conditioner – Beauty Playbox

One of the reasons I don’t post the empties posts monthly is because I just have so many empty jars and bottles each time, one would probably think I eat conditioners and deodorants for breakfast. It isn’t so, but I figure my empties box is a good picture of how we women are conditioned to believe that we ought to use 16 different products daily to look more or less presentable.

And that’s without make-up.

Oriflame HairX Volume Boost Leave-In Conditioner

I have reviewed the set of Volume Boost Shampoo and Conditioner in full in a separate post. You can read it here.

Oriflame Nature Secrets Hair Mask for coloured hair

I have a feeling that I’ve been using this mask all wrong. That is, on hair that wasn’t dyed. Therefore, I cannot comment on whether it would prolong the vividness of your hair colour. However, I will say this – it’s got a certain scent to it that is akin to hair dye, but much gentler.

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this mask for any of its other properties. I didn’t find that it conditioned my hair well (leaving a simple conditioner on my hair for 2-3 minutes worked better than this mask) or left my hair silky smooth at the end, or made it easier to brush. I did notice a bit more shine, though.

Planter’s Balancing Shampoo with Aloe Vera

How much do I love this shampoo? Let me count the ways. This product honestly deserves a detailed review, but for now have a short run-down:

the formula is a bit on the thin side, but not runny or watery;
the scent is strong but very fresh and very pleasant;
Planter’s does not test on animals;
the volume of the product is small, but you don’t need a lot;
it lathers well, but is very soft – I barely needed to condition my hair after it;
it’s one of the rare products that did not irritate my scalp.

My only two gripes? Price and packaging. I’ll tell you more about these (and the points above) in a full review. Perhaps I’ll buy a mask to go with the shampoo as well, to review the whole set.

Oriflame HairX Volume Boost Series.

The thing with volumising shampoos — all of them, not just this particular one — is they’re basically a detergent. They are designed to strip away as much oil as possible so that the hairs will feel lighter, ergo appear more voluminous.

The obvious downside to that is it will more than likely mess with your scalp’s natural oil balance. And it is never a good thing.

Did I get the promised voluminous result? Totally. And it would hold beyond first day.

But I also got mild irritation, more skin flaking than strictly necessary (not quite dandruff, but gettin’ there), and an occasional frizz. Which is a total novelty for me. I rarely even get basic static in my hair. With this shampoo, I could probably generate enough voltage to kill a mouse or something. Especially odd since one of the descriptions of this shampoo I saw online says that it helps prevent static.

Nope.

With all that said, I didn’t find the shampoo especially drying to the hair shaft. It didn’t feel any more damaged or brittle after I started using this product. It’s the scalp that suffered.

I tried using the conditioner in various ways — in combination with masks and/ or simple conditioners or on its own. It works either way. After generous spritz and some blow drying with my head down, I end up with voluminous shiny hair. I worried a bit about using it on its own, as my hair is pretty damaged from my previous experiments with it. But it held well. No tangling, brushed easily. However, I still recommend that you use your actual conditioner at least once a week and also apply deeper treatments as necessary.

The conditioner also worked when combined with other shampoos.

The only complain I have about the leave-in conditioner is its scent. It’s an okay scent overall, but there’s an undercurrent of something sweet that deeply annoys me. And since it’s a leave-in conditioner, it follows you.

Amusing fact: My brother and father both used this shampoo whilst visiting me. One ended up looking like a really spiky match, the other one like a dandelion. They didn’t know what hit them. I kept mum of course. It was funny. And yet more proof that it does indeed work.

(I’m an Oriflame representative in my country. Products bought with my own money. Opinions mine. This is not a sponsored post. Image credit: Oriflame MD.)