I’m in a really good place with my shampoo and conditioner situation. I am still using and loving Giovanni’s 50/50 Balanced line with John Masters Organics (JMO) Citrus and Neroli Detangler as a leave-in conditioner. Once out of the shower, I smooth Weleda’s Rosemary Hair Oil all over my hands, and then run my fingers through my hair and air dry. I’ve tried some other shampoos, conditioners, and “products,” but this is the regimen I keep coming back to.

I am however, looking for ways to keep my hair fresh between shampoos to save on water and time, both being very precious resources. As an established JMO fan, I was anxious to give their Shine On leave-in treatment a spin to see if it could assist me in my endeavor. It’s a thick gel without any scent, and distributes with ease despite its consistency. I’ve discovered that too much will easily make your hair greasy, and too little won’t do much for you, so it’s all about finding the perfect amount for your hair. I have long, thick hair and about a nickel-sized amount applied throughout damp hair does the job. It adds a little bit of extra shine, probably not noticeable to anyone but me, and helps my waves/curls maintain their shape. Honestly though, it wasn’t anything extraordinary. Not until I applied a little bit on my dry hair to tame frizzies did I discover Shine On’s true glory. All I need is a dime-sized dollop rubbed in my palms and gently smoothed on the spots that need some control. This is especially effective when I have my hair pulled back and my renegade strands need reining in.

While JMO’s Shine On helps me achieve a tidy “hair-pulled-back” look, Dr. Hauschka’s Neem Hair Lotion keeps me from feeling like I need to put my hair in a ponytail in order to look presentable. The Haucshka literature and on-line reviews tout Neem Hair Lotion as beneficial for oily and fine hair. It keeps the greasies at bay and adds body to fine hair. Well, I have neither of those, and I still love it. Much to my surprise, the extracts of neem, arnica, birch and calendula work wonders on dry, thick hair as well. I’m willing to concede that my following conclusion might be a placebo effect as I am a huge fan of Dr. H to begin with, but this little elixir gives me soft, shiny hair, even on day 3 or 4 post-shampoo. It’s now a part of my Dr. Hauschka arsenal.

Hair powders can also be used to combat the greasies and give life to your bed-head. My favorite is by LuLu Organics, a talc free, essential oil fragranced powder. Other ingredients include organic corn starch, organic rice powder, and white clay. I only have a few samples of the powder from a local hair salon, but the full sized has beautiful labels that are hand-screened by The Paper Moon Project. Not only are they gorgeous to look at, the corn-starch based tubes are also recyclable and biodegradable. Since my hair and scalp lean dry, I don’t reach for the powder until 3 days of unwashed hair and prefer the Neem Hair Lotion for my daily needs. But for those of you with normal to oily hair, this is an ideal product, especially when you’ve got to hurry somewhere and don’t have time for a shower, or even after exercising. The samples I have are over 6 months old and the scents (I have lavender and jasmine) are very faint. They might be more pronounced in a fresh tube. Either way, these Hair Powders are sweet in their soliflore simplicity and practical in their efficacy.

All of the above products are 100% natural and contain certified organic ingredients.

JMO Shine On is $30 for a 4oz jar at JohnMasters.com

Dr. Hauschka Neem Hair Oil is $29.95 at SaffronRouge.com

Lulu Organics Hair Powder is $9.95 for a 1oz travel size or $39.95 for a 4.5oz full size at SaffronRouge.com

And just for fun, here are some beauty tips on how to get create more volume in your hair, perfect for a day of unwashed hair!

Posted by ~Trish

Disclosure: The sample of JMO Shine On was sent to me by their PR. The opinons in this review are my own. I was not financially compensated for this review or any other.

image from theartreaddict.com

But, having a natural beauty blog means staying open to new products, especially when there’s interest from readers. My HAIR post continues to be one of Scent Hive’s most popular, so here are more reviews:

Aubrey Organics is a brand that has long interested me, and I can’t express enough how much I appreciated turning a conditioner bottle over to read the ingredients and seeing this statement at the top:

100% Natural Ingredients. No Parabens or Petrochemicals

At the bottom you’ll find: No Animal Testing, Vegan, Biodegradable

So Aubrey covers a lot of bases, including many organic ingredients of course. Since my hair is thick, wavy, and leans frizzy, I tried the Rose Mosqueta Nourishing Shampoo and Island Naturals Replenishing Conditioner for starters.

Rose Mosqueta Shampoo, is wow…super scented. Rose musk anyone? And the scent lasts all day long. So if that’s a deal breaker for you, go ahead and jump to the conditioner review. It’s not entirely a deal breaker for me depending on the day. If I want my hair to be my scent of the day, then I’ll go for it because this shampoo is high quality. It has an excellent lather, which is not to say it will be sudsy like a mainstream shampoo, but for a natural shampoo, it’s lovely. My hair felt well hydrated after using Rose Mosqueta and was shiny to boot. I only wish it weren’t so intensely fragranced. I’ll admit that musk is not on my preferred scent list so I might be a bit sensitive to it. But if you like musk, you will love this shampoo.

Aubrey Organics Island Naturals Replenishing Conditioner also gets high praise for its performance. It’s thick and rich and I love its first ingredient; coconut fatty acid cream base. Give me more of that in my hair please! I love running a comb through my hair when it’s being conditioned, and this allowed for smooth combing action. (Not quite as effortless as John Masters Organics Citrus and Neroli Detangler, but smooth nonetheless). With a name like Island Naturals, I was expecting a tropical scent of pineapple, mango, coconut or a hint of gardenia, but instead found mint and rosemary on my head. Fine by me, just not what I was anticipating. Indeed, you will find balm mint and rosemary oil in the ingredient list, with some coconut as mentioned above, but apparently the aromatic herbs are too much for the little island fruit (or seed to get technical). Regardless, my thick hair met its match in Island Naturals Replenishing Conditioner and will be in rotation among Giovanni 50/50 and John Masters Organics Citrus and Neroli Detangler.

Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose Conditioner says it’s for “Dry Brittle Hair”, but I found Island Naturals to be far more hydrating. The Island Naturals Replenishing provided so much moisture, that fine hair might be too weighted down by it, but I think the Honeysuckle Rose Conditioner could be doable in a small amount. If you find that starts coating it too much, give Blue Chamomile Hydrating Conditioner a try, it gets rave reviews on the Aubrey website from the gals with thin, fine hair.

As for styling products, I’ve been keeping it simple with hair oil after the shower. My routine: Towel dry, 3-6 drops of oil rubbed all over the hands, distribute through middle of hair, ends, then hairline. Comb it. Wrap it up in a clip for a while. Done. I’ve discovered Weleda Rosemary Hair Oil and have found my new favorite styling product. No doubt that Dr. Hauschka’s Neem Hair Oil is a quality product, but Weleda’s helps tame the frizzies a smidge better and makes my hair just a bit softer. And the rosemary scent is delicious.

For some fun, not so serious hair care, give John Masters Organics Sea Mist Sea Salt Spray with Lavender a go. While it added too much body to my hair, it would be perfect for someone whose thin hair needs some life. Or if you’ve got some bedhead and need to give it a boost, spritz this on and refresh your hair with a lavender scent and a little wave.

If you’ve got some favorite natural haircare products, by all means, please share your discoveries by hitting the comments button below! And check out Stylecaster.com for some hair and beauty tips.

Posted by ~Trish

image from http://blog.vva.org/?m=200808

Hair. Let’s face it. It’s a big deal. I dropped my non-green products cold-turkey. No problem. Sure, I still spritz a Guerlain or Chanel perfume once in a while, but my everyday products that didn’t make the environmentally friendly cut? Gone. Except one thing. My hair products. I clung onto those silicones and heavy weight conditioners for dear life. I was afraid. Very afraid, to see what kind of frizz-ball mess I would be left with if I abandoned the coating of 30 weight oil on my hair.
 

Let me put my hair in context. It’s very thick, wavy, and frizz-prone around the hair-line. My sister can vouch for this. Any time we go to the salon, the stylist invariably exclaims to us, “my god you two have a lot of hair”! It’s not a complaint, just laying the ground work here to let you know that if I can wean myself off the hard stuff, anyone can. 

Giovanni’s 50/50 Balanced Shampoo was my scary leap into the no sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) realm. SLS is a foaming agent that gives soaps, shampoos, toothpastes, etc a great lather, but also can be drying, as well as a skin and eye irritatant. I chose 50/50 Balanced because it got rave reviews on the hair care board at MakeupAlley and is reasonably priced. For a shampoo with no SLS, it foams nicely, which was my initial concern. It also smells pleasant, rinses well, and doesn’t leave my hair feeling like straw, which is a common complaint with natural shampoos. I now use Giovanni’s 50/50 routinely, but I like to mix it up a bit with John Masters Organics Lavender Rosemary Shampoo which lathers really well and smells amazing. The rosemary scent is fresh and invigorating. I also love Dr. Hauschka’s Macadamia Orange Shampoo, which has a bitter orange scent, and leaves my hair really soft. Both the John Masters and Dr. Hauschka shampoos would be my first choices, but they are more expensive than the 50/50 Balanced, so I use that more often. Costco used to carry 50/50 Balanced in large bottles, but from what I understand, it is harder to find there these days.

For my conditioner, I started with John Masters. His Citrus and Neroli Detangler got so many amazing reviews on MakeupAlley, I had to use it right off the bat when I was weaning myself off the silicone conditioners. I also used his Lavender and Avocado Intensive Conditioner to curb the shock of the withdrawal. Surprisingly, I found the Neroli Detangler to be so effective that I only needed the Intensive Conditioner a couple times a week, if that. Since my hair is so thick I also used, and still do, the Neroli Detangler as a leave-in conditioner. Again, this is not the cheapest product ever, so I did check out Giovanni’s 50/50 Balanced Conditioner, and I do like it, and use it regularly. But I always use the John Masters Neroli Detangler as a leave-in conditioner, no matter what.

I have to admit, it took me a lot longer to let go of the “out of the shower” routine. It was just one product, but I felt like it was the one thing that really kept the frizzies under control; Frederic Fekkai’s Glossing Cream. I was addicted to it and only found the courage to try something new about two or three months ago. Intelligent Nutrients Organic Styling Creme has made it easy to come off my Fekkai habit, which unfortunately contains petrochemicals, parabens, silicones, and possibly phthalates as “fragrance” is listed as an ingredient. Intelligent Nutrients Organic Styling Creme doesn’t have that creamy consistency, and it smells a bit like salad dressing, but it works and is 25% off here. And that slightly vinegary smell, it lasts for a mere two seconds and then it’s gone. I also have become a big fan of Dr. Hauschka’s Neem Hair Oil. Just a few drops rubbed in my palms and then distributed throughout the ends of my hair gives defined wavy curls and helps it last that way for a couple of days. The Neem Hair Oil is the only product I have mentioned thus far that might not be appropriate for those with fine or thin hair. It would most likely be too heavy as a little goes a long way. 

So if you’ve been curious about switching to a greener shampoo and/or conditioner, my recommendation is to start with Giovanni 50/50 Balanced Shampoo and John Masters Organics Citrus and Neroli Detangler. They are both widely available and a great introduction into hair care that’s better for you and the planet. 

posted by ~Trish

image from Swine Palace, a non-profit, professional company, serving the greater Baton Rouge Community and supporting the educational mission of the LSU Department of Theatre.