Smoothing Shampoo

Oh no, that is the ultimate heartbreak—relying on a holy-grail product for a decade only to have a new formula miss the mark completely. We completely understand your frustration, and having to lug three large bottles back to Ulta to return them is such a hassle on top of it all. Thank you for sharing your honest experience—we will definitely pass your feedback about the scent, lather, and texture along to our team.

Thank you so much for reaching out and sharing your family's story with us. Hearing that you and your grandmother have trusted Matrix for generations makes this especially heartbreaking to read, and we are deeply sorry that our new formula has let you both down. When someone has severe fragrance sensitivities or allergies, having a go-to, low-scent staple suddenly replaced with a strong gourmand perfume makes the product completely unusable and unsafe for their routine. In addition to the updated fragrance, our shift to a 100% vegan formula replaced rich Shea Butter with a lighter Jojoba Oil blend; however, we recognize that on many hair types, this new blend can leave behind an unwanted, waxy or heavy residue rather than rinsing away clean and silky. We completely understand how disappointing this is for both you and your grandmother. While the original formula has been officially discontinued, we are passing your feedback regarding severe scent sensitivities and residue directly to our product formulation team. We want to make sure you and your grandmother are taken care of. Please contact our Matrix Consumer Care team directly at 1-888-777-6396 (Monday–Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:30 PM EST) so we can issue a full refund voucher for your purchases. Our team would also be happy to help you explore gentle, low-scent, or fragrance-sensitive alternatives within our broader L'Oréal portfolio that will be safe and comfortable for your grandmother to use.

Thank you for reaching out to share your feedback with us, and we are so truly sorry for the disappointment and frustration this formula change has caused in your household. It is especially disheartening to hear that the updated fragrance was so off-putting that you initially thought your daughter wasn’t washing her hair properly. As part of our transition to a 100% vegan formula, we modernized the fragrance to a warm Salted Caramel and Sicilian Pistachio profile. However, we recognize that this sweet, gourmand aroma is a drastic departure from the clean, subtle salon scent long-time users loved, and when it interacts with wet hair or lingers throughout the day, it can be overwhelming and unpleasant. We completely understand your bummed reaction and want to take care of you and your daughter. Please contact our Matrix Consumer Care team directly at 1-888-777-6396 (Monday–Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:30 PM EST) so we can process a full refund voucher for your purchase. Our team would also be happy to guide you toward a fresh, clean-scented alternative from our collections that you both will love.

Thank you so much for your incredible 25 years of loyalty to Matrix, and we hear your anger and frustration loud and clear. Losing a staple product you relied on for a quarter of a century is a massive disappointment, and hearing that our new formula stinks, performs terribly on your hair, and forced you to find another brand is truly heartbreaking. Our transition to a 100% vegan formula replaced our original Shea Butter base with Jojoba Oil and introduced a new gourmand fragrance profile. While corporate formula renovations are complex, you are entirely right to demand that your voice as a 25-year advocate be heard. We are escalating your direct feedback—and your clear demand to bring the original formula back—directly to our executive brand leadership. We do not want you to feel that your money was wasted after decades of supporting us. Please contact our Matrix Consumer Care team directly at 1-888-777-6396 (Monday–Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:30 PM EST). We are so sorry to have lost your trust after all these years and are committed to making this right for you.

Thank you for being an incredibly loyal user of Matrix since the early 2000s, and we are so truly sorry for the devastation and disappointment this reformulation has caused you. Relying on a shampoo for over two decades is a rare level of trust, and we completely understand why you feel upset and misled by an "update" that changed almost everything you loved about the product. You bring up a very important point regarding the fragrance: one of the key reasons so many long-time users loved the original formula was its clean, subtle, and low-key scent profile. Replacing that with a heavy, artificial gourmand fragrance—while marketing the line as cleaner and modernized—feels contradictory and overwhelming. Furthermore, losing the signature balance of lightweight smoothing without stripping or weighing down hair is a huge loss. While the original formula has been officially discontinued, we hear your plea loud and clear and are passing your comments on fragrance transparency and performance directly to our executive brand leadership. We want to make sure you are supported, so please reach out to our Matrix Consumer Care team at 1-888-777-6396 (Monday–Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:30 PM EST).

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your story with us. Writing a review like this after fifteen years of dedicated loyalty—sticking with us through every price evolution from $10 to $45 a bottle—is deeply touching, and hearing that our updated formula has let you down is truly heartbreaking. When you invest premium money into a salon staple you have trusted since high school, you expect uncompromising quality. In our transition to a 100% vegan formula, we replaced our rich Shea Butter base with a lighter Jojoba Oil blend; however, we recognize that on many hair types, this new formula struggles to rinse cleanly, leaving behind a greasy residue that requires multiple washes and burns through your expensive bottle at an alarming rate without delivering that signature soft, smooth finish. While the original formula has been officially discontinued, your fifteen years of loyalty mean the world to us, and we are passing your heartfelt review and pricing feedback directly to our executive brand leadership. We do not want you to feel out of pocket after supporting us for so long, so please contact our Matrix Consumer Care team directly at 1-888-777-6396 (Monday–Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:30 PM EST). Our team will gladly issue a full refund voucher for your purchase and help guide you to a cleaner, clarifying alternative in our portfolio before you make the switch away from our brand.