I’ve said this before but you’ll have to forgive me for repeating myself – I’m not very hair-savvy. I wash it, colour it and stick it in a ponytail, and that’s all I’m confident in doing. I’d love to have wonderfully obedient hair that holds a curl (I would wear Farrah flicks like you wouldn’t believe) but for now I’m satisfied with hair that stays in a ponytail, is nice and shiny and doesn’t look limp and bedraggled.
Burt’s Bees – Very Volumising shampoo & conditioner
A few months back I was lucky enough to get a very generous parcel of products from Burt’s Bees and I’ve steadily been trialling their products since then. The addition of their pomegranate and soy Very Volumizing shampoo & conditioner was very timely, seeing as I was getting to the end of my bottles of David Babaii For WildAid shampoo and conditioner and was on the market for a change.
I’ve had mixed luck with hair cleansers that were SLS free – sure, I’m not stripping my hair with foaming agents, but on the flip side I end up using double the amount of product to get Sydney out of my hair. I live right on the water and work in the heart of the city, so any hair cleanser I use needs to pull double duty and remove both salt and pollution. True to trend, Very Volumizing shampoo is still a rinse-repeat shampoo for me. The first wash tends to sluice a lot of build-up from my hair but the natural lathering agents rarely foam up on the first wash. The second wash is usually when I can get a good sudsy lather and really get my hair clean.
The conditioner is excellent for taking away that squeaky over-washed hair feeling and giving me something to detangle my bra-length hair. The soy protein gives a nice amount of bulk and lift to my hair without being stiff or product-y, so that’s also a big tick.
There are a couple of downsides I’ve noticed after a good couple of months of trialling this shampoo and conditioner duo though. The first thing I’ve noticed is that this product is absolutely brutal on my coloured hair. Weeks after a dye job I can still see an obvious tint to the water when rinsing the shampoo out and I’ve honestly never used anything that was quite so… let’s say, oh, efficient at stripping out colour. The second point I’ve noticed is that when I leave my hair to dry naturally it has absolutely no shine to it. My hair doesn’t feel dry, crispy or coarse (in fact it’s quite the opposite; the conditioner is wonderful for keeping the ends of my hair nice and soft) but even in direct light it is just a diffused matte desert without a hint of gloss or shine. This is obviously only an issue when I let it air dry and don’t attack myself with a hair dryer or go to town with some Frederic Fekkai gloss spray, but I’d still like to let my hair chill and be natural without it looking quite so matte.
Shine issue aside, if you’re looking for a SLS-free shampoo and conditioner to give your hair lots of body and bounce, give Very Volumizing pomegranate and soy shampoo and conditioner a whirl. I’m halfway through both bottles and so far I’m rather pleased with them!
The shampoo and conditioner are both AU$19.95. Burt’s Bees products are available from David Jones, Myer, all good chemists and natural health stores and from BurtsBees.com.au!
