‘Now I’m really mad’: Ulta shopper notices the packaging changed on this popular product. Then she checks out
A woman is going viral on TikTok after revealing that one of her favorite hair care lines recently changed its packaging—and is the newest brand to seemingly embrace shrinkflation.
Keera (@keeraturn) said she’s a big fan of Eva NYC, a Brooklyn-based hair care brand. In fact, she’s so loyal to the company that she’s a regular purchaser of its deep-conditioning hair mask.
Keera said the product had been her “holy grail” for nearly four years. That is until Eva NYC changed the bottle’s packaging and reduced the amount of product it offered customers.
“EVA NYC EXPLAIN YOURSELF,” Keera wrote in the text overlay of her TikTok. As of Tuesday, her video calling out the brand had amassed more than 402,100 views.
Content creator noticed the brand switched to newer, smaller packaging
Keera said she was shopping for the hair product at Ulta and initially couldn’t find it. Then she realized why: The packaging changed.
Keera suggested she wasn’t a fan of the new design, which Eva NYC debuted in December. According to a press release at the time, the brand said its packaging “transitioned from 25% recycled aluminum to a minimum of 50% post-consumer recycled plastic (PCR), reducing total greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 30%.”
But Keera said she noticed another change to the hair product: The bottle it was packaged in was much smaller.
“Why does it look so small?” she asked.
Keera said she initially liked the hair mask, in part, because it came in a large, 16.9-ounce tub. “This will last you months,” she said. But the new bottle, she said, only contains 13.5 ounces.
The 16.9-ounce Eva NYC Therapy Session Hair Mask can still be found at some retailers, like Amazon, for $15.97. The 13.5-ounce Therapy Session Deep Conditioning Hair Mask is now being sold at Ulta for $19.
“I get why brands do this. It’s just a part of business. It’s a part of growing your brand. … But this was $19,” Keera said of the new bottle. What’s worse, she said that larger bottles were never that pricey.
“So they not only raised the price, but they decreased the amount of product,” Keera said. “As a consumer, I don’t like when brands do this.”
Keera said that the missing 3.5 ounces amounted to “an extra month of use.”
She said she was also peeved that the newer bottles contained slightly different ingredients. According to Keera, “one or two ingredients” changed.
“Now I’m really mad,” she said. “I’m actually going to find these old ones and buy all of them. I hope [Eva NYC] did this for supply chain reasons and not because they thought that this needed to be changed.”
She added, “Eva NYC, we have beef now.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Keera via TikTok comment and to Eva NYC through email.
She’s not wrong: Shrinkflation is real
Shrinkflation refers to when companies start selling less product for the same price. While it’s been going on for years, shrinkflation has gotten more noticeable as of late with the advent of social media.
Indeed, on TikTok, several content creators say that some of their favorite food items are getting smaller—yet more expensive. Last month, for instance, a Chick-fil-A customer ordered a chargrilled chicken Cool Wrap and said it was noticeably smaller.
“It is now a thin, ridiculous, like, kids’ meal, fun-size version,” the woman said of her meal.
Of course, a smaller size didn’t mean the product cost any less. The woman said she still paid $17 for her meal.
Similarly, Keera expressed frustration that the Eva NYC product she loved so much is both smaller and more expensive. In fact, in the comments, another buyer noted that the smaller bottle of the brand’s hair mask was $4 more expensive than the larger one.
“If anyone was wondering, it was 16.9 oz for $15,” they wrote. “Now it’s 13.5 oz for $19.”
Reviews on Ulta's site
And fans of the product also pointed this out in the reviews on Ulta's site.
"Please go back to the original for your very loyal purchasers! I can't stomach paying the same price for almost 4oz less product," one reviewer begged.
"SUPER disappointed that they changed the formula, made the container smaller and are now charging more. Loved this product but it isn't the same now," another said.
"Why would you make this more expensive, change the packaging, and give us less product," a third reviewer wrote.
@keeraturn Brands often switch up their packaging or tweak their formulas for a bunch of reasons—like rebranding, growing their audience, or attempting to stay trendy. It’s also a time where they can make subtle changes to ingredients or product sizes without too much notice. I noticed tho ???? #shrinkflation #inflation #evanyc #hairmask #corporategreed ♬ original sound - keera
Viewers empathize with the content creator’s plight
In the comments section of Keera’s video, several other Eva NYC fans were similarly in disbelief that the product’s packaging changed.
“Ugh why mess with perfection,” one woman asked. “I hope the formula is the same but shrinkflation is out of control.”
“Nooooooo stop this is my holy grail why would they do that,” another echoed.
“This is how I found out,” said a third viewer who was clearly distraught.
Others suggested stores that might still sell the product in its original, larger bottle.
“TJMaxx or Marshalls might also start getting the old version! I seem to find products there when lines are discontinued or old formulas.”
“Check TJMaxx! I wonder if the old ones went there,” another said.
And some were simply baffled by the steep cost of hair care.
“It’s a drugstore product… Why does it cost $19? Insane,” one viewer said.
“Nah the big guy was like $16 a few years ago I swear,” one person wrote.
“Yeah, it used to be $15,” a third viewer confirmed.
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