Prell Shampoo: What It Is and Who It Suits
Prell shampoo is a 1947 American detergent shampoo, known for a thick green gel and an unusually thorough cleanse. It contains no elaborate conditioning system, which is the whole point: it strips oil, product and build-up efficiently and cheaply. That makes it a good clarifying wash and a poor daily shampoo for anyone whose hair is dry, coarse, coloured or textured.
Key takeaways
- Prell shampoo is a classic detergent formula. It cleans hard, conditions barely, and has changed less than most brands of its age.
- It suits oily scalps, fine uncoloured hair and anyone using a lot of styling product or dry shampoo.
- Its most useful modern role is as a clarifying reset every week or two, not as an everyday wash.
- It fades hair colour faster than a gentler formula, because the surfactants that lift oil also carry dye out of a lifted cuticle.
- No shampoo acts on the follicle. A cleanse that is too strong causes breakage along the fibre, which is a different problem with a different fix.
What is prell shampoo and where did it come from?
Procter and Gamble launched it in 1947, and for a couple of decades it was one of the most recognisable hair products in America. The advertising did the heavy lifting: a pearl dropped slowly through a column of thick emerald gel, demonstrating a viscosity that suggested substance. The brand later passed through several owners and is currently made by Ultimark Products. In Britain it has never had supermarket distribution, so most people here encounter it as an online import or a memory from living in the States.
What matters more than the history is that the product is essentially a period piece in formulation terms. Most mainstream shampoos spent the 1990s and 2000s adding silicones, cationic conditioning polymers and milder surfactant blends. Prell largely did not. It remains what it was: a cleanser.
What is actually in the bottle?
The architecture is the same as almost any shampoo sold in Britain, but with the balance pushed firmly towards cleansing.
| What you will see | What it does | Consequence for you |
|---|---|---|
| Sodium lauryl sulphate / sodium laureth sulphate | Primary anionic detergent. Lifts sebum, silicone and styling product efficiently and produces a dense lather. | A genuinely clean scalp. Also a squeaky, rough finish on hair that was already dry. |
| Cocamidopropyl betaine | Milder secondary surfactant. Thickens the formula and takes some edge off the primary detergent. | Softens the cleanse slightly. Does not change its fundamental strength. |
| Sodium chloride | Salt, used as a thickener to build that famous viscosity. | Contributes to the gel texture. No effect on cleaning. |
| Fragrance (parfum) | The signature scent, at a fairly high load by modern standards. | A common cause of scalp itch that people mistakenly blame on the detergent. |
| Colourant | The green. Purely cosmetic and part of the brand identity. | None whatsoever on performance. |
Notice what is thin on the ground: conditioning agents. There is no meaningful silicone system, no heavy cationic polymer, nothing designed to lay the cuticle down after the detergent has lifted it. That is not an oversight, it is the design, and it explains every review you will read in either direction.
Who does prell shampoo genuinely suit?
Name the person it was built for and the arguments resolve. It suits someone with a scalp that produces a generous amount of sebum, fine to medium hair that is not coloured, and a routine involving styling products, dry shampoo or hard water. For that person a strong cleanse is the correct tool, and paying four times as much for a gentler formula would be paying for less of what they actually need.
It also suits anyone who wants a cheap, predictable clarifying wash to keep in the cupboard. Used once a fortnight to clear build-up, it does a job that many expensive clarifying shampoos do no better.
The air-dry test
Wash with it, rinse, and let your hair air dry with nothing else on it at all. If the mid lengths feel rough, tangly and squeaky, the cleanse is too strong for your hair and no amount of conditioner afterwards fully compensates. If hair feels clean and normal, the formula suits you and the internet arguments do not apply to your head.
Get a discount on the hair breakage range
Join the Watermans mailing list and we will email a discount code straight to your inbox, so you can try the hair breakage range for less. Vegan, made in the UK, over 5 million bottles sold since 2012.
Who should avoid it as a daily shampoo?
