Aveda Shampure

...The Shampure range by Aveda promises to be ‘above and beyond’….errr….above and beyond what? I decided to investigate!

Prices & Size
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OUCH! I decided to comment on this first as this may already be enough for you to hide your purse and skip the rest of my opinion!!! Now, unless you have won the lottery – your first perception will be like mine – Ouch! I am quoting Lookfantastic’s ...
...high street, or at an Aveda appointed salon (there are details at www.Aveda.com). There are also a few internet distributors like Lookfantastic.com that actually sell Aveda stuff but don’t expect it any cheaper off the net as you will have to pay postage and packaging too.

Packaging
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I have one of their huge litre bottles gracing my bath side and I have to say that I like the way it looks, call me a shampoo ... more

After reading several glowing opinions on Ciao about the wonders of Aveda, I took my credit card on a bit of a spending spree to ‘Lookfantastic.com’! Like I need an excuse to spend??!! My hair promises the ultimate challenge for most shampoos – its long and extremely thick – which means its extremely prone to knots! I have lost count of the times that I have sat with tears streaming down my cheeks struggling to get rid of the knots! Ultimate challenge hair means that I need an ultimate shampoo and conditioner. The Shampure range by Aveda promises to be ‘above and beyond’….errr….above and beyond what? I decided to investigate!

Prices & Size
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OUCH! I decided to comment on this first as this may already be enough for you to hide your purse and skip the rest of my opinion!!! Now, unless you have won the lottery – your first perception will be like mine – Ouch! I am quoting Lookfantastic’s prices as give or take a pound, prices of Aveda stuff doesn’t really differ between retailers. This shampoo comes in 3 sizes; 50ml (tiny trial size), 250ml (normal shampoo bottle size) and 1 litre (salon sized). The prices respectively are £3 (although Lookfantastic doesn’t actually offer this size, I found the price elsewhere), £8.50 and £24. Yep, I said £24!!!!

Would you actually pay £24 for a shampoo? Well I did! It does actually work out good value for a salon brand of shampoo - £2.40 per 100ml as opposed to paying £3.50 per 100ml if you buy the ‘normal’ sized bottle. If you consider that a bottle of premium shampoo at Boots (for example, Vidal Sassoon) is £5 for 250ml – this doesn’t work out that much more expensive.

Where to Buy
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This product is a salon exclusive product, which means you cannot pick up a bottle in Boots or Superdrug. But you can actually purchase this in places like Debenhams or John Lewis if you prefer the high street, or at an Aveda appointed salon (there are details at www.Aveda.com). There are also a few internet distributors like Lookfantastic.com that actually sell Aveda stuff but don’t expect it any cheaper off the net as you will have to pay postage and packaging too.

Packaging
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I have one of their huge litre bottles gracing my bath side and I have to say that I like the way it looks, call me a shampoo snob but it actually looks as though I have a salon quality shampoo! The bottle itself is a cream plastic affair with grey writing – very simple and a bit futuristic looking perhaps. The Aveda name is embossed at the bottom which gives this shampoo a quality look. The two smaller sizes come with a press down cap which to be honest I am not that keen on as it’s a bit awkward to pour out the right amount. I much prefer the larger sized bottle when used with the pump dispenser. The only problem with this is that I have to spend an additional 99p (plus postage where applicable) on buying the damn pump dispenser! To be honest, it would be virtually impossible to use the huge litre bottle without a pump dispenser and at £24, I think Aveda are a bit cheeky not including one already on the bottle (but instead have a cumbersome screw top). Ah well, such is life and once you have coughed up 99p for a pump dispenser they are quite sturdy and you can wash and reuse on your next litre bottle.

The bottle doesn’t actually state what type of hair Shampure is actually suitable for but I have since found out although Aveda recommends it for chemically treated hair, but due to its gentle cleansing, it is actually suitable for all hair types. Well….they could have said this on the bottle couldn’t they!

