rejuvenating bottle and then put a Thickening ingredients list on it? Or is the Rejuvenating oil more a variation of the Stimulating oil than the Thickening oil? (But that doesn’t explain why the Tea Tree Oil wasn’t listed in the ingredients.) Who knows! But the more we know, the more we grow. No pun intended. 🙂
Here’s the complete Stimulating ingredients list: Soybean oil, meadowfoam seed oil, shea butter extract, capsicum extract, black pepper extract, coffee extract, rosemary extract, safflower oil, wheat germ oil, Vitamin A, Vitamin E, Vitamin D, hops extract, balm mint extract, chamomile extract, yarrow extract, nettle extract, horsetail extract, neutral henna extract, fragrance, red 17, and yellow 11.
Hey there – thanks for the comment. You’re lucky – I was just about to throw out the bottle! Maybe it was my mistake, I tend to cut and paste ingredients from online, but on my bottle there is a listing of tea tree oil. Here’s the full list from the bottle: Soybean Oil, Meadowfoam Seed Oil, Shea Butter Extract, Chamomile Extract, Tea Tree Oil, Sulfur, Menthol, Rosemary Extract, Olive Oil, Jojoba Oil, Corn Oil, Safflower Oil, Retinyl Palmitate, Cholecalciferol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Extracts of Hops, Balm Mint, Yarrow, Nettle, Horsetail and Neutral Henna, Fragrance, Yellow 11, Red 17, Green 6.
I don’t trust my typing to type all of those in correctly 😉
Softee wasn’t negligent in their ingredient list – I was. So I’ll correct that on the posting. I don’t think it’s a bad product in general, I think it’s a bad product for me. I am someone with quite a few allergies, so I have to be doubly careful when trying out new products — especially if those products have ingredients that I know nothing about.
Because I’m still a recovering product junkie, I would tell you to continue using it — if it’s not causing you any discomfort. Now, if the burning and itching is an allergic reaction, then put it down! I’ve heard of pepper being used as a stimulant to cause blood flow to the area.
I like the ingredients in the Softee products and I’ve read some really good reviews. But because of my scalp and allergy issues, I have to be careful. If you keep using it, let me know if it does work!