no frills haircare
 Jul 29th, 2003
Advantages:
It works
Disadvantages:
It's expensive
Recommendable:
Yes
  angel.sue
About me:
Went on hols 2 years back and never returned to Ciao. Oh well I'm back now... now, what shall I writ...
Member since:23.04.2003
Reviews:27
Members who trust:3
Review rated by 30 Ciao members on average: very helpful 
This review received a counterstatement by a party concerned
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I’ve often looked at Aveda products in department stores and wondered what they were like but, despite being a beauty junkie, I had never actually parted with cash for any of their products. However a few weeks ago a friend and I were doing our usual once-a-month wander around HN (Harvey Nichols) in Leeds when we came across the Aveda counter. My friend happened to comment on how good the products were. Now, I have tried practically every shampoo going from Boots own to Aussie, from Original Source to Korres and I have not found anything that makes my hair look, or feel, drastically any different (I blame myself, I refuse to learn to blow-dry). I have very boring hair; brown, poker straight, prone to a dry itchy scalp, greasy roots and dry ends. And I was not convinced that shelling out £9.00 on a shampoo would make my hair any different but my friend insisted it was worth a try and, on discovering that they did a trial version (tucked away out of sight, you have to look or ask for it) I bowed to peer pressure and parted with my cash.
Aveda Aveda is an American company which prides itself
on using “the art and science of pure flower and plant essences”. If you log onto their web site at www.aveda.com it will tell you about the products and philosophy of the company. Their main message appears to be that they care for the planet and make products which reflect that. However their products are not organic and they do not make it explicit if they test on animals or not, as many America companies do.
Aveda Counters The counters look calm and inviting, the one in HN has a huge fish tank with padded seats and free herbal tea on offer. The retail counters are stationed in many major department stores around the country including HN and Debenhams. It was once a difficult brand to track down but is now becoming more available.
The assistants are usually very forthcoming in offering help and advice although I have to say that on this particular occasion everything seemed like too much trouble but hey, it was a Saturday, perhaps she had had a difficult customer! The product
“Shampure” shampoo comes in 3 different sizes: a trial 50ml, the usual 250ml and a whopping 1 litre bottle. I bought the 50m,l although at £3.00 it was more expensive than most regular shampoo brands. It claims to be a ‘calming’ mixture of 25 plants and flower essences. The main ones are (according to the web site): Coriander, Lavender, Eucalyptus, Orange oil and Morikue protein: a extract created by local people in Peru who ‘gather fallen brazil nuts and extract the oils’ (the way they describe their products being ‘created’ all sounds very lovely according to the web site but you will forgive me if I find a multinational cosmetic companies claims hard to believe) If you look at the back of the bottle it also contains:
Aloe extract
Rosemary
Grapefruit seed
Fragrance
And several other chemically sounding items that when I looked them up on the internet where all from natural sources as far as I could see e.g. natural additives and preservatives.
As I handed over my cash I thought, “This had better work”. Bottle
I think that the Aveda range is supposed to look ‘medicinal’ and in tune with nature. There are no bright colours or fancy boxes. The Shampure comes in a beige plastic squeezy bottle with a transparent sage green lid. The lid is the hand flip-up type making it easy to use. The writing on the front of the bottle is the same colour as the lid and reads ‘Aveda, Shampure, Shampoo’. There is a small purple emblem of a plant in a purple circle on the front. On the back there is a list of ingredients. No fancy packaging, no fancy words. This is practical and no frills. Scent
Quite simply my first impression on pouring some of the thick, clear liquid onto my hand was of the men’s scent, Brut. A sugary sweet Brut, but Brut never-the-less. You can probably just make out the scent of lavender faintly and a top note of bitter orange but apart from that it does not really smell of any of the “25” essences that go into it, its all mixed up into a homogenous scent. The scent is not unpleasant, more sickly sweet and it is unisex. On the head
I poured a 10p sized blob into my hand and began to lather it into my hair. I have quite thin hair but it is quite long so usually it takes quite a lot of shampoo to wash my hair. Not this time. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the blob was more than adequate. I don’t know if you know this, but the lather in shampoo is just cosmetic and has no effect on washing your hair clean, but I love lather anyway and this shampoo sure did lather, but did it clean? After rinsing my hair felt clean. Not that clean to the squeak ‘I’ve just stripped all the goodness out of your hair’ clean you get with come cheap brands but a nice soft clean feeling. I could feel, on touching my hair, that all the dirt and grease had gone from it, even under running water.
I usually allow my hair to air dry as I don’t like using a hair dryer (a waste of electric, dries my hair and it burns my scalp!) and usually this leads to fine flyaway hair. I’m not saying that Shampure leads to ‘salon’ hair without blow drying, but I defiantly noticed a difference. My hair did feel softer and look shinier even without any other styling products. The best thing for me was that it kept my hair feeling clean for days. I usually operate a one day on next day off washing regime, if I wash everyday my hair gets greasy and flyaway but if I leave it longer than 48hours my hair is a state. On the third morning since washing my hair it still felt clean enough to be presentable, this impressed me (as I am lazy at the weekends and don’t like to use precious sleeping/ shopping time washing my noggin).
The Verdict Aveda’s Shampure certainly lived up to its promise for me. I did notice a definite improvement in the condition of my hair and continue to. The only problem I see is the price. At HN 50ml was £3, 250ml £9 and 1 litre around the £26 mark (making this seem expensive but actually the cheapest option per wash/ ml). I did a bit of digging and came up with £8.50 on thehairshop.co.uk and £7.23 from lookfantastic.com (as a free member) both prices are for the 250ml bottle. I would recommend trying the trial bottle first as it is a lot to shell out for the bigger bottles. Quite often, especially at Xmas, they do gift sets of the 1 litre shampoo and conditioner which are excellent value (especially if they are selling them off after Xmas).
It is strongly recommended that you use the Shampure shampoo and conditioner together. I have used them together mostly but I have also used other conditioners at the same time and I did not notice any real difference. Aveda do a number of different shampoos and conditioners so it is worth speaking to a beauty consultant about which one is right for you. I liked this shampoo. Would I buy it again? Probably, if I can get over my guilt at spending £9 on a bottle of shampoo (funny how I have no guilt over spending over that on a lipstick!)I am taking a star off for price because I think it is overpriced, around the £6.00 mark would be better. If you work out the currency rate and compare it with America it should be around that price. Having said that, it worked for me, and you can't say that about many things.
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29.07.2003 19:50
I concur with your excellent opinion. I've used this for years now and because I suffer from excema this is only one of a handful that suits me, the other is Lazartigue. Denise
29.07.2003 15:59
I'd love to try this,what a pity it's so expensive,take care,pat.
29.07.2003 15:56
mmmm ~ this sounds gorgeous, even though the price isnt! i might just treat myself... x