Just Plain Shampoo - Sunsilk

I have recently tried to review some really nice, special, expensive shampoos.  I found it hard to review a shampoo, mostly because I think the feel of your hair is largely determined by the conditioner you use and not so much the shampoo. 

And then I thought I should compare the shampoo to my simple good enough shampoo.
This is my favourite supermarket/Dischem/buy anywhere kind of shampoo.

I use Sunsilk and use the one for coloured hair.  I really like it much more than other shampoos in the same price range.  It is cheap and lasts a long time.  I sometimes use the accompanying conditioner, but also use the conditioner that comes with my hair colour products.  I think a good conditioner is so much more important than a good shampoo.

I have decided that expensive shampoos I review has to make my hair feel better than Sunsilk before I will get excited.

You can read all from the manufacturer here.

Kiehl's Series Nr 6: Superbly smoothing argan shampoo

My review should be read with the caveat that I only used this shampoo for about 4 washes.  I did not have a full size product, but only a few samples. 

It must be so easy to market this since you can use all the right buzz words that seem so popular with consumers.  It contains fairly traded argan oil, is silicon free, sulphate free and paraben free. 

The product is intended for coarse and unruly hair.  I do not think my hair is coarse, but it is thick and in Durban all hair is unruly. 

The shampoo smells really bad.  It has a strong medicinal smell to it, my guess would be  the eucalyptus.   I tended to use a lot more shampoo than I normally do, since it felt like the shampoo was not doing anything, just disappearing into my hair.  That said:  my hair was clean (so it was obviously just me) and felt really soft afterwards.  I was touching my hair constantly, it was so soft.   There are several oils in the ingredient list:  cedrus atlantica, orange peel oil, eucalyptus , sesame seed oils and cocoa seed butter. 

From the package:  Formulated to provide intensive smoothing for a long-lasting frizz free finish our shine enhancing formula is entirely silicone free.  Blended with fairly traded argan oil, high in anti-oxidants and essential oils plus safflower seed oil, a naturally derived emollient this shampoo helps tame fly-aways without weighing hair down.  Superbly smoothing argan shampoo is luxuriously smooth , sulphate free and gently cleanses without stripping color or over-drying hair.  Our preparation helps to reveal hair’s natural radiance for ultra-smooth more manageable appearance. 

The shampoo is very expensive and I have a hard time convincing myself it is better than my much cheaper alternative.  It costs R235 for 250 ml.    A colleague who has very long lovely hair and always buys very expensive shampoo loved this shampoo.  She thought it was perfect and was much more impressed than me by the sulphate free claim, since she uses only shampoos that are sulphate free. 

It is available through the Edgars fashion hot line.

I found some reviews:  This one from South Africa and another from someone who used a sample.  This review is from further afield. 

Kiehls series Nr 5: Kiehl’s olive fruit oil nourishing shampoo and conditioner

 

 

After washing my hair with this shampoo, I have been touching my hair all day long, because it was so soft.  The smell was also nice and soft.  It is meant for dry, damaged and under nourished hair.  It includes avocado oils, lemon juice and olive fruit oil. 

 

 

There are few things I like as much as a good conditioner. A nice moisturising conditioner makes a large difference to the look and feel of your hair. And then it matters less whether you use a good shampoo. This conditioner is great, not heavy or oily, but left my hair nourished and shiny and very manageable. I would definitely place this on my list of things to replace.

I tried hard to find reviews from South Africa. You can read lots of reviews from users on the Kiehl's website and another American website here. You can find some South African reviews here and here.
I do not have the exact price, but I think it was around R195 for 200 ml for the conditioner and R209 for 250 ml of the shampoo.  I like the idea that they sell the conditioner in a smaller size than the shampoo.

Kiehls series Nr 4: Kiehl's Amino Acid shampoo

I remember reading somewhere that coconut oil is the only natural ingredient that can penetrate hair and therefore make a real difference to a shampoo.  This shampoo contains pure coconut oil.  It also has a lovely smell of coconut oil, soft and summery, not overpowering like the coconut in sunscreens.  It reminded me of the smell of coconut you would actually eat. 

 

This shampoo is definitely different from ‘normal drugstore’ shampoos.  First off, it is really expensive.  It is a bit difficult to get accurate South African prices for Kiehl's products, but it sells for $18 for 250 ml in the US, which translates to R144.

This shampoo left my hair silky smooth and soft.  I loved it, and kept touching my hair because it was so nice.  I even tried using it without conditioner and it was fine and still soft, which has never happened with other shampoo.  I prefer to follow the shampoo with just a tiny bit of conditioner, though.

Now the bad stuff.  Although I loved the way my hair felt, I did not like to wash with it.  There was no lathering (yes, I know the lathering is bad for my hair) and sometimes it felt like my hair was not getting clean.  I often ended up repeating the lathering twice, thus washing my hair three times, because it did not feel clean.  When I tried to use the last little bit in the bottle, I added water to the bottle and shook before I put it on my hair and it lathered beautifully.  I wished I had tried this earlier.  I usually justify expensive products by saying “A little goes a long way”, but in this instance I used a lot more shampoo than I normally do before it felt like it worked.

I swim a lot and have stopped using the shampoo when I wash my hair directly after swimming in chlorinated water, because it lathered even less and made my hair feel even less like it was getting clean.  Please note:  My hair were perfectly clean when dry.  It was just while I was washing that I did not like it.

My hair was soft and perfect with this, for one day.  On day two it started getting greasy and definitely needed a wash every second day.  I often go three days between washes with ‘normal cheap drugstore shampoo’.

I do not think I will replace the bottle, mostly because of the price.  But if you do not care what it cost to have soft, silky hair you should give this a try.  It is meant for all hair types.

I could not find a single South African review, this was the closest I came. Some international reviews can be found here,  here, here, here (from a dude) and here.

Crabtree and Evelyn La Source Shampoo

I do not write these reviews because I like to say bad things about beauty products. I do this because I love great products and like talking about it. Every once in a while a product is so bad you really cannot say anything good about it.

 

This shampoo has nothing to recommend it. I am sure the cheapest thing you buy in the local supermarket would work as well. The shampoo did not lather well, it was not soapy but runny and watery and it did nothing special for my hair. It was a bit drying. A big disappointment.

Crabtree and Evelyn is a very upscale brand and one would expect more. Plus the shampoo is really expensive. A big thumbs down.   You can read another review here.