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Tag Archives: conditioner
Dollface Reviews: Liz Earle Naturally Active Haircare
I’ve been using Liz Earle’s skincare products for a few months now, so when they contacted me to ask if I’d like to try out their new haircare range, I obviously wasn’t going to say no!
Using the same principles they apply to their skin range (natural ingredients, no fuss approach, etc), the Naturally Active Haircare range keeps things simple: there’s a “one tube suits all” shampoo, which can be used regardless of your hair type, plus three conditioners – one for normal hair, one for dry or damaged hair and one for oily hair.
My hair very definitely falls into the “oily” category, so I had no problem working out which conditioner to request. Mine is the kind of hair that has to be washed every day without fail: I do occasionally skip a day if I’m planning to wear it up, but even those times where I think I’ll be able to get away without shampooing, I’ll generally find myself back in the bathroom after a few hours, with my head hanging over the bath, desperately trying to wash my hair without also washing off my makeup. Oh, and those greasy roots generally mean that I can wash my hair first thing in the morning and it’ll still be looking limp and greasy by evening: fun times!
Needless to say, then, I requested the conditioner created for oily hair, and received it and the shampoo just over a week ago. My first impressions were that this is definitely a “no nonsense” brand of product: while the squeezable tubes these come in are of a high quality, the design is simple, and there’s none of the fruity scents or bubblegum colours I’ve come to associate with so many hair products these days. Instead, you just have simple, natural ingredients: the shampoo is formulated with West African shea butter, natural source vitamin E, plus apple and orange extracts, while the conditioner contains black cohosh and yangu oil, to make the hair shiny and manageable without weighing it down.
I’ve been using these products since they arrived (in fact, I just used the last of the conditioner today) and the most obvious difference is how much bigger my hair seems when I use these. Generally flat and limp, I noticed that I have much more volume at the roots, which makes my hair look thicker and bouncier than it usually does: something of a novelty for someone with such poker-straight, flat hair! It also seems to stay clean for longer: I’ve still been shampooing every day, but there have been a few days where I felt like my hair didn’t really need to be washed, and just did it anyway out of sheer force of habit.
Overall, I’ve been impressed with this line, and have enjoyed having bigger hair than usual for the past week! This is slightly more expensive than my usual budget buy shampoo and conditioner: both shampoo and conditioner cost £7.50 for the full, 200ml bottle, but if you’d just like to try them out, you can buy the 50ml versions for £4 each.
Click here to buy direct from Liz Earle.
Hair Products: Why are redheads always overlooked?
Well, Dollfaces, I’m pleased to report that last week’s haircut was far less traumatic than I’d anticipated and so, to celebrate, I headed to Boots to buy myself some new hair products. (Is it just me who always wants to buy new hair products after a cut? I always feel like the new hair deserves it somehow. Or that I deserve it, for having survived the trauma of a haircut…)
Specifically, I wanted to stock up on some of John Frieda’s Luminous Color Glaze in ‘Radiant Red’, which, as longtime readers will know, is a product I absolutely love. As well as leaving my hair very shiny and silky, it also makes my natural red that bit more vibrant, so it’s a product I’ve been repurchasing ever since my first review of it, in 2008. Lately, though, it’s been getting harder and harder to find, and I soon found out why: it’s been discontinued, along with the ‘Sheer Blonde’ version of the glaze, although the clear and brunette versions still seem to be being sold. (I emailed John Frieda last week to ask if there are any plans to replace the red and blonde versions, but haven’t had a response from them, so I’ll update this if and when I hear back from them).
Well, I was crushed. It’s always a blow when a favourite product is discontinued, but presumably these hadn’t been selling well enough to justify keeping them in production (it’s entirely possible that I was buying ALL the red glazes, actually…) so I took it on the chin, and begun a search for something to replace it. Here’s the thing though: I didn’t find much. Our local branch of Boots is a big ‘un, and has a huge section dedicated to hair products, but while I found lots of shampoos and conditioners (and even mousses and other styling products) dedicated to making blonde hair blonder and brunette hair browner, other than the John Frieda range, I found very little for us redheads. In fact, a quick glance at that aisle would have easily convinced visitors from another planet that those were the only two hair colours found on planet earth. (I suspect people with jet black hair possibly have the same issues)
When I got home, I got online, and had a quick look for products designed for redheads. That search did turn up a few options, but most seemed to be from higher-end brands (Aveda’s Madder Root Shampoo and Conditioner, for instance, sounds great, but at £22 per bottle, it’s out of my price range.). Of course, I understand that this lack of choice is probably financially motivated. There just aren’t as many redheads as there are blondes and brunettes, so obviously there won’t be as much of a demand for products to suit our colouring, but at the same time, we’re not SO rare that there wouldn’t be any demand at all, and my online searches revealed lots of other redheads, both natural and otherwise, in search of products to enhance our colour, so there could be a great opportunity for some brand to capitalise on that.
In the meantime, I fell back on one of my own favourites – Boots’ Botanics ‘Radiant Red’ which is good, affordable and therefore probably doomed to be discontinued any day now.
Any other redheads out there? What products are you using on your hair?
Dollface Reviews: Pantene Volume & Body Shampoo and Conditioner
Before I get started with this review, I should probably hold my hands up and confess that I’m a bit of a Pantene fan. They’re one of my go-to brands when it comes to hair care, so when I was sent some of their Volume & Body shampoo and conditioner to try recently, I must admit I went into the review expecting to like it.
