Tara Smith Vegan Hair Care Range

One of my New Year’s Resolutions was to stop using sulphates in my hair. Even though I love the John Frieda Full Repair Range, it contains SLS so I’ve been searching for an alternative to rival it. Last month I attended the Tara Smith Vegan Hair Care Blogger Event, and got to meet the lovely Tara in person.

Tara’s whole range is so impressive, free from parabens, SLS, animal products, artificial colouring (and a whole lot more!), all of her products are natural, organic and vegan approved. Whilst my main issue was sulphates, I wasn’t really thinking about the other nasties that could be in my hair care, so Tara’s collection really amazed me. After telling her my hair concerns Tara recommended both the Shine On* and the Feed The Root* ranges.

Feed The Root Shampoo & Conditioner

This range is designed to stimulate and nourish dry hair and scalp with essential minerals. Both the shampoo and conditioner smell very earthy; not unpleasant, but definitely a bit of a change from the usual heavily perfumed products I’m used to.

Shine On Shampoo & Conditioner

This range is designed to leave your hair squeaky clean with a glossy finish. The scent is more pleasant than the FTR range and it definitely makes hair feel a lot cleaner.

Verdict

Honestly speaking, when I first used both of these ranges I didn’t like them. My hair still felt really dirty and the absence of sulphates made it difficult for me to judge when to stop shampooing. Sulphates are the reason a foamy lather is created, so without them you don’t get a rich lather. Sulphate-free shampoos are less damaging on the hair, but take a while to get used to.

However, desperate to fulfil my resolution I tried them a few more times and I was a lot more impressed. The ‘clean’ feeling that I’d associated with my sulphate shampoos was actually the feeling of dry, moisture-stripped hair. After using both Tara Smith shampoos, my hair still felt strong and full of natural oils, and after applying the conditioner my hair actually felt like it does after I use an intense treatment.

Over the last few weeks I’ve noticed a lot less breakage, my split ends don’t look as scraggly, and my hair generally looks and feels healthier. Now I’m sure this isn’t all down to Tara Smith, but I’m know the products have definitely helped.

At £10 each for 250ml of the shampoo and conditioner, these aren’t the cheapest hair products but they’re definitely worth the extra cash – in my opinion. In fact I’ve already repurchased the full-sizes.

The whole Tara Smith Vegan Hair Care Range is available exclusively from Your Beauty @ Marks & Spencer. The shampoos and conditioners are all available online and in selected M&S stores, priced at £5 and £10 for 100ml and 250ml bottles.

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Review: Curl Harmony Intensive Repair Deep Conditioner and Buttercream

As much as I’m into skincare and looking after my skin and such, I really neglect my hair. Not on purpose, but I don’t have a hair routine as I have a facial and body routine. However I do really try to keep my dry, brittle tresses as hydrated as possible, especially with conditioners, balms and serums.

I recently received some lovely items from Curl Harmony and have been using them for the last few weeks. First up is the Curl Harmony Intensive Repair Deep Conditioner*.

It contains lots of ingredients that are great for your hair and is designed to strengthen and moisturise. I absolutely love intensive moisturisers and had high hopes for this, but unfortunately it just didn’t do it for me. I imagined that it’d be very similar to the Macadamia Deep Repair Masque but it falls very short.

It’s gorgeously thick and smells lovely but it didn’t really leave my hair feeling very moisturised. It wasn’t awful but with words such as ‘intensive’ and ‘repair’ in the name you expect it to be a bit more impressive than a regular conditioner. I think it would suit all hair types as a mid-week pick-me-up, but not so much as an intensive treatment. 

The winner for me was the Curl Harmony Buttercream*, which is all kinds of amazing. I’ve said it many times; multi-use products are just brilliant and this didn’t fail to impress me. I used it as pre-shampoo treatment, a hot oil treatment, when my hair was feeling like straw and also just after I’d blow-dried it and it was looking a bit ‘fluffy’.

The buttercream contains coconut oil, shea butter, olive butter, mango butter, avocado oil – need I continue? It’s so rich and smells absolutely gorgeous and has seriously been my hair saviour this winter. It also works as a nice ‘glosser’ when you warm a little in your hands and run it through your hair.

