I have been having flashbacks of my childhood every morning for the past few weeks, thanks to Encoura Natural Shampoo Almond. It smells just like the old Vidal Sassoon Shampoo I used as a child, very almondy. I like this product because it not only smells good, it also gives a tad bit of lather (considering there are no chemicals or lathering agents) and it also gets my hair squeaky clean. Per the website "10% Jojoba being used in the shampoo you avoid the coated, heavy feel you get with most soap based shampoos", and trust me, there is no coating on my hair whatsoever. The downside is, with my hair being so squeaky clean, my hair feels a tad dried out so I need to use a good conditioner after shampooing. All in all I'm pretty satisfied with this product as it "does not have any detergents" and "It is completely natural." I give it 3 out of 4 stars for performance and 4 out of 4 stars for value.
*Encoura is a is a Campaign for Safe Cosmetics signer— of which EWG is a founding member — is a coalition of public health, educational, religious, labor, womens, environmental, and consumer groups working on the ground in communities, in the halls of lawmakers, and directly with cosmetic manufacturers to encourage reformulations and safer ingredients. Over 500 companies have voluntarily signed a pledge called the campaign's "Compact for Safe Cosmetics," a pledge to formulate products that do not use ingredients that are known or suspected to cause certain health harms within three years of signing.
*This product scores a 1 on the EWG site.
*The Encoura website is: http://www.encoura.com/
*I paid $8.50 for an 8 oz. bottle.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Squeaky Clean
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Sweet Smell of Success For Your Hair?
The first line on the back of the bottle reads :"The sweet smell of success for your hair", and that's exactly what I notice about Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose Moisturizing Shampoo. This is the most fragrant shampoo I have ever used and trust me, I've used hundreds of shampoos in my 39 years! If you like the smell of Honeysuckle or Gardenia, you will love this shampoo. If you don't mind a really strong fragrant shampoo, you will like this product. If you want your hair to continue to smell like flowers for several hours after washing it, this product is for you. I have been asked a few times what kind of perfume I am wearing only to tell people that it's my shampoo, not perfume they smell. When using the Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose Moisturizing Shampoo, you should probably forgo wearing cologne or perfume unless you want to suffocate others around you,(I know I'm bad), but the scent really is that strong...OK, enough about the smell...You want to know how this shampoo performs, right? This product claims to be "moisture intensive", "enriched with restorative herbal emollients" and it's supposed to "rehydrate hair fibers to overcome dryness and brittleness", however, my dry brittle hair doesn't feel any better after using this shampoo, than it did before. My hair doesn't seem very soft, hydrated or manageable, like the bottle tells me it is going to be. Just like the Burt's Bees Grapefruit and Sugar Beet Shampoo, I could not wait to put the conditioner on my hair as soon as I rinsed the shampoo out of my hair. This product gives a good lather without containing Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Parabens or Petrochemicals, so I can't say I didn't like it, but I didn't love it either. It's neither horrible, nor is it the greatest thing since sliced bread, basically, if you don't mind using conditioner and you love the smell of Honeysuckle, than you will more than likely enjoy this product, however, if you just want to wash and go, or if you are sensitive to strong scents, this product is probably not for you, and yes, you guessed it, I'll review the Honeysuckle Rose Conditioner next...and here's a hint, I liked it better than the shampoo.
*Aubrey Organics is a Campaign For Safe Cosmetics Signer -of which EWG is a founding member — is a coalition of public health, educational, religious, labor, womens, environmental, and consumer groups working on the ground in communities, in the halls of lawmakers, and directly with cosmetic manufacturers to encourage reformulations and safer ingredients. Over 500 companies have voluntarily signed a pledge called the campaign's "Compact for Safe Cosmetics," a pledge to formulate products that do not use ingredients that are known or suspected to cause certain health harms within three years of signing.
*This product scores a 2 on the EWG/ Skin Deep scale.
*The Aubrey Organics website is: http://www.aubrey-organics.com/.
*I paid $9.98 for an 11 oz bottle.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Strong & Manageable???
