E45 Shampoo Review: Is It Good & Does It Cause Hair Loss?

Yes, E45 Dry Scalp Shampoo is a good, no-nonsense option if your scalp is dry, itchy or flaking, and no, there is nothing in it that causes hair loss. It sits in that odd middle ground between a pharmacy product and a cosmetic, and it does the calming job it sets out to do without any fuss.

I have a reactive scalp. Try enough products and something eventually sets it off, and when I react, I react. After one shampoo left my scalp on fire and took a couple of days of prescription antihistamines and hydrocortisone to settle, I went hunting for something plain and soothing to wash with. This is what I landed on, and it earned its place in the cabinet.

E45 is not a brand you photograph for the shelf, and that is rather the point. I have kept their shower cream to hand for a long time, largely because harsh cleansers leave freshly shaved or gym-sweaty skin dry and irritated, and E45 does not. The shampoo has the same quiet competence.

How E45 Dry Scalp Shampoo feels, wears and smells

It is a pearlescent, slightly milky shampoo that lathers modestly rather than foaming up like a supermarket own-brand. After rinsing, my hair feels genuinely clean but not dry, dehydrated or straw-like, and my scalp feels soothed and fresh.

The thing I worried about, that a scalp product might leave hair greasy and heavy like a bucket of aqueous cream had been tipped over it, did not happen. It rinses clean. Because it is fragrance-free, there is essentially no smell, which is exactly what you want if scent is what triggers your scalp in the first place. It also makes a sensible, neutral base if you like to add your own scalp oils or actives afterwards.

What is actually in E45 Dry Scalp Shampoo

The ingredient list is short and unfussy, which is most of the appeal. There is no fragrance, no soap and no long list of botanicals doing the heavy lifting in the marketing. What is worth knowing is what each of the few ingredients is actually doing.

• Climbazole is an antifungal, the same class used in anti-dandruff shampoos to keep down the Malassezia yeast linked to flaking, itching and seborrhoeic dermatitis. It sits low on the ingredient list here and E45 does not headline it, so read it as a modest helper against flaking rather than a medicated-strength active. It also does double duty as a preservative.
• Panthenol (Pro-Vitamin B5) is the ingredient E45 does lead on. It is a humectant that holds water in hair and skin, with mild soothing properties. Sensible support, not a miracle.
• Glycerin is another straightforward humectant, there to stop the wash feeling stripping.
• Sodium Myreth Sulfate and Coco-Glucoside are the cleansers, one a sulphate and one a gentle sugar-derived surfactant (more on the sulphate question below).

So the honest read is that this is a mild, fragrance-free cleanser with a low level of an antifungal to nudge flaking and a couple of humectants to keep it from feeling stripping. That is a sensible brief for a dry, reactive scalp, and it is not pretending to be anything more.

Does E45 shampoo contain sulphates?

Yes. Sodium Myreth Sulfate is the second ingredient on the list, so if you are specifically avoiding sulphates, this is not a sulphate-free shampoo. It is worth being straight about that, because plenty of “gentle” scalp products are assumed to be sulphate-free and this one is not.

That said, it is a relatively mild sulphate, paired with coco-glucoside, and the formula is fragrance-free, which for most sensitive scalps is the bigger irritant anyway. So it is gentler than a standard foaming shampoo, but call it low-irritation rather than sulphate-free.

Does E45 shampoo cause hair loss?

This is the question sending most people here, so let me answer it directly. There is no evidence that E45 Dry Scalp Shampoo causes hair loss, and nothing in the formula flags as a cause. It is a plain dry-scalp shampoo built from the same kinds of ingredients found across gentle and medicated washes.

I went through the ingredients looking for anything that would drive extra shedding versus a normal shampoo, and there is nothing. People often notice hair in the plughole around the time they switch products and pin it on the new bottle, but that is coincidence rather than cause. Everyone sheds hair daily, and washing simply gathers up hairs that were already loose. A gentle, fragrance-free shampoo like this is one of the less likely culprits, not one of the more likely ones.

Can it help with hair loss?