Four groups tend to have a bad time, each for a specific reason. Coloured hair loses tone quickly, because the efficiency that removes oil also carries dye molecules out. Curly and coily hair is drier along its length by geometry, since sebum struggles to travel down a twisted strand, so stripping it every wash leaves the ends brittle. Chemically processed or heavily bleached hair already has a compromised cuticle and needs lubrication more than cleansing power. And sensitive scalps often react to the fragrance load rather than to the surfactant at all, which is why swapping to a different strong shampoo sometimes fixes an itch that people assumed was sulphate-related.
None of that makes the product defective. It makes it the wrong tool for that head. If your hair falls into any of these groups, our guide to whether sulphate free shampoo is really better sets out what a milder surfactant system genuinely changes and what it does not.
How does prell shampoo compare with what else is on the shelf?
| Option | Cleansing power | Conditioning | Best used as |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prell | Very high | Minimal | A clarifying reset every week or two, or a daily wash for a genuinely oily scalp |
| Supermarket own label | Moderate to high | Light | An everyday wash where price is the deciding factor |
| Modern mainstream range | Moderate | Moderate to heavy, usually silicone based | Everyday washing for most hair types, with the build-up trade-off that silicones bring |
| Sulphate free specialist | Low to moderate | Moderate | Coloured, curly or dry hair that cannot tolerate a strong cleanse |
| Dedicated clarifying shampoo | High | None by design | The same reset job, usually at three or four times the price |
Read across that table and the honest verdict is that Prell is not a bad shampoo, it is a specialised one that spent decades being sold as a general one. Judged as a clarifier it is good value. Judged as an everyday product for the average modern hair routine, it is overpowered.
Is it causing hair loss, shedding or breakage?
This is the worry underneath most searches about any shampoo, and the three things need separating. Hair loss means the follicle has stopped producing normally, as in androgenetic alopecia. Hair shedding means the growth cycle has pushed an unusual number of follicles into their resting phase at once, as in telogen effluvium after illness, childbirth, surgery or rapid weight loss. Hair breakage means the fibre snapped along its length while the follicle carried on working perfectly well.
A shampoo cannot cause the first two. It has no route to the follicle and no hormonal action. It absolutely can contribute to the third, because a stripping cleanse on already dry hair raises surface friction, and friction plus a comb equals snapped strands. The tell is in the hair itself: shed hairs have a small pale bulb at the root end, while broken hairs are short, blunt and bulbless and gather on the bathroom shelf rather than in the drain. Our guide to what causes hair damage goes through the four real causes, none of which is a green gel.
How should you use it if you are going to use it?
Treat it as a tool with a narrow job. Use it every week or two rather than every day. Apply it to the scalp with your fingertips, not your nails, and let the lather running down handle the lengths rather than scrubbing them. Rinse thoroughly, because residue from a strong surfactant is itchy. Then condition properly from the mid lengths down, every single time, without exception. A clarifying wash followed by no conditioner is how people end up with the horror stories.
Detangle with a wide tooth comb while the conditioner is still in, because that is the moment in the week when most breakage happens. Our step by step on how to use conditioner properly covers the technique properly.
What to use in between, and where Watermans fits
We sell hair care ourselves, so weigh our view accordingly. Our range is sulphate free, vegan and made in the UK, built around one job: cutting breakage so the hair you already have stays on your head and the density you have looks as full as it can. That is a cosmetic job and we say so plainly. If a strong clarifier suits your scalp once a fortnight, a gentler wash for the days in between is a sensible pairing rather than a contradiction.
Grow Me® Hair Growth Shampoo
A sulphate free daily shampoo for the washes between clarifying. Fingertips into the scalp, lukewarm water, no scrubbing the lengths.
Condition Me® Hair Growth Conditioner
Conditioning through the mid lengths and ends, which is non-negotiable after any strong cleanse. Two minutes, then rinse cool.
Watermans products are 100% cosmetic and do not treat medical hair loss. Individual results may vary.
If your hair is dry rather than oily, the whole clarifying conversation may be a distraction. Our guide to fixing dry hair with a four step routine deals with the more common problem directly.
When is this a GP conversation rather than a shampoo one?