Smell
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I am getting to the fact whether £24 for a shampoo is justified…next comes the actual smell! I really don’t know what I was expecting when I bought my first bottle – reading others opinions – I guess I was expecting something very herbal! That’s ok as long as it didn’t smell like Radox! Its very difficult to actually describe this smell but it reminds me a little of Pears soap. It’s quite an invigorating herby smell – maybe with a touch of cinnamon?? When I looked at the list of ingredients I noticed that it contained the essential oils of ylang ylang and petitgrain (similar to Neroli) and now that I know that, I suppose I can actually smell both of these oils in the shampoo. Its quite a softly sensual smell – not too strong but maybe a little clinical. Anyway, I like it; it doesn’t have the synthetic smell of many of the shampoos that you would find in Boots.

Consistency
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It’s a bit like the golden syrup that you get in tubes (rather than the tinned version!) – which makes it a little runny but it’s easy to disperse into your hair (which is a priority for me seeing as though I have loads of it!). It is actually the colour of golden syrup as well, which seems a little strange. It does run through your fingers quite easily so make sure you get it on your head as soon as possible, otherwise you could find most of it on the floor of the shower!

The Important Bit
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Does it actually work? Well yes, it actually reminds me of using Johnson and Johnson’s Baby Shampoo – it seems like this may be the grown up version! It lathers ok but doesn’t create an over abundance of foam (but the foaming bit is purely an addictive to make you think you are washing your hair effectively, in reality the foaming process does very little for the cleansing of hair – FACT!). Whilst it doesn’t remove knots (I rarely find a shampoo actually removes knots anyway – it’s the conditioner that does this, but with added wide toothed combing), it doesn’t actually create any additional ones which is always an added bonus for me! The fragrance isn’t overpowering and within a couple of hours after drying (even after using Shampure conditioner which smells the same) you can hardly smell a trace of it on your hair, which is a bit of a shame as it does actually smell quite nice!

Another bonus of this shampoo is that it cleanses without drying my hair (my hair is prone to having dry ends due to its length). It really does seem like an adult version of Johnson & Johnsons as it is so gentle! I was going to write a list of the ingredients but I don’t think this is really necessary and to be honest the list is so long due to the added 25 flower and plant essences! But as usual with shampoos the majority of your cash is spent on aqueous, or water!!!! One of the selling points of this shampoo is that it contains Morikue protein – which is apparently made from Brazil nuts and found in the Amazonian rainforest. It is reputedly supposed to strengthen and restore hair.

Ethics
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Aveda is quite an ethical company. It uses global product sourcing from third world communities helping to sustain local economies. It is also trying to achieve 100% organically produced product status and the majority of the ingredients used are already organic. They also do not conduct or endorse animal testing on their finished products (but like most companies they cannot avoid animal tested ingredients), and strive to avoid all animal by-products as ingredients. This is a bit confusing as they obviously do still use some animal by-products, hopefully pigs placenta isn’t an ingredient in my Shampure shampoo! It would help if they stated what animal ingredients are contained in their products on the bottles so that those who wish to avoid them, can.

What can Aveda do to improve this shampoo
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* The number one priority should be to offer a free pump dispenser with the litre bottle and it seems a little tight of them not to give you one free seeing as though you are splashing out on £24 worth of their product!

* State what type of hair Shampure is suitable for on the actual bottle

* Make the fragrance last longer on the hair (don’t know how they are going to do this though!)

* State any animal ingredients on the bottles – as their animal product statement is a little vague

* Maybe make the product consistency a little thicker

Conclusion
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Would I buy this shampoo again is the ultimate question and I have to say yes, I definitely would. It smells really different to other shampoos and I love the big litre bottles as it lasts for ages. I would like a free pump dispenser though, or at least the option as to whether I can request one free (like you can with washing powder plastic balls!), so as to limit unnecessary packaging. The shampoo is extremely gentle and probably suitable for all hair types. Whilst it is quite expensive I would say that buying the bigger bottle is quite economical especially when used in conjunction with the pump, and a little goes a long way. As for being ‘above and beyond’….ummm – I am still not quite sure what ‘above and beyond’ actually means. A bit of marketing hype if you ask me!

© moose
 

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