Bb Thickening Shampoo, Explained by a Dermatologist
Bumble and bumble’s Thickening Volume Shampoo — often shorthanded “Bb Thickening” — is a salon-brand staple built around a lightweight, buildup-removing formula for fine to medium hair. Here’s an honest look at what’s in it.
The formula
This shampoo uses sodium laureth sulfate as its primary cleanser, paired with a gentler co-surfactant (lauramidopropyl betaine) to soften the wash experience somewhat. It’s formulated without parabens, phthalates, mineral oil, or formaldehyde, and it’s labeled color-safe. The key supporting ingredient is panthenol (pro-vitamin B5), used for moisture balance rather than heavy conditioning — consistent with what a volumizing formula needs to avoid weighing hair down.
About the brand’s performance claims
Worth knowing: Bumble and bumble markets this shampoo, used together with its matching conditioner, as delivering “instantly thicker hair,” “2x less breakage” (compared with untreated hair), and “2x shine” (compared with unwashed hair). As with most brand-reported system claims, these are internal comparisons against a low baseline (untreated or unwashed hair) rather than independent, head-to-head testing against other volumizing shampoos — a reasonable indicator the system does what it’s designed to do, but not proof that it outperforms competitors.
Who this suits
A solid pick for fine to medium, straight-to-wavy hair that’s color-treated and needs a lightweight, buildup-removing wash. Because it’s sulfate-based, it’s a less ideal fit for a dry or reactive scalp — see our sulfate-free shampoo guide if that describes your situation. And as with any volumizing shampoo, it’s addressing hair that looks flat, not hair that’s genuinely thinning — our main volumizing guide covers that distinction and the application technique that gets the most out of any formula in this category.
Frequently asked questions
Does Bb Thickening Shampoo contain sulfates?
Yes, it uses sodium laureth sulfate as its primary cleanser, paired with a gentler co-surfactant. It's a reasonably standard, effective cleansing base but not sulfate-free.
Is the '2x less breakage' claim independently tested?
It's the brand's own reported result, comparing the full shampoo-and-conditioner system against untreated or unwashed hair rather than against a competing product. Treat it as a brand-reported figure, not independent research.
Is Bb Thickening Shampoo good for very dry hair?
It's designed to be lightweight rather than deeply moisturizing, which suits fine or flat hair but may not be enough for genuinely dry or damaged hair, where a repair-focused formula is usually the better fit.