It’s quite heavy so I’d say it’s only suitable for the driest of hair or Afro hair – but I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Curl Harmony Intensive Repair Deep Conditioner and Buttercream are available from the Curl Harmony website, both priced at £4.95/60ml and £14.50/250ml.

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Review: Ojon Damage Reverse Restorative Shampoo and Conditioner

A couple of months ago Ojon had a Facebook deal where you got £50 worth of products and free delivery with any order – an offer I couldn’t refuse! I got their Damage Reverse Restorative Shampoo & Conditioner along with a few other goodies.

I’d never actually tried any Ojon products before, but I was eager to as the company boast of their products having natural ingredients that are free of parabens, mineral oils, paraffin and lots of other nasties. (Although the shampoo still contains SLS)

I chemically straighten my hair every 5-6 weeks which is very abrasive and has damaged my hair no end. However, as any bleaching fiends will know, it’s not something you can just stop so the cycle will always continue. I’m always on the look out for products to help repair my hair and had high hopes for this shampoo and conditioner. However, I personally found it as useful as a chocolate teapot.

The products themselves smell lovely. They remind me of being sat on a beach with an exotic drink in hand and absolutely nothing to do – in a good way. They’re pleasant enough to use too. I only wash my hair about once a week so I always need to lather and rinse a couple of times, but I found the shampoo overly drying. The conditioner was okay and felt like it put a bit of moisture back in my hair, but it still felt ‘stripped’.

I can never dry my hair naturally; I’m a frizzball so I blow dry once a week after washing. Once my hair was dry it felt like straw. It was horrible. I had to pack it with serums, oils and leave-in conditioners for it to feel like actually hair again.

I know price doesn’t equal quality, but £40 for shampoo and conditioner to me is disgustingly expensive and Ojon must have had a reason to value them at £20+ each. So the week after I gave it another try. And again, I stood in front of the mirror blow-drying straw.

I really tried with this, I really did but they seemed more like shampoo and conditioner for oily hair not dry/damaged.

Honestly speaking I liked the conditioner, so on my hair it does the job when coupled with a different shampoo. Having said that, I wouldn’t pay all of that money for a product that’s just ‘okay’, there are lots of cheaper conditioner alternatives and much better shampoos.

Ojon Damage Reverse Restorative Shampoo & Conditioner are available from the Ojon website and are priced at £20 and £21.50 respectively. 

Have you tried this range? What did you think?

Ojon Goodies! ..

Earlier this week, still nursing my wounds from not getting the Ojon Damage Reverse Hair Serum, I headed over to Beauty Box Swaps to see if there was anyone who was crazy enough not to want it.

I did find the lovely Nora who swapped items from my dud Harrods Glossy Box for her Ojon Serums and I was content. But whilst I was searching, somebody (can’t remember who!) posted that Ojon had announced a special giveaway code for their FB fans. Any orders made on the online store would get a free 250ml bottle of their Damage Reverse Shampoo and Conditioner and free delivery.

I’m trying to save money at the moment so I immediately told myself no – but I of course caved in after five minutes, reasoning that the cheapest item on the website was only £6! Needless to say the deal was snapped up pretty quickly so I was glad I took the plunge!

So anyway, I had a knock at the door the other day and was presented with a huge box …

When I saw Ojon on the top I was surprised that the delivery was so quick – but less time pondering and more time ripping open parcels!

IN THE BOX:

Damage Reverse Restorative Shampoo 250ml – Worth £20

Damage Reverse Restorative Conditioner 250ml – Worth £21.50

Dry Recovery Hydrating Conditioner – Worth £6 (Paid for)

Damage Reverse Restorative Hair Treatment – Sample size worth £2.56

Damage Reverse Restorative Hair Treatment Plus – Sample size worth £2.60

Now I read that they were 250ml, but it didn’t occur to me that the shampoo and conditioner would be so big – and my paid conditioner so small!

Slightly disappointed at the size of the Dry Recovery conditioner, not the product itself (it seems lovely and thick) but just the size of it. Can’t complain too much though, as it did come with £47 worth of freebies AND free delivery!

The sample sachets were a complete surprise, so I was extra chuffed when I got them.

Haven’t used them yet so full review to come shortly, but I’m loving the oil at the moment so hopefully they’ll yield similar results.

Lola ..x