Review: Shea Moisture African Black Soap Deep Cleansing Shampoo

Don't mind the CVS security tag label. I picked up the Shea Moisture African Black Soap Deep Cleansing Shampoo when CVS was running a special BOGO on Shea Moisture products. I'm always eager to try a new shampoo specifically formulated for temperamental scalps and I had been wanted to try this line for quite awhile. This shampoo contains various natural ingredients that are meant to help dandruff, eczema and psoriasis and retails for around $10 for 12oz.

The consistency of the shampoo is a bit weird. It is very fluid in the bottle, but when you apply it on the hair/scalp, it almost becomes gummy. It smells like banana for the most part, but there's definitely an underlying herbal smell. It isn't my favorite but is a nice departure from the tea tree scent that is very common on these scalp helping products.

As the name suggests, this is a deep cleansing shampoo, meaning that it is really too stripping on my hair and scalp to use as my normal shampoo. I don't wash my hair everyday as it is, but found this too strong for anything more than once every week or two. Because of how drying it is, frequent use made my scalp worse though I think the recent weather changes had an impact too. Unfortunately, I can't say this is a holy grail product for me and I don't think I'll be repurchasing. I'm back to using the Philip B. as my "daily" scalp-healing product which I have come to adore even with the high price point.


Ingredients: De-ionized water, Decyl Glucoside (sugar beets), African black soap, Salicylic Acid, Salix Alba (willow) bark extract, Melia Azadirachta (Neem) seed oil, charcoal powder, Melaleuca Alternifolia (tea tree) leaf oil, Simmondsia chinensis seed (Jojoba) Oil, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) oil (denotes certified organic ingredients), aloe vera leaf juice, vitamin E, rosemary extract, plantain extract, Lonicera Caprifolium (honeysuckle) flower and Lonicera Japonica (Japanese honeysuckle) flower extract.

Review: Dermaheal Conditioning Shampoo

I was recently sent an offering of products as part of the Bloom Ambassadors program. One of the items was the Dermaheal Hair Conditioning Shampoo. I'm not exactly in Dermaheal's target audience as I don't suffer from hair thinning. I lose a lot of hair but I sure do grow enough of it as is. My hair is generally thick and healthy and I don't have any female-baldness problems to speak of. So a $40 shampoo "treatment for male- or female-pattern baldness to halt hair loss and stimulate new hair growth" is not really applicable for me.

While I didn't find the shampoo anything special, I enjoyed the pump bottle and the fairly unoffensive scent. I didn't find it conditioning but most shampoos aren't enough for my dry curly hair. I can't say I recommend it since I didn't get any of the claimed effects but then again, I don't have the issue the shampoo is supposed to treat.

Disclosure: Received for review purposes.

Review: Philip B. Anti-Flake Relief Shampoo

Philip B. is a line that doesn't seem to get a whole lot of love, likely due to the price point. I hesitate to spend anywhere near $30 on a shampoo but SpaceNK sent out a code and I had some of their reward dollars to spend and I said what the heck. As most of you know by now, I suffer from a very temperamental scalp and I have tried loads of anti-dandruff shampoos in the past. I generally go to The Body Shop Ginger Care Shampoo which I think is amazing for one that actually smells decent but if I use it too often, it seems to stop working. T-gel works beautifully but dries my hair out and also makes my hair smell disgusting for 24-48 hours (yes, my hair clings to scents like no other). I was ready to try something new and I've heard a lot about this relief shampoo.

The Philip B. Anti-Flake Relief Shampoo comes in several sizes but the most standard is the 7.4oz bottle for (breathe) $35. It is meant to "heal and soothe dry, oily and flaky scalps". Here's the thing with a lot of these types of products (note T-gel complaint above), a lot of them are meant for oily scalps, not dry scalps. My scalp and hair for that matter, rarely get oily, but they can get flaky, tight and the skin can hurt as if it's pulled too tightly. When getting rid of the flakes is key, I also don't want to dry it out further as that will exacerbate the problem.

I've used this several times over the last few weeks and I really enjoy it. It smells horrible, but the scent does not cling to my hair like T-gel. Honestly, that's worth it to me. It does also work and I don't need to use it very often for it to do the job. If you can afford to spend $35 and you have dandruff or a temperamental scalp, I'd give this one a shot.

It's available at spacenk, dermstore and several other e-tailers. Around here, the only chain retail store it's carried in is Blue Mercury.

Review: C.O. BIGELOW Lavender & Peppermint Shampoo

I had high hopes for the C.O Bigelow Lavender and Peppermint shampoo that came in the first Glossybox I received a few months ago. First of all, I have an unfortunate scalp and ingredients like peppermint make it tingly and feel a bit better. I brought this to use in my shower as I had recently used up another product. The first time I used it, I was majorly underwhelmed. First of all, the shampoo is super liquidy and I lost a bit as I wasn't expecting that (and the whole being near blind without my specs). Second, there was no tingle. I thought that it was a bit strange as some peppermint oil - even a minute amount - creates some tingle. So I looked at the ingredient list. There is no lavender. There is no peppermint.

The C.O. Bigelow line always seemed like a more natural, at least homeopathic line... but it looks like this is basically fragranced to make it seem more natural? I, for one, am not impressed.

Aqua (Water), Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Cocamide Dea, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Coco Glucoside, Glyceryl Oleate, Sodium Chloride, Triticum Vulgare (Wheat) Gluten, Polyquaternium-7, Parfum (Fragrance), Peg-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Citric Acid, Tetrasodium Edta, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, Linalool.

Disclosure: The said Glossybox was a PR sample.

Review: Bumble & Bumble Tonic Shampoo

As you may remember, I got the Bumble & Bumble Tonic Shampoo for an amazing price at Big Lots, $6 versus the $22 the bottle is normally. Sephora describes it as a "daily, stimulating cleanser" that is meant to combat dandruff and "invigorate" the scalp. I've gone over my hair issues before. I have dry, thick hair. Unfortunately, the skin issues I've mentioned before are a major issue on my scalp and I either use scary prescription strength steroid ointments or make do with slightly more abrasive shampoos and heavy conditioners. My holy grail shampoo is The Body Shop Ginger Scalp Care Shampoo which I've also mentioned before. But finding a high end brand at Big Lots in a product you would actually use is so momentous that I had to buy it.

I find this a lot more stripping than The Body Shop Ginger Scalp Care. It tingles more and my hair is "squeaky clean" after washing it out. Personally, with my hair as dry as it is, I can't use this daily as Sephora recommends and instead, I've been alternating it with a regular shampoo. As it is, I do not wash my hair everyday so I use this probably twice a week. It is your standard tea tree anti-dandruff formula (another reason I like TBS's as it smells like ginger - something other than tea tree oil for once!) and is a slightly thicker gel (the TBS is more runny). It definitely tingles and you can feel it a bit after showering which is refreshing.

I feel the price is a bit ridiculous, but then again, it is Bumble & Bumble. I'd probably recommend it if you have dandruff and oily hair. My dry hair doesn't like it so much. I have noticed that my scalp has stayed slightly less itchy but my scalp probably got used to the TBS as I haven't mixed it up in awhile. Either way, you'd be hard pressed to find me paying full price for this. There are tons of tea tree oil shampoos out there that do the same job and are probably less stripping to boot!

Disclosure: Shopsense platform utilized.