A mixture of fairy liquid and creosote (Vosene)

Member Name: offy

Product:	Vosene
Date:	06/02/03 (1539 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cleans well, lathers well

Disadvantages: Very smelly, not suitable for greasy hair

The title of this opinion is a description I found on the internet about Vosene medicated shampoo, and I would have to agree.

I am not a brand loyal shampoo consumer. Basically I buy whatever is on offer at Boots or Tescos, and one week Vosene Medicated shampoo was on buy one get one free. It says it helps prevent occasional dandruff and I do suffer from a dry scalp sometimes, particularly if I wash my hair too much, so I though it was worth a go.

~ ~ HISTORY ~ ~
Vosene is made by the Wella group in Germany. According to their website (www.wella.co.uk) Wella is Germany's largest and the world's second largest producer of hairdressing products for home and professional use. In 1880 Franz Ströher (aged 26) founded a company for the production and distribution of artificial hair, and things grew from there. Wella also make other hair products like Silvikrin and Shock Waves and they have not tested on animals since 1988.

Vosene has been in production since 1946 and in 2000 they launched a whole new set of products - 6 shampoos and 2 conditioners - with a £3 million advertising campaign headed by Carol Smillie (can you remember it - I can't?). This relaunch did not change the original Vosene (apart from the packaging). Vosene is now the second biggest selling medicated shampoo in Britain.

~ ~ THE PRODUCT ~ ~
The shampoo comes in a green bottle with the Vosene 'yellow water droplet' boldly displayed and contains 250ml of liquid for a usual price of around £1.99. The shampoo looks exactly like creosote - thick brown, gluggy and smelly. Vosene claim to be 'healthy hair and scalp experts' and recommend that you use their conditioners with their shampoos (no surprises there). The information suggests that if you suffer from occasional dandruff, it may mean that your scalp has lost its natural protection, but it doesn?t actually say how Vosene helps get it back, just something about 'washing away the
evidence of
dandruff' (wouldn't any shampoo do that?). It does say that you must use it regularly for it to work. The bottle has the normal instructions and ingredients listed and also gives a customer care telephone number if needed: 0845 3000708. It warns you to avoid contact with the eyes and rinse immediately if contact occurs (Johnson?s Baby Shampoo beats Vosene in this respect with its 'no more tears' formula).

~ ~ THE TRIAL ~ ~
I poured a generous amount of this not too pleasant smelling liquid into my hands and dreaded what it would do to my hair. It lathered up well and rinsed off easily. The smell did not diminish throughout the process and I could still smell the creosote once it had been rinsed off. I applied conditioner as usual to the ends (sorry, not Vosene) and left it to dry naturally apart from my fringe. My hair looked the same as it does after most shampoos (I have not found a miracle product yet). It was quite shiny and easy to brush, but I could still smell the tar. In fact I was rather conscious of smelling like I had been creosoting the fence all weekend.

The smell did fade by the next day, but my hair became greasy within 24 hours. This meant that I had to wash it one day earlier than I would with other shampoos. I am trying to avoid washing my hair too often so that I don?t get dandruff, but this anti-dandruff shampoo made me wash it more often - ironic! Whilst using the shampoo, I did not actually get a dry scalp, so this claim seems to be true. However, I kept on offering it to my other half to use up so I could quickly get back to my normal bargain shampoo and start smelling sweeter again (I just cannot throw away products until they are used up even if they are rubbish).

~ ~ CONCLUSION ~ ~
Personally, I will not be buying this product again due to the smell and because my greasy hair needs a product specifically for that problem. It appears that the Vosene Regular would be more su
ited for people with similar hair to me, as it smells better, is suitable for greasy hair and also protects the ends of the hair.

Whilst investigating on the internet I have found a few people who swear by Vosene Original - Carol Smillie (who is paid to swear by it) and Paul Heaton from the Beautiful South (who used to use it as a kid). It appears to remind many people of their childhood and I would imagine it is still used on many children as the word 'medicated' is rather comforting. If I did suffer from occasional dandruff I would probably try Head and Shoulders or other products which leave you hair smelling much better than this one does. Another quote I found on the internet about Vosene was 'clean does not smell' - this (and the title of the opinion) just about sum up my thoughts nicely.

~ ~ SOME ?INTERESTING? VOSENE FACTS ~ ~
* For some reason Vosene is mentioned in quite a few songs, for example Captain Sensible's Revolution Now album has a track called Vosene and John Scott Cree (who?) has a song called Superfluous Man that includes the lyrics 'Vosene, Vicks, Virol, Vinos - got them all at home'. There was one other set of lyrics that I couldn't repeat here in case children saw them, but suffice to say it was about having scabs on your privates and what Vosene could do for them!

* The Brits Abroad website is dedicated to buying your typical British goods for people living abroad and missing them. It is interesting to find Vosene Original amongst the offered products along with Imperial Leather soap, Fairy washing up liquid, Tunes sweets and Radox Herbal bath salts.

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