These have not made the cut. Either they did at one point and we no longer carry them, or for one reason or another our CEO has chosen not to use them. That is not to say that we don't use the brand in general, these are just products that we've chosen not to use.
Such as L'Oreal Professionals Paris. We use their color line in our salons but the shampoos, conditioners and other bits have not made them. I think, I may have figured out why. Sort of. I'll explain.
I absolutely *Adore* the Nature line. It is low in sulfates and absolutely paraben and silicone free. But, that's not the review (I'll do that one tomorrow.)
No, no, we're talking about the Age Supreme Integral line. More specifically, the shampoo.
First, let us go with the GOOD stuff.
- The line is meant for *aging* hair, so, for my Renegrays or ladies who color but find themselves suffering from gray-hair effect, such as porosity, dryness, kinkiness and stubborness, this shampoo (and conditioner, but more on that later) is for you.
While my hair may not be porous nor kinky (and by kinky I mean a rather curly or uneven texture.) it is stubborn and prone to dryness. That is because it is naturally a 1b/c texture. Meaning, it is not quite straight but not quite wavy. I have some random places where I get some spiraling and well defined S waves but by no means, is it an even texture. (Gods, I feel another blog entry writing itself.) Anyhow, I digress. Because of my stubborn hair and dry nature, I figured "Its free. Why the hell not?"
So I grabbed a bottle, and two of my favorite.
- Because of its hydrating properties, it does promote amazing shine. Though I'm pretty sure the amodimethicone has something in it, as well as the glycerin.
- After a single wash, I did notice my hair has amazing manageability. I can't tell a difference in the shine but that's because I take such good care of my hair to begin with, it is pretty damned shiny on it own. Hubby's hair did look significantly shinier.
The bad stuff:
- High on Sulfates.
What does this mean to me? Scalp irritation. I've been low-sulfate to sulfate free for quite a while. I try to avoid these pesky things once I realized that upon my moving from SoCal to the PNW, my body went hay wire. The humidity and irritants in this area are horrendous. My already dry-prone skin just dries to the point of PAIN and flakyness. For the longest time I thought I had the most persistent case of dandruff. Turns out I just had really dry scalp. (Yeah, dandruff shampoos are pretty high up there on SLS. It just was a vicious cycle.)
As I was drying my hair, I saw flakes. They were a few, not terrible, but enough for me to see them stand out against my dark hair horribly. It was a kin to a single shake of a salt shaker on a black surface. Small, but white, and fucking irritating. -.-
Thankfully I didn't break into hives and persistent itching (Yes, I'm looking at you Kerastase. And no, we don't get that for free. This is just another entry on its own.)
- It. Stinks. Holy Hell does it fucking stink.
Again, back to my sudden Delicate Lily of the Valley constitution, I have been even more sensitive to smells than ever before. I think it has something to do with the humidity. Studies have shown that the 'rain smell' people love is not really a smell attributed to the water that falls from the sky itself, but to the fact that the moisture in the air makes the smell of the asphalt, grass -- the world, really -- more pungent. So the truth is your neighborhood smells the same way all year long rain or no rain, but the extra water in the air makes it easier for our 'blind' noses see the smells at long last.
So. Yea. I smell shit more keenly now. Figuratively and literally. Add this fact onto the fact that I also have more tastebuds than the average human being (yes, I am a mutant freak) and my olfactory nose is a double edge sword. In one hand, I am keenly aware of the scent that belongs to my husband and smelling his pillow or a shirt he's worn a day ago not only makes me feel like he's in the room with me, but make me feel all fuzzy inside. I can also crack recipes with the help of my nose. If I'm interested in a dish enough, I will make it a point to memorize the notes in both palate and nose then go home to replicate. I may not get it on the first, fourth or even seventh time at trying to prepare that dish, but by god, I'll figure it out. I have done so on many occasion and I shall continue to do so.
On the other hand, my shnoz is so sensitive that I can tell when milk is getting close to spoil, I taste 'weird stuff' -- particularly the sweet notes. Some of them are so strong in my palate that all I can taste is rubber cement. (No, I haven't actually licked it, but I've been around the stuff plenty of times to recognize the smell. Some smells are so pungent that it coats one's tongue and it is possible to 'taste' a substance. Rubber cement is one of these things.) This last bit is NOT fun to discover when I bring home a good bottle of dessert wine that cost a pretty penny. While *everyone else* gets to taste the delicious notes of apple, peach and honey all I taste is dirty socks and rubber cement.
Smells, particularly sweet smells make me sick. In various ways. One of those problems are migraines. The others is the urge to vomit. Usually the two come hand in hand. Something about Misery and Company...
Anyhow, hubby thought the stuff stunk. I thought he was exaggerating. I mean, the boy has the nose of a plant. I should've known better. While his olfactory senses are dull, he has his peculiar scents.
Yeah. I got a migraine. And as I was rinsing it out, I kept gagging. It has this horrid 'musty old lady' smell. Which is kind of sad, especially considering that this shampoo is geared for an elder demographic. You would think that out of sensitivity to their brand, L'Oreal would make sure their shampoos would not smell like rancid, musty perfume. -- Now, I am willing to give them the benefit of the chance and believe that the shampoo could've been badly stored/stored so long the perfume went rancid. If anyone from L'Oreal would like to provide me a free bottle to contest this theory, go on right ahead. I don't shy away from free hair stuff.
The smell was so strong that it is still present two days after wash day. It is not as pungent, but pungent enough to bother me. While not enough to make me go wash my hair earlier than I should, it was enough for me to grab some perfume and spritz it into my hair.
- Texture. While my hair is soft and silky, perhaps moreso than usual, it is also heavier.
Back to my usual low SLS or SLS free washes, my hair has a very floaty movement. While it is heavy in nature, it does have volume, bounce and depending on humidity, I'll have some super loose wave to a more pronounced S. I consistently loose and gain weight due to the level of wavyness. This is something I discovered during my length journey and have come to *love*.
Not with this shampoo. I blame the glycerin and amodimethicone. I could be wrong, but I have noticed that silicones tend to weigh my hair down more. Now, to me this is a negative. But if you have similar texture to my hair and you *like* the pin straight look, then by all means, this shampoo will give it to you! This shampoo has made it more difficult for my hair to hold a curl.
I've worn my hair in a cinnabun for two days now, the first night, damp. It hardly held a wave. This is a bun that gives me lots of volume and uniform, deep waves when done on a damp set!
All in all, this shampoo is not for me.
The scalp irritation and the migraine/nausea combo just rules this out the window. The fact that the same size bottle I got for free retails for $16.19 on sale in Amazon (Regular price $24.99), you bet your average-nosed, not so sensitive ass that I will not be buying this thing again.
In fact, the cheap bastard in me is thinking about keeping the bottle in the bottom of my bathroom cabinet for the day that I run out of shampoo (It happens. We go through a family sized bottle of shampoo in six months. I can't say the same about conditioner. I stock one more than the other and next thing I know, we got no shampoo.) but the practical side of me hates this stuff so much I am willing to waste an expensive bottle of high end shampoo into the land fill before I use any more of this again.
Smell : -----
Consistency : ***-- (It lathered nicely, but it felt filmy afterwards)
Next day texture: **---
Price: *----
Over all score: YUCK
Ps: I just took my hair down from its bun. I got a headache again. I'm really, really, really tempted to break my schedule and wash my hair two days early and right before bed. Seriously. -.-
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