Clairol Daily Defense 3 Shampoo

I first bought this shampoo because of the packaging and the advertising. Yes, I'm the person who actually falls for all those ploys.

Clairol's Daily Defense is supposed to protect "from everyday environmental and styling stresses". Now, seeing as I a) living in central London (pollution AND hard water), b) dye my hair every 4-5 weeks and c)blow-dry my hair with the heat of a minor nuclear explosion every morning (I know it's bad for it but it's the only way I can make it behave), this seemed like a good idea.

As for the packaging - well, I can't help it, I like nice things. Both the bottle and shampoo are see-through but there is a sticker on the back of the bottle of a pink sky and clouds that looks all pretty. aaaah. Seeing as I can't afford to have designer bottle of shampoo in my shower, this is the next best thing.

I started off buying Daily Defense for fine hair (it was the prettiest colours) but it made my hair really limp so I moved to the one for colour-treated/permed hair, with great success. This just goes to show that you should choose the one most suited to your hair for maximum benefit, and not just go on aesthetic benefits like I did.

On it's own the shampoo keeps my hair nice and soft and very clean - even if I've been out all night, my hair's still good enough in the morning to be able to pop to the shops for milk without a paper bag on my head. I use the matching conditioner and this makes my hair supersoft and silky and shiny and bouncy without being unmanageable. It's also very strong and so very little comes off in my hairbrush now. And I NEVER have knots.

Daily Defense has lots of exciting added ingredients like proteins, Vitamin E, conditioners, UV-filter and Pro-Vitamin B5. Whilst I still prefer to get my vitamins and proteins the old-fashioned way i.e. through eating healthy well-balanced meals, and am very suspicious of the 'pro' prefix, the UV filter is a good idea, or would be if i didn't avoid the sun through fear of getting a tan.

I can't tell if this shampoo prolongs the duration of my hairdye (I use semi-permanents) as I've been using this shampoo as long as I've been using my hairdye, and am not about to give up either. I can confirm that it doesn't make my hair colour dull though, as ones not designed specifically for coloured hair often have.

Although not the cheapest shampoo available (it sells for around £2.50 for 300ml), Daily Defense lasts for ages. It claims to give 30 days of protection and suggests using a 50p coin blob of shampoo each day. That is really all you need although I tend to overestimate. The bottle is well-designed for only allowing a little bit of shampoo out at a time and the liquid itself is very gloopy so you needn't worry about it all running out. The bottle has a flip-top lid, which is more convenient than a screw-top but does occasionally snap off (particularly if you drop it on the floor most mornings because you have the worst designed shower in the history of bathrooms). I find that I don't need to use the conditioner every day so that lasts even longer, and, again, you only need a little of it.

The shampoo doesn't smell very strongly, but - while sniffing the bottle might not give you this impression - it does leave your hair nicely fragranced. Three different men, none of whom are my boyfriend (and I don't think any of them especially wanted to be although I may be mistaken) have commented on how nice my hair smelt since I've been using this shampoo. That's the kind of thing that puts a spring in your step and makes you have to pay a little extra.

The only problem I find with using this shampoo is that it has absolutely no dandruff control so I have to use a separate shampoo for that one or two days a week.