Only indirectly, and it is worth being honest about the limits. A calmer, less inflamed scalp is a better environment for hair, and reducing the itch-and-scratch cycle cuts breakage. If your shedding is tied to an irritated, flaking scalp, settling that down can help at the margins.

But this is not a hair-loss treatment. Genetic (pattern) thinning will not be touched by any shampoo. Some shampoos such as Alpecin lean on the thinning conversation, but no shampoo regrows hair, so be sceptical of anything promising reversal or a miracle cure from a bottle you rinse out. Genuine regrowth, where it happens at all, comes from medical treatment such as minoxidil or finasteride, or from a transplant, and none of that is a shampoo’s job. What E45 can realistically do is calm a scalp that is being made worse by dryness, irritation or harsh products. That is where it starts and stops.

The brand’s claims, and how much to believe

E45 says the shampoo is dermatologically tested to relieve dry, itchy and flaky scalps and dandruff, is hypoallergenic, is free from fragrance, soap and perfume, is suitable for everyday use on all hair types, and is formulated with hydrating Pro-Vitamin B5 to leave hair clean and shiny.

The fragrance-free and soap-free claims line up with the ingredient list and are the genuine selling point for reactive scalps. Hypoallergenic and dermatologically tested are the brand’s own labels rather than regulated guarantees, so take them as reassurance rather than proof. “Clean and shiny” is standard shampoo copy and I would not read much into it. The soothing claim is reasonable given the antifungal and the humectants, but treat it as help for everyday dryness and mild flaking, not a fix for a diagnosed medical scalp condition. If your scalp is genuinely inflamed or weeping, that is a GP or pharmacist conversation, not a shampoo one.

How to use it

Apply to wet hair, massage into the scalp, rinse and repeat as needed, which is exactly what E45 recommends. For flaking, it is worth leaving the lather on for a minute or two before rinsing so the antifungal has a little contact time rather than being washed straight off. It is fine for everyday use.

Does it actually work?

For an everyday dry, itchy scalp and mild flaking, yes. The itch settles, the flaking eases, and it does that without leaving hair stripped or coated. As a plain, calming wash for a reactive scalp, it is a genuinely useful thing to have.

Where it will feel underpowered is stubborn dandruff or seborrhoeic dermatitis that has not responded to gentler products. For that, a stronger medicated shampoo (ketoconazole, for example) hits harder. Think of E45 as a sensible first line and a good long-term maintenance wash rather than a heavy-duty treatment.

Is there an E45 conditioner?

There is no dedicated E45 hair conditioner. The rest of the range is skin care, the shower cream, lotions and creams, rather than hair products, so if you have searched for one and come up empty, that is why.

In practice I did not find my hair crying out for extra hydration after using the shampoo, as it leaves enough moisture behind. I still follow with a conditioner out of habit, and any gentle, fragrance-free one pairs fine with it if you want to keep the low-irritation theme going through your whole routine.

How it compares, and cheaper or stronger alternatives

This is a budget pharmacy product, and it is priced like one. That is a point in its favour: you are not paying a premium for the fragrance-free, sensitive-scalp brief.

• Medicated anti-dandruff shampoos (ketoconazole such as Nizoral, or coal-tar formulas) work harder on true dandruff, but they can be drying and some carry a strong medicinal smell. E45’s edge is gentleness.
• Alpecin and similar are a different pitch again, built around caffeine and the hair-thinning conversation rather than scalp comfort.
• Supermarket own-brand sensitive shampoos can be cheaper still, but they rarely combine fragrance-free with an antifungal, which is the specific thing E45 is doing.

If your priority is a plain, low-irritation wash that also nudges flaking in the right direction, E45 is hard to argue with at the price.

An E45 kit for reactive skin

If you spend a lot of time with products, professionally or as a hobby, or you are simply prone to skin reactions, it is worth keeping a small E45 kit on hand for when something sets you off. The pieces I would reach for:

• E45 Dry Scalp Shampoo
• E45 Emollient Shower Cream
• E45 Itch Relief Cream
• E45 Moisturising Lotion