Changing shampoo is the right response to an oily scalp, product build-up, dull texture or strands that snap when you comb them. It is the wrong response to a widening parting, a receding hairline, visible scalp at the crown, patches with no hair at all, or a shed that has run past six months. Those are questions for a GP, who can arrange blood tests for iron, ferritin, thyroid function and vitamin D. Sudden patchy loss, a painful or scarred scalp, or hair changes alongside other unexplained symptoms should be looked at promptly rather than managed from the bathroom cabinet.
Frequently asked questions
What is prell shampoo actually made of?
Prell is a straightforward detergent shampoo. The formula is built on anionic surfactants, historically sodium lauryl sulphate and its relatives, with a secondary surfactant, a thickener, preservatives, fragrance and the green colour the brand is known for. There is no elaborate conditioning system in the classic version, which is exactly why it cleans as thoroughly as it does.
Is Prell still made?
Yes. The brand launched in 1947 under Procter and Gamble, changed hands several times, and has been produced by Ultimark Products in recent years. It is much easier to find in the United States than in the United Kingdom, where it is usually an import buy online rather than a supermarket product.
Why is Prell green?
The colour is cosmetic and always has been. It came from the original marketing, which leaned on the thick emerald gel and the pearl-drop television adverts of the 1950s and 60s. The green tells you nothing about the ingredients and adds nothing to performance.
Does Prell strip hair colour?
It will fade dyed colour faster than a gentler formula. Efficient anionic surfactants lift oil, and the same efficiency carries deposited dye molecules out of a lifted cuticle. If you colour your hair and want the tone to last, a clarifying detergent shampoo is not the right weekly product.
Is Prell good for oily hair?
This is where it makes most sense. A scalp that produces a lot of sebum, or a routine heavy in styling product and dry shampoo, needs a cleanser with genuine lifting power. Prell does that job well and cheaply, and the squeaky finish that irritates people with dry hair is the point for someone with an oily scalp.
Can you use Prell as a clarifying shampoo?
Yes, and that is arguably its best modern use. Rather than a daily product, treat it as a reset wash every week or two to clear silicone build-up, hard water minerals and product residue, then follow with a proper conditioner. Used that way its strength is an asset rather than a problem.
Does Prell cause hair loss?
No. No shampoo of any price acts on the follicle, and there is no mechanism by which a surface cleanser could cause hair loss. What a shampoo that is too strong for your hair type can cause is breakage, and hair snapping mid-length looks alarmingly similar in the shower without being the same thing at all.
Is Prell bad for curly or textured hair?
Bad is the wrong word, but it is usually the wrong tool. Curly and coily hair is drier along its length because sebum cannot travel easily down a twisted strand, so a stripping wash removes what little natural lubrication reaches the ends. If you use it at all, use it as an occasional clarifier and follow it with a heavy conditioner or a mask.
Conclusion
Prell shampoo is a seventy-year-old detergent formula that does one thing extremely well and makes almost no attempt at the other thing shampoo is now expected to do. It cleans hard. If your scalp is oily, your hair is fine and uncoloured, or you simply need a fortnightly reset to clear silicone and product build-up, that strength is exactly right and the price is hard to argue with. If your hair is dry, coarse, coloured or textured, it will leave you squeaky and brittle, and the fix is not to persevere but to use it less often and condition properly afterwards. Judge it as a clarifier, not as an everyday shampoo, and it holds up far better than its reputation suggests.
Sources and References
- European Commission. CosIng cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu. Used to check the declared function of sodium lauryl sulphate, sodium laureth sulphate and cocamidopropyl betaine.
- Robbins, C. R. Chemical and Physical Behavior of Human Hair, 5th edition, Springer. Standard reference for surfactant action, cuticle damage and how detergents interact with dye molecules.
- Gavazzoni Dias, M. F. R. Hair cosmetics: an overview. International Journal of Trichology, 2015. Background on shampoo formulation categories and how cleansing strength is matched to hair type.
- British Association of Dermatologists. Information leaflets for the public on hair care and scalp conditions. bad.org.uk. Background for separating hair loss at the follicle from breakage along the fibre.
- NHS. Hair loss. nhs.uk. Guidance on the common causes and when to speak to a GP.
- UK Government. Retained EU Cosmetic Products Regulation 1223/2009. legislation.gov.uk. The framework under which shampoos sold in Britain are regulated as cosmetics.
