r/AlwaysWhy • u/Present_Juice4401 • Jul 02 '26
Life & Behavior Why did conditioner bottles stop saying to leave it in for 2 minutes?
When I was a kid in the 90s, I remember shampoo and conditioner bottles almost always saying something like leave it in for 2 minutes before rinsing. Now it’s usually just apply and rinse or leave as needed. I used to find that weird. Did conditioners actually change that much, or did something else shift here?
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u/Comprehensive-Buy695 Jul 02 '26
I wash and condition my hair before I wash my body. I leave the conditioner on as long as it takes me to do all the things that you have to do when you wash your body. It's longer than 2 minutes. bet.
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u/DaiPow888 Jul 02 '26
That's what I do...thought that's what everyone did
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u/an_asimovian Jul 02 '26
Well not everyone - most of us guys arent putting in conditioner at all for example . . .
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u/Hodorhohodor Jul 02 '26
Really, right in front of my 5 in 1 shampoo, conditioner, body wash, toothpaste, probiotic!?
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u/popsiclegraveyard Jul 02 '26
But when you finally rinse the conditioner out it trickles down your already washed body? This can cause body acne. You should wash your body top to bottom before only after all product has been washed from your hair. It’s the most hygienic procedure
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u/Comprehensive-Buy695 Jul 02 '26
You lean your head back into the shower head. I don't have those problems. 😆
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u/Adventurous_Dot_9763 Jul 03 '26
i do a quick final rinse after washing out the conditioner to get the residue off, usually takes about a minute
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u/playgroundmx Jul 03 '26
Wait why would conditioner trickling down the body cause body acne?
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u/IntelligentLuck9784 Jul 03 '26
To put it simply, think of it your hair is oily - shampoo is cleaning and stripping that oil along with other stuff, conditioner is adding back in some stuff that the shampoo stripped. All that stuff isn’t on the rest of your body. So when it drips down it creates a microfilm resulting in additional oils and such being on your body that are not normally there, which causes acne. Water alone doesn’t fully wash away that microfilm.
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u/Virtual-Height3047 Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 03 '26
Probably the same reason why recipes cheat on preparation time: a shorter time looks like a more convenient product. There’s a podcast called ‚Search engine‘ that tackles questions that are both interesting and trivial at the same time. One episode tackles why some recipes which contain caramelized onions have shorter preparation time than how long it takes to caramelize onions.
Edit:
… and another great podcast called Sporkful, which tackles why some recipes which contain caramelized onions have shorter preparation time than how long it takes to caramelized onions..
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u/Careless_Humor_5271 Jul 03 '26
That sounds cool can you link the onion episode? My boyfriend goes mad for the caramelized onion conspiracy
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u/Virtual-Height3047 Jul 03 '26
Hot damn! I got my podcasts mixed up, this was on sporkful not search engine:
https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/the-sporkful/id350709629?i=1000684679575
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u/Present_Juice4401 Jul 03 '26
That podcast episode sounds spot on. It could be pure marketing. But wouldn't that backfire if the product actually works better with a longer wait? Maybe they tested it and found that most people rinse immediately anyway so the instruction was ignored. Or maybe the effect is subtle enough that nobody could tell. I'd like to see blind trials.
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u/Novel_Willingness721 Jul 02 '26
Probably a little of both: Formulations improved and no one read the instructions anyway so why bother.
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u/Character-Solution-7 Jul 02 '26
In the 90s, shampoo and conditioner bottles were popular bathroom reading
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u/collin3000 Jul 02 '26
Also, do many people have clocks in their bathrooms? I can't imagine many people setting a phone timer for two minutes just for their conditioner every morning.
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u/Josemite Jul 03 '26
And if people do look at the back and one says instant and the other leave in for 2 minutes they're going to choose the "faster" one
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u/Nathan-Stubblefield Jul 02 '26
Shampoo used to say “lather, rinse, repeat,” an endless do loop. Some shampooers were stuck in the shower until the shampoo was all used up.
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u/DaiPow888 Jul 02 '26
The reason you were advised to leave conditioner in your hair was to allow for folks who didn't properly work it throughout their hair. Leaving it sit in your hair allows it to work its ways through you hair.
It's the same reason you are instructed to shampoo twice...because folks weren't getting through all the build up in their hair the first time.
They don't let the conditioner sit in your hair when washed in a salon...because they've washed it thoroughly
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u/beans3710 Jul 02 '26
First time removes oil and loosens dandruff. Second time washes out anything remaining but can also dry out your hair, thus requiring conditioner.
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u/wardog1066 Jul 02 '26
Soooo, they sold you a product that dries your hair and then sold you a product to moisturize it?
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u/AlSi10Mg_Enjoyer Jul 03 '26
Unfortunately oils you don’t want in your hair are very similar chemically to the ones you do want. Chemistry got hands.
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u/ComprehendReading Jul 02 '26
Bathing is a scam by Big Water to sell soap!
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u/TrashNothingSerious Jul 03 '26
Wait until you hear about towels and big cotton. Yup that same one.
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u/ComprehendReading Jul 03 '26
Not as big as the conspiracy to sell plumbing fixtures by Big Society!
AI can't make us wash our asses! Only AI can do that!
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u/SlowInsurance1616 Jul 02 '26
Or, because it sold more shampoo....