As you know, mine is not the healthiest head of hair on the planet. I abuse my hair way too much, so I'm always looking for a shampoo that claims to strenghthen and repair damaged hair, needless to say, I was thrilled when I found Burt's Bees Super Shiny Grapefruit & Sugar Beet Shampoo (a 1 on the EWG scale). According to the label, this is a natural formula "with Grapefruit Extract, Coconut and Sunflower oils, which creates a cleansing complex that is one of the most effective, gentle and richly foaming available". Guess what...I agree, this stuff lathers till the cows come home. Burt's Bees Super Shiny Grapefruit & Sugar Beet Shampoo is free of Sodium Lauryl/ Laureth Sulfate, Parabens and Phthalates, but somehow, I still get the lather that I love. The label also states "Honey combined with essential oils of Orange, Lemon, Lime and Tangerine moisturize the hair, making it instantly manageable." Hmm, I'm a little iffy on that one. Yes, honey could help make hair manageable, but as far as I know, essential oils are added for fragrance, not to manage the hair. With that being said, I do have to admit the fragrance is fabulous. The Grapefruit scent really comes through and lasts for hours. As far as making my hair instantly manageable, I'm going to have to say, not! My hair feels extremely clean, but it also feels dry and tangly until I put on the conditioner. Lastly, the label states that "Sugar Beet Extract and Soy Protein penetrate to strenghthen and repair damage". This I believe to be true, after rinsing out this shampoo, my hair feels dry and tangly, it actually feels just like my hair does after I use a pure protein treatment.
As you may know from a previous post, I am a licensed cosmetologist. (I haven't worked in a salon in over 10 years) but I do know that products which are known to strenghthen hair normally contain protein. Pure protein dries out the hair, making it not only feel dry, but also unmanageable, even causing breakage. So, I have to admit I'm a little weary when I see a label that states you can have both strength and manageability in one product...that to me is an oxymoron. So, my opinion of this product is, if you like lather and you like your hair to feel squeaky clean, this is the product for you. If you like the long lasting scent of grapefruit and you don't mind using a conditioner after washing your hair, you will love this product. If you are looking for soft, smooth hair without having to immediately reach for the conditioner, use the Nurture My Body Shampoo Bar!
*Burt's Bees is a Compact For Safe Cosmetics signer— a coalition of public health, educational, religious, labor, womens, environmental, and consumer groups working on the ground in communities, in the halls of lawmakers, and directly with cosmetic manufacturers to encourage reformulations and safer ingredients. Over 500 companies have voluntarily signed a pledge called the campaign's "Compact for Safe Cosmetics," a pledge to formulate products that do not use ingredients that are known or suspected to cause certain health harms within three years of signing. Read the Compact document or see a complete list of the signers. If you're a cosmetics company, find out how to get involved.
*This product is a 1 on the EWG/ Skin Deep scale.
*The Burt's Bees website is: www.burtsbees.com
*I paid $7.99 for a 12 oz. bottle at my local grocery store.
Monday, December 31, 2007
It's Not Love
As you know, my hair is a bit on the fried side, so when I was I saw Giovanni Smooth as Silk Shampoo, I noticed the lower portion of the bottle said it was a "conditioning elixir" and I just had to try it! When I think of the word elixir, I think of something that's going to help to nurture, mend, or cure, so naturally, I thought this should be prefect for my "hair malady". Well, I have been using this "elixir" for over a month now, and I'm not at all in love with it. This shampoo barely produces a lather. I like a shampoo that will make my hair feel clean after just one application, but with this product, I've had to lather, rinse and repeat a second time just to make sure my hair is actually clean. After I rinse it out, my hair isn't smooth or silky feeling, as the name of the product would suggest and I can't wait to reach for the conditioner. I can't place the scent, I guess it's supposed to be a floral-ish scent, since the bottle says it's enriched with Certified Organic Botanicals, but the scent does not appeal to me at all, either. I honestly didn't like anything about this product, except for the price. An 8.5 oz bottle was $7.49 at my local Whole Foods, but since I didn't care for the shampoo, I wouldn't recommend spending even a dime on it.
Although I am going to have to give Giovanni Smooth as Silk Shampoo a big thumbs down, I do love the Giovanni Conditioner-Reconstruct- Nutrafixx For Damaged Hair, so I am certainly looking forward to trying other products from Giovanni.
*Giovani is a Compact for Safe Cosmetics signer. "The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics — of which EWG is a founding member — is a coalition of public health, educational, religious, labor, womens, environmental, and consumer groups working on the ground in communities, in the halls of lawmakers, and directly with cosmetic manufacturers to encourage reformulations and safer ingredients. Over 500 companies have voluntarily signed a pledge called the campaign's "Compact for Safe Cosmetics," a pledge to formulate products that do not use ingredients that are known or suspected to cause certain health harms within three years of signing."
*This product was not in the Skin Deep/ EWG database, so I had to add the ingredients in the database myself, and it came up as a 4. **This information has not been verified by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. I emailed generalinfo@ewg.org, to ask how to get them to review and verify a product, here is the response I got from Parker, the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics representative: "We attempt to add products, as quickly as possible, that are part of lines that are popular among American consumers."
With that being said, I don't know if or when they might add this product to their database.
*The website is http://www.giovannicosmetics.com/. According to the website, Giovanni hair care "uses a combination of certified organic botanicals".
*An 8.5 oz bottle was $7.49 at my local Whole Foods
