Happy Hair Days

I’m a massive fan of SLS (Sodium Lauryl Sulphate) and Paraben free Shampoos and Conditioners. I have a love/hate relationship with my hair and scalp! But both seem to behave so much more when I go for more natural products.


I’ve seen the Happy Hair Days range in both Boots and my local Sainsbury’s for sometime but haven’t really got around to picking any up till recently. I’d not really heard much about the range and have actually even struggled to find a website. But despite this when I saw that they were on offer in Sainsbury’s (half price so only £2 instead of the usual £4) I thought I’d just give it a go.

 

Given my naturally frizzy, dry Hair I thought the Smoothing range looked the best. Also it looked as though it might smell the best – it’s Blueberry & Pear, whilst the Moisturising in Pomegranate & Ginger and the Colour Care is Marshmallow & Coconut.

 

So I’ve used the Shampoo and Conditioner a few times now and I have to say I’m loving them. Definitely the best SLS free shampoo I’ve used so far. My hair is much less frizzy (I don’t kid myself – there isn’t a product out there that can get rid of all my frizz!) and the conditioner has left my hair feeling silky soft. I would go as far as to say that the conditioner is one of the best I’ve tried regardless of it being SLS and Paraben Free.

 

Neutrogena T/Gel Therapeutic Shampoo

So this is more a a rave about a life saver products rather than a review.  I also go back to this is if I'm having issues with scalp and after trying the Percy & Reed Splendidly Silky Moisturising Shampoo my scalp was in a right state.  It just wouldn't stop itching - it was on fire!

Now whenever I have any issues with my scalp I turn to Neutrogena and in particular their T/Gel Range.  They're advertise as Gentle, Effective and Complete Scalp Therapy,

"Neutrogena T/Gel^® Therapeutic Hair Care is a line of dermatologist-recommended shampoos formulated to treat itchy, flaky scalp, caused by conditions ranging from mild dandruff to seborrheic dermatitis. Gentle and pleasant to use, T/Gel^® products leave hair shiny and manageable and relieve itching for hours after rinsing. The complete T/Gel^® line offers different active ingredients and benefits to treat of all kinds of scalp symptoms."

I tend to use the T/Gel Therapeutic Shampoo the most, as it's easy to get hold of in the Supermarket and saves a trip to the Boots/drugstore, but also it seems to cover all my main issues - dry, itchy scalp and dandruff.

I just use in replacement of my normal shampoo and my scalp feels so much calmer within a couple of washes.  One downside - the Coal Tar Extract gives the product what can only be described as a 'funky' smell that does remain on her hair, but by the time I've used some leave in conditioner and frizz control serum it does die down a bit!

Overall if you have any problems with your scalp this is just the best thing our there to fix it.

Liz Earle Shampoo & Conditioner...

Hey,

Just wanted to a sort of an update post for you. Back in April our Mum did a post on Liz Earle Botanical Shine Shampoo & Conditioner that she had received from Liz Earle as a Mothers Day post, you can see the post here.

Well I have since received a set of these to try and I have to say my hair is very grateful. Firstly look at how lovely Liz Earle package them up, it felt such a shame to open them up.On to the shampoo first, this is 200ml for £7.65 and here's what they say:
'With West African shea butter, natural source vitamin E, shine-boosting apple and orange extracts plus naturally derived cleansers, our shampoo gently cleans without stripping to leave hair soft, shiny and smooth. Contains no sodium lauryl/laureth sulphate.

Wet hair thoroughly, massage into a rich lather from root to tip – a little shampoo goes a long way.

Naturally active ingredients include natural vitamin E, west african shea butter to moisturise plus apple and orange extracts boost shine'.

My first thought when I used this was it smells gorgeous as my Mum said it feels invigorating to use. I have the same issue as my Mum in that I have an itching scalp so I have switched to using SLS free shampoos and luckily this ticks that box! I have noticed with some SLS free shampoo's you struggle to get them to lather up, but again this doesn't suffer from that issue.

After using the shampoo for two weeks I have enjoyed it and my scalp also feels better. The only thing that I haven't liked is my hair seems to get greasy and feels dirtier quicker. Now I have frizzy, dry and damaged hair, my normal hair wash routine is for example was my hair in the Sunday evening, leave it Monday then wash it again Tuesday evening. Otherwise my hair is just a frizzy mess! And at the moment I really feel like I need to wash my hair Tuesday whereas I didn't feel like that before.Onto the conditioner, what they say:

'Specially formulated with West African shea butter, yangu oil, blue seakale and shine-boosting apple and orange extracts, our ultra-rich colour safe conditioner leaves dry or damaged hair hydrated, under control, soft and smooth.

Massage into clean, wet hair after using Botanical Shine Shampoo.

Naturally active ingredients include West African shea butter to moisturise, yangu oil to help smooth and soften hair, plus apple and orange extracts boost shine'

Again this smells amazing, it so thick and creamy. My horrible hair has enjoyed using this. My hair has been much easier to dry and straighten, it feels lovely and soft.