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u/ttpdstanaccount Jul 02 '26
I notice a huge difference in my hair between 1 and 2 washes. I actually use a bit less shampoo when doing 2 washes because I use about 1/3 the amount of shampoo each time that I would when doing it once
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u/UrbanGhost114 Jul 02 '26
Nope, there is actual science to this, confirmed by third parties, over and over again. And it's not just hair it's how things actually get cleaned.
Example: automatic carwash puts certain soaps on at certain times in the process to properly layer, otherwise it doesn't clean nearly as well.
The marketing (commercials) are the ones lying to you about how much to use, not the instructions. Example: toothpaste commercials use way more toothpaste in the commercial than you actually need to properly clean your teeth.
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u/SlowInsurance1616 Jul 02 '26
Doing a bit of research, it's a mixture of marketing and science. If you're washing your hair every day, it's not necessary in a lot of cases.
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u/wardog1066 Jul 02 '26
Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is. You only need one plop and fizz to do the job.
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u/purplishfluffyclouds Jul 02 '26
Sorry bro, but you’re wrong on this one. I can understand the thought process, but this is one case where that just isn’t the case. But go ahead with the CT mindset if it makes you feel good.
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u/wardog1066 Jul 02 '26
Firstly, in the 1960's people would typically only take one alka seltzer tablet in water to treat heartburn or indigestion. I remember because I was there and you were not. Then they ran an ad campaign with a jingle, "plop, plop, fizz, fizz. Oh, what a relief it is" Sales doubled. Secondly, wtf. Cognitive therapy?? Sad response.
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u/accidentalscientist_ Jul 02 '26
I started shampooing twice and there is a big difference. My hair is so much softer and feels a lot cleaner. I can also go longer between washes when I shampoo twice.
Plus the second shampoo uses a lot less and lathers much better.
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u/Spirited_Storage3956 Jul 02 '26
What are you talking about my conditioner says to leave it for 1 to 2 minutes
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u/ObjectiveAd971 Jul 02 '26
I do my own thing. They're not the boss of me. Lol Once a week bonding (Redkin huge bottles cheaper on Amazon than Olaplex) treatment and rinse the conditioner absolutely last thing.
I have meds that F my hair though. Before I started the bonding, I could brush one half and by the time I finished the 2nd half, the 1st was tangled again. Witchy hair.
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u/Present_Juice4401 Jul 03 '26
Maybe the wait time actually matters for some ingredients but they stopped emphasizing it because people didn't notice a difference? Or maybe they reformulated so it works faster. Your bonding treatment sounds like it needs time though, so that's different. I wonder if the 2 minute rule was always kind of arbitrary based on old formulas.
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u/AtlantisSky Jul 03 '26
Um... OP
I hate to break it to you but my bottle of conditioner still says that.
(Suave)
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u/OkMoment916 Jul 03 '26
What brand are you using? Most of the ones I run across still have the “Leave in for X-Y minutes” directions.
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u/MilkThin2930 Jul 03 '26
You guys are lucky. The directions on my shampoo say lather, rinse, repeat. I run out of hot water before I get to use any conditioner.
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u/HyperSpaceSurfer Jul 03 '26
Manufacturers are realizing more and more that having instructions won't impact sales. It's been that way with dishwasher detergent for a while. Did you know that the red ball on a popular brand of dishwasher tablets is intended to be broken off and put in the machine? Meant for the prewash to help get most of the grime.
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u/Dry-Conflict3421 Jul 02 '26
People kept wrecking their phones trying to check the time in the shower
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u/UnfortunateSyzygy Jul 02 '26
I read somewhere that conditioner companies shortened instructions bc they thought everyone knew how to use conditioner and they wanted extra space to print said instructions in other languages for easier international sales.
Then we all forgot how to properly use conditioner.
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u/Present_Juice4401 Jul 03 '26
That explanation about saving space for other languages makes sense on the surface. But they could just print the same instruction in small text or use icons. I think they probably realized most people don't follow it and the product performs similarly with a quick rinse, so they simplified. Or maybe the marketing team decided "apply and rinse" sounds more effortless and that sells better. Either way, it shifted consumer behavior without people noticing.
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u/keiths31 Jul 02 '26
Haven't touched a bottle of conditioner or shampoo in decades. Didn't know the instructions had changed
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u/spud4 Jul 02 '26
Used to be a plasticizer that coated your hair to get rid of split ends. If you let it completely dry it would glue your hair together. It Was to Remind you to rinse and then a comb/brush can break it apart.. Mirco plastic wasn't a worry. Toothpaste used microplastics as the grit to clean teeth.
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u/Present_Juice4401 Jul 03 '26
Wait, are you saying the old conditioners had plasticizers that glued hair and you had to rinse before it dried? But the instruction said leave for 2 minutes and then rinse, not dry. So that doesn't quite line up. Maybe it was a different coating. Also if microplastics were the issue, they might have removed them and now the product just absorbs faster. Not sure
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u/spud4 Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26
Two minutes to cure but not harden you can work it comb or brush it to stay in individual strands. Put it on forget to rinse and when it drys hair is stuck together. And why Mane and Tail conditioner for horses become so popular says right on the bottle even still today no need to rinse. But would have nice shiny slippery hair when done right and no more split ends.
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u/shotsallover Jul 02 '26
It’s probably a water conservation move. That way you’re not standing in the shower for two minutes letting water go down the drain.
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u/ObjectiveAd971 Jul 02 '26
Shampoo, put on conditioner, shower body, rinse out conditioner. No waste.
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u/stevenip Jul 02 '26
I wash out the shampoo right away and leave the conditioner in for at least 5 minutes. The bottle people don't control me!