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Cheap and cheerful
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Alberto Balsam haircare products are cheap, cheap, cheap. For - usually - a quid a bottle you get 400mls of shampoo or conditioner, which is unarguably a pretty good deal. The range comes in a wide array of fruity fragrances from raspberry to apple, and there is also a tea tree shampoo and conditioner.

But what about the products themselves? I had tried the Strawberries and Cream conditioner a while back and although I adored the smell I wasn't overly impressed with the conditioner itself as it wasn't moisturising enough for my hair, which is naturally curly and has a tendency towards dryness. But I was keen to give the range the benefit of the doubt and try out another product, and opted for a shampoo this time as I felt I may be on safer ground (as I could still use me usual, preferred conditioners afterwards). This shampoo is designed to cleanse, strengthen and restore shine and vitality and is for all hair types .

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Orange delight!
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As with all the range, this comes in a large see-through bottle which is fairly unexciting - it doesn't look like a fresh, modern brand and I do think the packaging reflects the price. However, this isn't something I particularly care about if the product inside is decent! Firstly the scent - this has a lovely sweet orangey scent, and reminds me of orange sweets as it is so fruity. I think it would be a great scent for a children's shampoo (maybe Alberto Balsam ought to diversify). I really like the smell but I can imagine it would definitely be too sweet and fruity for some, and it is an odd smell for a shampoo, I must admit!

The consistency of the product is pretty thick and for the price is quite decent, as you may expect a cheap product to be a bit watery. It is quite a bright orange colour and I was surprised at how well it lathered up - a have a lot of hair but found I really didn't need very much of the product. I enjoyed using it as it frothed up nicely and smelt good too. It also washed out really easily so no complaints there either.

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After rinsing...
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Although the shampoo left my hair feeling clean, I was quite disappointed that it didn't feel soft at all. Usually after washing my hair it is tangle free but this left my hair feeling a bit dried out. Overall I wasn't pleased with the results and couldn't wait to slap a load of conditioner on my locks! But after washing and conditioning, my hair looked and felt fine, so the shampoo didn't cause me any lasting problems.

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Overall...
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So if I am honest I wasn't overly impressed with this shampoo. The smell is yummy and it lathers up nicely but it didn't do anything special for my hair - although it didn't do anything diastrous either! So for the price I think it's a decent enough product and I think for more 'normal' hair types this would probably work well. So it still gets three stars.