Even though I mentioned that I feel my hair gets greasy near wash day I have enjoyed using this and really like the smell. My mum is onto her second lot and she has said she will continue to use this range. I will certainly continue with the conditioner. I like the shampoo but I am not convinced it does much for my hair type. I have currently got a SLS free shampoo from Tigi on trial as well so I will let you know which one I prefer.

Have you tried Liz Earle Shampoo or Conditioner?

Thanks

Haircare Samples...

Hey, as I have previously mentioned I have been very lucky recently and won some prizes via Twitter Retweets. One of my prizes was from @beautybooth, they are a beauty website http://www.thebeautybooth.com/ stocking a wide range of products from Elemis to Jessica Nails etc. The prize I won was a massive box of samples products that ranged from haircare to skincare to nail varnish. I couldn't believe my eyes when I received the prize it was AMAZING! So I decided to review some of the haircare samples that I have tried.



The ones I have tried so far are Tigi Rockaholic Livin' The Dream Shampoo & Conditioner and Professional Sebastian Light Weightless Shampoo & Conditioner.

I had enough in each packet for two washes, I tend to wash my hair every other day as its dry and frizzy.

I tried the Tigi Rockaholic first as I am a big fan of Tigi and I have been using their Bedhead range for awhile. Now the Bedhead range I am a fan of has finished, my favourite range was the Control Freak but they now do style shots and urban anti-dotes. So I was quite keen to try the Rockaholic range.

According to Tigi's website,

'Brings stellar shine and strength to your strung our strands with a bad ass sulfate-free blend of green tea, goji berry, gotu kola and multi-minerals'

I have to say I was quite impressed, I have been using Naked Haircare at the moment, see here for review, and though I like it I don't like the fact sometimes it doesn't foam up. I just don't always feels the shampoo does enough. Well this Tigi one is great it foams easily, smells great and my hair was sooooo manageable. I was really impressed and would look to purchase this Shampoo and Conditioner, it retails at £6.55 for 250ml Shampoo and £7.45 for 250ml Conditioner on www.thebeautybooth.com . Especially as I felt I had to go over my hair a couple of times with my Haked Rescue Shampoo.

Now I would never have even looked twice at trying the Sebastian Professional Weightless Shampoo and Conditioner, with my hair type I wouldn't have said I needed this. It retails at £10.29 for 250ml shampoo and £11.99 for 250ml conditioner at http://www.thebeautybooth.com/ .

According to Sebastian Professional the should,

'Sebastian Light Shampoo is a weightless shine shampoo which is clean and light as air. The shampoo purifies, paring everything down to its essentials. Colour safe'

My hair felt great after using this and it even straightened better than normal. As I said I would never have given this range ago but I actually liked using it, my hair felt lovely and clean but wasn't feeling clogged at all.

I much prefer trying a sample before buying a product and this prize has been brilliant for that! I am trying brands and ranges I would never have looked at twice or was worried it was too expensive to try if I didn't like it. I will keep you updated with how I go with the rest of the items.

Are you a fan of samples? Any recommedations of sites or shops that are good at giving samples to try before you buy?

Thanks

My Batiste Brit Winnings

I have been a fan of Batiste for a while. I mostly use Batiste Blush, but back at the end of November Batiste had a Retweet competition running on Twitter....and I won.

Heres my winnings....


I was so please to win and it had been a particularly lucky month (I had won 6 prizes in November through Twitter and blogs giveaways).


For those who may not be familiar with Batiste they are dry shampoo that you spray into dirty or greasy hair to make it feel instantly clean, fresh and also lifted! I also like to use mine for updo's as well. Currently you can choose between 12 varieties from shimmer to coloured, and they retails at around £2 (but its does depend where you buy it).


I'd won the Brit one which arrived it a gorgeous bag with a mini brush that you can see above, and currently it is exclusive to Superdrug. They have released Brit with it Cool Britannia fragrance as Batiste has been going for 30 years. I have to say I love the smell of Brit, it is sooo fresh and isn't overpowering so it is great to use. I am going to stock up on this!


Have you tried Batiste? Do you have a favourite variety?

Regis bargain...

Ooooo look what I picked up today girlies...



Now I LOVE redken products, over the years I have become reliant on them for making my hair shiny and smooth - which is very difficult when you hair afro-carribean hair like me!

So I ran out of my trusty shampoo and conditioner yesterday and as much as I wanted to get travel sized none redken (cheaper) products I just couldn't take the risk! So out I went to the shops and hit Regis for my usual. And the lovely girlie at the till said I could pay the same and get a free shampoo!!!!

Well you can imagine I snatched that deal up!!! Yay! Happytimes!!!

So now I'm just transferring the beautiful products into my travel sized bottles for tomorrow's trip to NYC!! Eeeeek! Exciting!

~*Giddy princess*~
From iPhone