I wasn’t disappointed, either. Make no mistake: there’s nothing particularly fancy or exciting about these products, in terms of packaging, scent or branding. Pantene is one of those no-nonsense brands that’s successful mostly because the products work. I’ve been using the shampoo and conditioner from this range for about a week and half now, and, as with all of the Pantene products I’ve used, they leave my hair feeling super-soft, silky and thick – and I notice the difference when I stop using them and switch to something different.
In terms of the “volume and body” claim, my hair is a fairly good test, as it’s long and fine. Do I notice a difference after using this? I’m going to have to say “not really”. I don’t see a huge difference in volume, but my hair is a stubborn beast in that department, and not much DOES make it look more, er, voluminous. I do however, notice an improvement in the overall condition and general health of my hair, and that’s good enough for me.
You can read more about this range here, or buy it at Boots.
Dollface Reviews: John Frieda Luxurious Volume Collection
A couple of weeks ago I was sent some of the products from John Frieda’s new Luxurious Volume range, which, I’m sure it’ll come as no surprise to find out, is designed to help make your hair look fuller, thicker, and just better.
Now, this was interesting to me, because while my hair isn’t particularly thin, it IS very fine, fairly long, and poker straight, which means it can have a tendency to look a bit lank. Add in some lovely, greasy roots, and you get that attractive “plastered to the head” look, which these products are designed to help combat.
I’ve been using the Thickening Shampoo, Thickening Conditioner and Blow Dry Lotion from this range: I don’t tend to use styling products, but for those who do, there’s also a hairspray, mousse and thickening texture paste to try. The shampoo and conditioner are pretty much self-explanatory: they’re both very lightweight, and the shampoo is designed to strip away product build-up (which can weigh down your hair and make it look flat), while the conditioner strengthens, repairs, detangles and reduces static.
This last point was particularly interesting to me, because I’ve been having a huge problem with static recently, as I quite often do at this time of year, and I’m pleased to say that these products have really helped tackle it. I wouldn’t say they make my hair look thicker, but it does feel much smoother after use, and there are no tangles at all. The greasiness that’s the bane of my life is also much more manageable when I use the shampoo, so so far, so good.
The real triumph of this line, however, is the Blow Dry Lotion. This is sprayed onto the hair (concentrating on the roots) before blow-drying, ideally with the head upside down. I’ve used it several times now, and each time I’ve been really impressed with the results: as soon as I flip my head the right way up, I can see a definite improvement in volume around the roots – so much so, in fact, that the short bits of my “fringe” are generally sticking straight up in the air, and I have to put some water on them or get out the straighteners to make them sit flat.
Because of the aforementioned greasiness, I generally avoid using anything AT ALL on my hair after washing, especially on the roots, because I always worry it’ll just weigh the hair down and make it look even greasier. That hasn’t been the case with this product, though: like the shampoo and conditioner it’s very lightweight, and can’t be seen in my hair at all – whew!
This range is available from all of the usual suspects, and Superdrug are currently selling it with prices starting from £3.99. Take a look here for details.
Dollface Reviews: Aussie Miracle Hair Insurance Leave-In Conditioner
I was a little dubious about trying this product. My hair has a tendency towards greasiness, and so I generally avoid any kind of “leave in” product for fear it’ll just encourage that tendency, and force me to re-wash my hair. And my hair is long, and takes a while to dry, so that would clearly be a disaster. Oh, first world problems!
I needn’t have worried about this one, though. The instructions tell you to spray it onto towel-dried hair: I decided to take the “in for a penny, in for a pound” approach, and sprayed it on fairly liberally, before drying my hair as normal. And “miracle” indeed: not a trace of greasiness or stickiness, just hair that felt totally normal, but for the fact that it was both shinier and smoother than usual.
This even passed a little something I call “the bathroom mirror test”. The mirror in my bathroom is directly opposite the door, which means that every time I go in there, I come face to face with myself. (I know, it’s awful.) I deem a new product to have passed The Bathroom Mirror Test if, when I glance at myself in this mirror on my way through the door, I actually notice a difference in my appearance. This passed because my hair has been looking a bit… well, a bit like straw, to be honest with you… recently, but Aussie made a noticeable difference: I could see the shine when I looked in the mirror, and while I couldn’t claim to be blinded by that shine, exactly, it was definitely there.
And how is this leave-in shine achieved? Mostly using jojoba seed oil, apparently. It conditions and detangles the hair, and would be ideal for beach days, which is, in fact, one of the things it was developed for. Just as good for hanging around the house on a wet Wednesday afternoon, it costs £3.49 at Boots.
Conditioner Only Washing Day 2
Well, I have to admit I wasn’t quite as impressed with Day 2 of my conditioner only hair washing experiment as I was with Day 1. By the time I went to bed last night my hair had started to feel a little more greasy than it would have done ordinarily, so I was slightly worried that CO-washing just wouldn’t be enough for it today. I was pleasantly surprised, then, when the conditioner did manage to get the grease out: the problem I seem to be having at the moment is that my hair just doesn’t seem to feel as “fresh” as it would after washing with shampoo.
This could just be a psychological thing, of course: it’s not nearly as greasy as it would be if it hadn’t been washed at all, and I’m not sure anyone other than me would notice any difference. It does still feel thicker, softer and less flyaway, so I’m going to be continuing with the experiment to see how it goes. Of course, I didn’t blow dry again today (no time!) so perhaps that will make a difference to the way my hair looks after the CO-wash. Time will tell…
